DIY Bride Part V: Centerpieces
Of all the wedding preparations, this is one of the most time-consuming, difficult to plan, and most expensive, perhaps because they are primary showpieces and often involve flowers. I demanded much from my centerpieces -- they should add floral romance, warm ambiance, rustic and glam accents, and just generally be pretty.
The first idea I acted upon is to make flower boxes, which will be filled with an oasis and cut flowers. This seemed relatively simple to do, relatively cheap, and simple and rustic. It turns out cutting wood is a bit harder than it looks, but in the end this is a really cheap container for flowers. I started out being very shy about taking 5-gallon painting sticks every trip to Home Depot and Lowe's (which, I discovered, use almost exactly the same paint sticks). Instead, I bought paint sticks at 43 cents a piece at Wal-Mart. After a while, though, I realized the Home Depot paint sticks were much thicker and sturdier, so we ended up building up a collection of paint sticks from Home Depot and made all but 3 boxes using them.
I used wood glue to hold pieces in place enough to then nail them. I ended up using 1/2" wire brads to keep these paint sticks attached to the posts. They worked and looked better than these staples. When I switched to the Home Depot and Lowe's paint sticks, which are thicker than the Wal-mart ones, I used 3/4" wire brads for the last two boxes I made. It holds a little better, but after I finished, I realized the brads stick out a little on the inside end of the post. I'm going to have to file those down later.
After I had built my first few, I realized I needed to find a container to hold the oasis or it would get everything wet. After some trial and error, I found that 2-lb. foil loaf pans work perfectly. They're a little wider than my boxes, which measure 8 9/16" x 4" x 4.25" (or 4" for the first few), but I cut the rigid top lip off of the foil pans and just molded them into the flower boxes. Should be good enough to hold an oasis.
For staining, I originally used a natural staining method of coffee and tea, followed by a steel wool-vinegar solution, but the boxes came out lighter than I wanted.
As for putting this all together, I thought I'd just add a few glass containers here and there with LED tea lights in them to fill up the rest of the table space. Then about 2 months before the wedding, I had a great phone conversation with a friend of a friend who I actually had been asking to do my centerpieces and bouquet for me. He ended up saying I should try to DIY it all instead of hiring him, then proceeded to give me suggestions and ideas. Many of them were ideas I had considered before, so it was nice hearing it from someone else (and a professional nonetheless). He did, however, mention some ideas I had been circling around as pie-in-the-sky ideas but really gravitated toward while I was talking with him.
First, he suggested I tell a "story" with each table -- that is, go for eclectic décor and just be creative with the set up and have a theme or story for each table that is meaningful to us and to our guests who will be seated there and will "get it". I love that idea because it allows me to use more of the things I have, especially things that mean something to me, which means buying fewer unnecessary things. It also means I don't have to recreate the same thing 12 times. It may take more creativity to come up with several different vignettes, but the ideas have flowed pretty naturally once I made up my mind to go down this road. I'm planning to take pictures of each vignette and box them together for my wedding coordinator and helpers to arrange at each table.
The other main piece I'm attempting is a large hanging piece that will be the focal point of the room. Originally, I wanted to hang two long planks of wood from the center beam of the bar and fill the top with flowers, with vining leaves hanging down off the planks. I tried doing this with paper flowers, but the long rectangular shape of the styrofoam made the shape look really odd. Instead, I opted to dangle strands of clear, acrylic balls filled with LED tea lights and flowers, strands of beads, and cut vines from the wood planks. When I floated this idea to my wedding coordinator, though, she thought the display would look too small and look funny in the large room. She suggested I make kissing balls out of the coffee filter flowers instead, so my nights and weekends have been filled with paper flower balls.
The first idea I acted upon is to make flower boxes, which will be filled with an oasis and cut flowers. This seemed relatively simple to do, relatively cheap, and simple and rustic. It turns out cutting wood is a bit harder than it looks, but in the end this is a really cheap container for flowers. I started out being very shy about taking 5-gallon painting sticks every trip to Home Depot and Lowe's (which, I discovered, use almost exactly the same paint sticks). Instead, I bought paint sticks at 43 cents a piece at Wal-Mart. After a while, though, I realized the Home Depot paint sticks were much thicker and sturdier, so we ended up building up a collection of paint sticks from Home Depot and made all but 3 boxes using them.
I used wood glue to hold pieces in place enough to then nail them. I ended up using 1/2" wire brads to keep these paint sticks attached to the posts. They worked and looked better than these staples. When I switched to the Home Depot and Lowe's paint sticks, which are thicker than the Wal-mart ones, I used 3/4" wire brads for the last two boxes I made. It holds a little better, but after I finished, I realized the brads stick out a little on the inside end of the post. I'm going to have to file those down later.
After I had built my first few, I realized I needed to find a container to hold the oasis or it would get everything wet. After some trial and error, I found that 2-lb. foil loaf pans work perfectly. They're a little wider than my boxes, which measure 8 9/16" x 4" x 4.25" (or 4" for the first few), but I cut the rigid top lip off of the foil pans and just molded them into the flower boxes. Should be good enough to hold an oasis.
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| Top is pre-stain, bottom is post-natural stain |
For staining, I originally used a natural staining method of coffee and tea, followed by a steel wool-vinegar solution, but the boxes came out lighter than I wanted.
I ended up staining over them with MinWax. They then ended up darker than I wanted, but I sanded them a little and left them out in the sun and a little rain for some weathering. They look pretty good now :P
As for putting this all together, I thought I'd just add a few glass containers here and there with LED tea lights in them to fill up the rest of the table space. Then about 2 months before the wedding, I had a great phone conversation with a friend of a friend who I actually had been asking to do my centerpieces and bouquet for me. He ended up saying I should try to DIY it all instead of hiring him, then proceeded to give me suggestions and ideas. Many of them were ideas I had considered before, so it was nice hearing it from someone else (and a professional nonetheless). He did, however, mention some ideas I had been circling around as pie-in-the-sky ideas but really gravitated toward while I was talking with him.
First, he suggested I tell a "story" with each table -- that is, go for eclectic décor and just be creative with the set up and have a theme or story for each table that is meaningful to us and to our guests who will be seated there and will "get it". I love that idea because it allows me to use more of the things I have, especially things that mean something to me, which means buying fewer unnecessary things. It also means I don't have to recreate the same thing 12 times. It may take more creativity to come up with several different vignettes, but the ideas have flowed pretty naturally once I made up my mind to go down this road. I'm planning to take pictures of each vignette and box them together for my wedding coordinator and helpers to arrange at each table.
The other main piece I'm attempting is a large hanging piece that will be the focal point of the room. Originally, I wanted to hang two long planks of wood from the center beam of the bar and fill the top with flowers, with vining leaves hanging down off the planks. I tried doing this with paper flowers, but the long rectangular shape of the styrofoam made the shape look really odd. Instead, I opted to dangle strands of clear, acrylic balls filled with LED tea lights and flowers, strands of beads, and cut vines from the wood planks. When I floated this idea to my wedding coordinator, though, she thought the display would look too small and look funny in the large room. She suggested I make kissing balls out of the coffee filter flowers instead, so my nights and weekends have been filled with paper flower balls.
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