Monday, August 22, 2011

DIY Wedding Revisited: Centerpieces and Decor

I will start out by admitting I was a bit obsessive with my centerpieces.  Google imaging, browsing The Knot, reading articles on Wedding Bee, and just obsessing in general.  Centerpieces set the vibe for your reception.  Do you want a high class Ritz feel? For me, no thank you!  Do you want a casual beach feel? Yes, please! Here was my final product:



But let's start from the beginning.  After I had my vision in mind that included blue beach glass, pink orchids, sand, and lots and lots of candles I created a mock up.  Do you like the wine glasses and wine I added to the table for a more authentic wedding day feel? Me too.  I am a big fan of mock ups to see what you are getting yourself into.  With these mock ups I found that the orchids stayed intact for around 5 days so I had no worries that they wouldn't make it through the night.



Each table had three 7 ¾ inch cylinder vases with sand and a candle alternating with two 11 inch cylinder vases with crushed blue beach glass and pink orchids.  The 7 ¾ inch vases came from the Dollar Tree, the sand came from some guy who sold it for around $1.00 per lb, and the candles were from Ikea.  The 11 inch vases were more expensive at around $2.99 from Target, the crushed beach glass was from the Dollar Tree and the orchids were from Sam’s Club bulk floral department.  For more details on that see this post.    



I had some friends of friends assemble the centerpieces at the tent around 2 hours before the reception.  The vases with the sand and candles were pre assembled, and the vases with the orchids were prepped with the beach glass inside.  The orchids stayed submerged without any weights or attaching them to anything (hence the mock up).  I absolutely love the way the bubbles cling to the orchid pedals. 



This is what the tent looked like overall.  I bought Chinese lanterns in two sizes for around $1.00 a piece on ebay.  I had the hubby and his crew hang them the day before the wedding from the ceiling.  We also added some white Christmas lights, bough on extreme discount the day after Christmas.  It was around $10.00 for lights for the poles and the entire perimeter of the tent.



I couldn’t have been happier for how the décor turned out and the location of the tent against the Vermilion shoreline!

*Pictures of the wedding day were taken exclusively by Amber Asman of asmanphotography.  In short, she rocks.

3 comments:

  1. I love the submerged flowers look, too! I will be ordering the mokara orchids from Sam's club -- my problem is that I have no idea how many to order! My vases are 19/5" tall, there will be a floating candle on the top...I like the less full look, but still don't have any idea if I will want one stem, or two, or even three per vase! Any thoughts based on your experience with the Sam's orchids?

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  2. Hi Anonymous! My vases for my orchids were 11 inches tall with about a 3.5 inch diameter. I also ordered the mokara orchids - so yours should look pretty similar to mine. As you can see from the pics they peeked out of the top of the vase. I found that the diameter of the vase is what is most important. With 3.5 inches the orchids touched each side, so the arrangement looked plenty full. If you think the orchids may not be tall enough you can leave the bottom of the stem longer or put more filler (like my beach glass) in the bottom. Personally I like only one stem and for mine I felt two per each vase would make it look too crammed. I like the simplicity and beauty of one. Also one per vase was easier on my budget too! Hope this helps!

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  3. Ohhh PS! The link below will tell you about how I ordered/cared for my Sam's club bulk floral before the big day to make sure my flowers stayed beautiful!

    http://thedomesticdomicile.blogspot.com/2011/08/diy-wedding-revisited-church-decor.html

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Let me know what you think. I would love to hear from you!