Non-floral wedding centerpieces
Posted by Ariel · Advice

I've been to a wedding with peaches in vases in the middle of tables, and I'm thinking about doing the same with apples for mine.

Great ideas! I made decoupage wine bottles for centerpieces for my wedding– just put them on some pretty fabric with candles. I spray-painted the wine bottles and gued on romantic pictures and sometimes quotes. I also used them as favors for important people in the wedding party. They looked really nice.

This would require a lot of photo frames, but I love the idea of a large candle as the centrepiece with 3 or 4 photo frames with different photos of the couple grouped around the candle so that no matter where you're sitting at the table you can see at least one or two pictures. Bonus – this will get your guests to mingle a bit as they check out the different photos at different tables!

My idea for my own wedding, since Henry and I met on flickr, was to print out tiny versions of pictures we took early in our courtship, then pick up a bunch of those photo holders that have clips attached to tall, skinny springs and put those around the room (we're not having a formal sit-down dinner thing).

We created very simple and inexpensive centerpieces for a budget wedding. Granny Smith apples in a low bowl, a few cybidium orchids on top, and some glycerized birch leaves. The apples were the small, bagged apples you get at the supermarket for $3.99. The most expensive item was the bowl. They looked great and were relatively inexpensive. They could be made by almost anyone with a little time.

I've done it! I've found the perfect centerpiece for our Pagan Handfasting.

Start with 4 kinds of 2.5" herb starts. I choose Thyme, curry plant, purple sage, and rosemary. Buy 6" pots from Ikea and plant your herb starts a few weeks before the big day to give them a chance to settle into their new home.

I can stay within my $200 budget for the centerpieces and my friends and family will have something useful to take home instead of a bunch of flowers that will die.

Some girlfriends actually applauded when I told them my idea so this is going to be perfect!

for a gothic or halloween wedding you can get inexpensive cardboard coffins. We will be stacking 3 varied sized coffins on top of eachother, tying with ribbon and placing a few small tealight holder on each level.

On top of those we'll have bat shaped table number cards with photos of the two of us at the age corrosponding with the table number.

FISH

we used fish for our centerpieces and luffed them. you can find fish in all colors to match your wedding colors. plus you can do several different sizes of vases and fish in order to create some texture on your tables.

they became happy little pond fish afterwards. we used very cheap red and white goldfish, although if you used something more expensive you could put them in tanks throughout your house or give them away to the wedding party. how cool would a fish be as a parting gift??? here, have a little live love from our hearts.

I did a mardi gras theme for my wedding in Sept. We even rented a Bourbon St. sign, fake jester who was the hit of the party. girls wore dark plum, centerpieces were lightpole candle holders with a street name/landmark of new orleans, played jazz during appetizers, each guest got a mask, beads inside a hurricane glass. Bridesmaids walked in with boas on. Cake was jester like in purple. I explained Mardi gras framed on each table. People had a BALL. And who cares if it wasn't mardi gras season. My gown even had an amethyst overlay!

For my wedding we are going to fill fish bowls with red colored water and lemons. We may or may not float white candles in the bowls.

I see that lots of people have mentioned fruit, I was also going to use fruit with (mismatched) glass bowls of mine and borrowed from friends, full of character and edible!

We were also thinking of doing pastel blue and purple with a white accent! What would you suggest for centerpieces??

did u putthe fish in the day of your wedding? just wondering,dont want them to go belly up,what kind of flowers float that i could use,any advice??

I am having a rock show themed wedding (think hole in the wall venue that is smokey and dark and in the middle of Portland's industrial district). I want to do centerpieces, have the option of doing flowers (as there are florists in the family) but am still undecided. I considered records, but didn't want to stray from the idea that it's a CONCERT, not a rock n roll theme. Any ideas?

check this for something sorta off the beaten path…maybe you can use them SOMEHOW? http://www.blissweddingsmarket.com/store/000247.htm

We recently decided to go with those lovely 10"-12" statues (lawn ornaments?) of faeries that are that kinda turquoise colour (oxidized copper coloured)
They're going to be different for each of our 8 tables, maybe a lantern ornament, or a dragon or something, too.
Then we'll have a draw at the end of the night for anyone who wants to keep one.
We're spluring a bit on ours, 'cause it just happens to be one of the things we really want, to tie in our 'magicakal' theme, but i'm sure there are other less-expensive options in a similar vein.

I have 2 ideas for non floral centerpieces. I'm getting married this Oct on a very victorian like island a few hours away from my house, and only accesible by ferry and horse drawn wagons once on the island. My aunit is a florist but agreed that if we went with a lot of flowers that she is bringing, they'd get ruined by the time we got there. I have been thinking about "hurricane" glass pillars with a candle inside and those beady type garland around the glass. Or my mom makes these cool glass blocks that you can get from Home Depot and you drill a hole in it, slide in battery operated white christmas lights, wrap a silky ribbon(wedding color) and some kind of decoration in center like leaves for fall or ornament for winter or whatever. They look cool and give a pretty glow.

I don't know, just ideas.

another fun one… get mis-matched teacups (and saucers) at a thrift store — place cheap plants (i.e. fern or those multi-packs from your local garden supplier) in each cup, put 3 in the center of the table. Cute, organic, original and your guests can take them home.

We live in the gold coast, Australia and we have access to tons of sand and shells. I was gonna have jars of them, and some votives for mine! The wedding is in 8 months and we are saving all our glass jars.

I saw toward the top the use of grass/moss and candles… BEWARE: I went to a wedding with cute terra cotta containers, moss/grass, and candles… and they CAUGHT FIRE!! They were a really cute idea, just poorly executed. Make sure you use sturdy candles that will not bend!!

Were having a destination location on beach on east coast. Centrepiece wise, thinking about IKEA lanterns(painted purple) with tealights plus blue sand and shells. Low budget & No flowers needed.

We went to a fall wedding last year and the apples were great, we ate them on the way home and snacked on them at the end of the night.

I just happened to come across this site and it is quite useful. Great ideas. I'm having my wedding this novemeber and also looking for a creative centerpiece idea without flowers. I was thinking about the apple in a low vase idea with vines and berried twigs. Any other rustic ideas?

We used tree branches in small urns (bought end of season for 60-80% off), and tied polymer clay leaf wine glass charms to the branches. The charms doubled as favors for the guests and were a big hit! The urns went home with whomever wanted them, to be re-purposed as planters this summer.
I made all the clay leaves, then used wire earring hoops and some beads to create the charms.
It can be done assembly line style with several helpers fairly quickly once all the leafs are done.
I estimate it took about 8 hours to complete 150 leafs from start to finish.

I worked at a function centre through university and did loads of weddings so I have seen lots of ideas!
My favourite has to be having a large round mirror as a centrepiece, with tealight candles placed on top. You could have candles alone or around a vase in the centre or whatever else you've decided on. But the mirror reflects the candles and looks fantastic, it adds a nice glow to the room. I think you can hire them for under $5, where I am in Adelaide, Australia anyway! I'm going to have a crystal vase (borrowed!) in the centre with maybe white feathers in it… bit worried they may catch fire though so we'll see!

i'm getting married in october and my fiance and i are HUGE football fans (i like the eagles and he likes the giants) and we wanted to incorperate that into our reception does anyone have any ideas for centerpieces?? please HELP!

We are using various glass jars covered in handmade papers, in earth tones. Tieing twine and twigs around them. And candles in the middle. Also some terra-cotta pots we will plant wheat grass in 1 month before wedding. People can take these home.

Erin, I don't know if you're still following this entry's comment trail but as far as incorporating football into your centerpieces I would probably just number the tables in tens instead of 1s and set up a football with the table number painted on it on a kickoff tee in the middle of the table. then you could give each person a jersey number of you and your fiance's favorite players or just random players for their table cards and they could sit at whatever tens table they'd belong to (#25 would sit at table 20, #47 at table 40, et cetera).

my other idea is that you could get the schedule for the weekend of your wedding and make each table themed for the matchups that would take place the sunday of that weekend. that way people could get excited about the upcoming games and you could have fun getting lots of cheap little football helmets and jerseys and maybe even still the football to set in the center of the table. especially with the footballs i could imagine you could get the paint off of them and donate them to a ymca or boys and girls club or some such organization.

I'm getting married in October so we are carving hearts in pumpkins and putting candles in them.

I really liked this idea mentioned above:

"For my daughter’s June wedding we’re using glass cake stands with antique wedding cake toppers collected over the years. We’re also using crocheted doilies under the toppers and the florist is providing greenery and floral rings around the base of the cake stands."

We wanted to do something similar also with wedding cake toppers. Wouldn't you know that the cake toppers are now a 'highly sought after' item. Can't even find a decent collection on ebay without paying a fortune.

Thanks for the many ideas above.

Kim

I am an art student, and shuttered at the thought of flowers, candles in jars, etc. for centerpieces. So I decided to spend some time searching for interesting found objects at the thrift store (globes, telephones, rubber ducks, ceramic pigs, and so on.) We're going to paint some of them solid red and some white (our colors), arranging groups of smaller objects on some tables, and allowing larger objects to stand alone.

I am almost positive that stick from Rachel Ray is dogwood, which is naturally that color!

my wedding will be a spring wedding we are have a colourful bridal party.. Like always my partner is leaving it all to me….. so i am just looking around for ideas but i have sort of came up with the love of his past time lollies in a fish bowl (for eg. snakes or jellybeans or even m&ms just to give the table some colour) around the bowl i will put small tea-light candles and thoes small colour rhine stones all can be brought from dicount shops for $2 the most expensive thing on this table will most likely be the fish bowl or punch bowl….

Help! I'm desperate! My daughter's getting married at the end of September, and I'm really in a pickle. They are both Scientists and she hates flowers. We looking for some ideas on Centrepieces for about 20 tables in the scientific vein. Something that we possibly can make ourselves that doesn't cost a fortune. For favors they're having test tubes and they wanted to fill them with nerds, but now we've found out you can't get nerds in just one color. She doesn't want multi colors. The colors are brown and ivory. Ideas, anyone????

We are also getting married at the end of September – and are scientists. I like flowers (I am a biochemist and naturalist) but we are considering non-flower centerpieces. I love the ambiance of candles for our sunset wedding with a reception in a barn. Simple clusters of candles (on mirrors for more reflection) are lovely. Clear glass cylinders with votives work (we found great ones at Target that were inexpensive). The cylinders are actually quite a bit like graduated cylinders but frankly I didn't think of that when we got them! Consider using displays with dried grasses – free if you have un-mowed fields nearby, the seed pods are great and all in the color scheme. Martha Stewart recommended two glass cylinder vases one slightly smaller and lining the space between with grasses. They could also be put on the outside of the glass (even mason jars / old spaghetti sauce jars) and tied on with a ribbon that matches wedding colors. Put just the mason rim on top or another ribbon. Try it at home first (we are) to make sure that the glass doesn't get too hot or use water in the jars and float candles. I'll post more if we have other ideas – we are doing a big push this weekend to try out ideas.

Would anyone happen to have some nice ideas for centrepieces/tabled decorations for a medieval-styled reception? I am collect wooden bowls, platters, and tankards or goblets and such for people to eat and drink with (no great stretch since I also play in the Society for Creative Anacronism) and also wooden candlesticks. Any ideas on what would go nicely with these things?

We are getting married in April and the theme is butterflies. We are considering using round mirrors placed on large squares of fabric in coordinating colors, and putting butterflies of some sort, either blown glass or beaded on the mirrors. The beaded butterflies would be keeping with the beaded flowers wer are doing instead of fresh or silk bouquets.

Personally, I love centrepieces that are uniquely created to reflect the personalities of the bride and groom in conjunction to the season and setting of the wedding..

I took Ariel's advice and did something more with records! I put my URL in there so you could see them. More pics after the wedding on 10/19.

Although I did put flowers in them, I turned old LPs into cool bowls. You could do the same thing but put whatever you want in them.

We bought some cheap vases from Ikea, and we're going to fill them up with Mint Crisp M&Ms (yup, the Indiana Jones ones!) because our colors are chocolate brown and mint green. Then, we're putting in four Siwrly Pop Lollipops and four Swizzle sticks to make a candy bouquet! We also have a bit of a leaf theme going on, so I grabbed some thin branches out of the backyard and we're going to cut out leaves from brown paper to write our table numbers on, and then hot glue the leaves to the branches and stick the branches in the vases as well (with saran wrap around the bottoms so people can still eat the candy). Finally, we bought little leaf-shaped milk chocolates wrapped in fall colors and we're going to sprinkle those around the table like fallen leaves.

I'm not sure if it's too late for anymore ideas but I'm using lighted up effiel tower vases with white ostrich feathers coming out the top. I got 12 diy kits on ebay for $399 buy now free shipping.

Since we had a 'cocktail' reception with finger food and no set places, we used our bonbonniere as the centrepieces. We had fudge in red organza bags, sitting on a red and black square plate in the middle of the (12ft) long tables. We also had tea light candles in red shot glasses that ran the length of the table with a few extra bags of fudge scattered around. No flowers and nothing that would die, and it looked really pretty.

I just want to point out to the people suggesting fish centerpieces that it is really cruel, sorry. Keeping fish is a hobby of mine, and basically you're giving fish a death sentence by putting them in bowls at a wedding and sending them home with people unprepared to keep a fish. Fish bowl water gets dirty VERY quickly, the temperature can't be regulated, it's not oxygenated (your fish will suffocate) and all the noise, vibrations, etc. of a wedding will stress the fish out big time. Not to mention the likelihood of being tipped over by inebriated guests. It's just not a good idea, and there are so many more humane options.

My sister just got married this past Saturday and they used succulent cactus for their centerpieces and it was a huge hit! I was totally skeptical about the idea beforehand, but when I saw the final centerpieces and favors, they were beautiful!

They went to a wholesaler and got a variety of succulent cactus (cactus that are unusual shapes and many bloom colorful blossoms) and re-potted them in clear, inexpensive vases from Ikea. They did mini-cacti plants in little votive type glasses with a cute little tag and gold ribbon for favors (and gave guests a little white bag to carry their cactus home in safely). Then, they had medium sizes ones in larger clear, rectangular shaped glass vases with different shades of potting soils layered and showing thru the glass. They did 18 tables with those in the center and eight of the little favor plants surrounding that, and then LOTS of of white votive candles of varying sizes in clear glass, too.

Then they did 3 bigger arrangements of big, round, circular clear glass planters (about a foot in diameter each) with the layered soil and a variety of interesting cacti in each of those mixed together. Those went on the "reserve" tables.

Everything was accented with more small glass clear regtangular vases (little bigger than votive size) filled with creme or orange/yellow rose buds/blossoms and a little mossy type greenery, moss greenery on the tables, and some pieces of natural (tree limb) type of wood (kind of looked like drift wood).

The whole effect was very natural, earthy, and beautiful with all the candles lit (they had over 300 votives total!) and the guests took not only the favor plants, but over half of the centerpieces, too! Lol!

I recently got married on November 1st. We wanted a "Pirate Wedding" so the typical floral centerpieces were out of the question. Our centerpieces were treasure chests filled with candy and "gold bar" treat boxes filled with more candy. We used the mirrors that the reception site provided, placed the chests on them and sprinkled the tables with strands of silver and gold "beads" and gold pirate coins. I bought a bulk order of paper mache treasure chests and painted them to look like weathered wood. The effect was awesome and each table took home a cool (and different) centerpiece!

I am getting married on June first. My colors are lime, lemon and orange. My mother has lime, lemon, and orange trees in her back yard. So I am going to put the fruit in different sized vases. I am thinking about adding water to them. Has anyone else done or seen this? I would love to see some pictures. Thanks!!

These are good ideas for flower-less centerpieces. I would imagine these will become even more popular in the current economy.

DANI:
I have been to a few winter weddings and one cool thing that I saw was glass or glittered snowflakes glued to tall candle holders for centerpieces. Also, cool funky ornaments in hurricane vases look amazing with candle light around them.

I was going to use goldfish as a centerpiece, but have since realized how cruel it is. anyone know where i can get "fake" fish for the bowls i already bought?

i'm getting married in april, outdoors, so i'm using very few flowers since everything will be blooming anyway at that time. for table centerpieces, i'm collecting photos of my and my fiance's family members on their wedding days. i'm going to enlarge them to 8×10s and put them in frames and set them in the center of the tables. i'm going to put a little folded card on each one that says "guess who?" and then have the answer on the inside of the card. i thought it would make things more personal for the guests, and give them a little challenge guessing who was who.

Good ideas for someone who doesn't want to spend money for bundles on flowers.The whole effect was natural, creative, and beautiful with all the candles and rocks. ill ive a thumbs up on su!!

We are getting married on Jan 1 @ 1:00a.m. We are having a backyard tent wedding but colors and centerpieces are still up in the air. I was thinking a Morroccan theme with belly dancers as entertainment. Please help. Not afraid to abandon the theme.

The theme of my August backyard wedding is mermaids and superheroes, which is to say the theme is FUN. For centerpieces, I am having overflowing buckets of bubbles, chalk, crayons, sequins, masks, playdoh, sparklers, and other whimsical items that inspire playfulness. The dollar section at Michaels and Target, not to mention Dollar Stores, are good for amassing this stuff.

This sight is fabulous!! Thanks ladies for all the great tips! I am having our wedding in South Padre Island in mid April and the reception will be later after our honeymoon in late may at an outdide venue. We have chosen to get various glass vases
(cheap at the dollar store or on clerance at target) I am going to fill them with sand from our trip and colored rocks to illuminate the glass to look like diamonds, and then put a candle in the center and a few sand dollars around the edges, they will then be placed on a square mirror with some seashells around it. I have already played and they look amazing for a total of about 3.00 per table!! This reception is all about a beach theme with a slideshow presentation for the loosers that werent able to make the wedding!!! ha ha also we are putting grass skirting around the edges of the tables, and the bar will be decorated in tiki designs!!! Can't wait!!!

for our reception we are hollowing out fallen logs from a recent storm and using this to plant herbs and maybe a few flowers or lavender, then probably mixing in stacked books with ribbon (thanks for the tip). our biggest problem though was the lack of color in our room, we can't afford to rent tablecloths but we stumbled across the large parent sheets in diffrent textures and colors in a craft/stationary store and decided to use that as a base for our center peices.

I found a different bridesmaids gift on this site. It is personalized for each one. You send them a picture side profile of your girls and they make them. I was married in January and my girls loved them!! Cute idea. We also had a flame thrower and dancing girl who lit up people's mouths! Fun

We are adorning the tables with Mr. & Mrs. Potato Head couples for our April 17, 2009 wedding. We'll recycle them afterwards by giving them to a local charity and hope they make for lively conversaiton (even if it's only at our expense!) Also, I have several domestic partners in tow who I plan to honor with a few selectively placed Mr. & Mr.'s or Mrs. & Mrs's. Just a thought!

Colleen-

Something very cute and insanely inexpensive for decorations for a farm theme would be to use mason jars. Put a single tealight in them, or put some fresh picked wild flowers in them. Play around with different kinds of things you could put in them– maybe you could find some really cool vintage toys and trinkets from an antique store. Or you could decorate the tables somehow incorporating fun farm animal toys! Breyers horses as centerpieces would be amazing. Good luck!

Colleen, I went to a farm themed wedding not too long ago and they filled mason jars with dried corn and green peas, then tied the top with ribbons, it was very cute…

I'm getting married next June. The main wedding colors are going to be green and blue but I couldn't think of any centerpieces to match that. I was thinking about theming each table around something that we are both interested in or like (books, music, coffee, etc) and then having the centerpieces reflect that theme and doubling as favors. What do you all think?

My backpacking/climbing fiancee and I both work at REI, met through REI, and are having the wedding right outside Rocky Mountain National Park. For centerpieces we're using mini-candle lanterns (http://www.rei.com/product/611181) which are essentially protected tea lights. Then as favors (and I may have them on and clustered around the candle lanturn) Coleman has a lantern key-chain (http://www.acehardwareoutlet.com/(ssowhw45uwokpba45dqjzlf3)/ProductDetails.aspx?SKU=5094552). Cute and useful!

I'd make craft flowers – paper/origami, tulle, felt, something. Fuschia is a very floral color anyway, and crafted flowers would let you find a paper or cloth that matched the right hue of fuschia in the rest of your wedding – just try doing that with real flowers. Crafted flowers can also be set up well in advance, meaning you can work on them yourself whenever you have time, or hand them off to crafty friends for them to make.

The non-floral bouquet entry also has a great christmas ornament and tulle number, which could easily be adapted into a centerpiece.

http://offbeatbride.com/2009/01/diy-ornament-bouquet#referrer

Hibryd,

Thanks for the suggestion! Would you put the faux flowers in vases or just scatter them about? Hmmm. I like the ornament bouquet. Very cool idea.

We are having an 80's themed wedding so our centerpieces are view masters, rubicks cubes and etch a sketches. Not only will they add color but it will be added entertainment.

that's such a neat idea, bringing in other family wedding pics. I am thinking about going with pictures since I'm a big photonatic. Thanks for the idea.

You could order M & M's in any color you want. You can even have your names and a message written on them. I don't know how much you'd need, but you could check on the price. I believe you just go to the M & M site. Here is the link: http://www.mymms.com/customprint/

They have golden, and cream. Hope this helps.
Amber

you could totally do personalized guitar picks for a gift. or scatter them on the table.

We are getting married on Oct. 3 in an outside wedding. We have both done this twice already and want something different and very cheap…any ideas? We are just having a simple ceremony for a few family members. Its in a park in Illinois also. We are having cupcakes instead of cake I think…so far anyway. We are both older and don't want a lot of fuss.

Easy, Nina: Give 'em away as favors!

Erin, many folks have VERY strong opinions against using living fish (especially betas) as centerpieces: http://www.healthybetta.com/bettas-as-centerpiece...