Non floral centerpieces 2.0
Decor Porn
By
on April 21, 2010
77
A thousand years ago, okay more like three years ago, Ariel put out a post called "Non floral centerpieces." Well, in Offbeat Bride years, three years is a looooong time because we've been inundated with so many more amazing alternatives to floral centerpieces since then. So here is our non-floral centerpieces post version 2.0.
Fake coral
This is a shot from my beach wedding. We spray painted those suckers bright orange and placed just one piece of brightly colored fake coral on each table, they looked awesome.
Wine bottles
Wine bottles, or bottles in general, with cool graphic table numbers like these from Nicole & Kyle's wedding can make quite an impact.
Jars full of fruit
Yummy and functional. And so easy to shop for! Buy fruit in colors that match or in various fun colors and fill up cool glass jars. Voila, centerpiece done and you can eat it when it's over.
Planets
Perfect for geeks in love, or weddings in a planetarium or for astronomy themed weddings. These planet centerpieces from Deana and Glen's wedding are made from inflatable planets.
Feathers
They pretty, they're fluffy, they're colorful, and you can play with them on your wedding night after everyone goes home. (wink wink.)
Books
Ariel mentioned books in her last post, but this stack is bigger and with more ribbon. A stack of books topped with flowers or photos of the couple, or topped with nothing at all, just a stack of the couple's favorite reads can be meaningful and lovely. Perfect for bookish brides.
Nerdy video game references!
Yes yes yes. Do this! This is from Stephanie and Chase's Nintendo-themed wedding of which we don't have a profile (boo).
Oil lamps
A single oil lamp — how badass does this look!?
Trivia questions
We featured this centerpiece before because we loved the fact that they used a log-slice, two candles and trivia about wedding traditions and made it look beautiful AND it was bound to get guests talking.
Games
Interactive board games and the lick are often colorful and, not to mention, fun. They can also double as a way to get your table mates to interact with each other.
Felt or paper flowers
There's nothing bad about this idea. Felt and paper flowers can be made in all colors in existence and they never die AND they can be as affordable or as expensive as you want them to be. Loooove this idea.
Mason jars
Mason jars are really popular centerpieces with OBBs. A single mason jar with pretty flowers, or colored mason jars with a candle inside. But I'm so into this idea from Cori and Evan's wedding where they placed pictures of themselves into Mason jars and then filled them with oil. WOWFACTORx10.
Have more non-floral centerpiece ideas? Leave 'em in the comments or submit yours to the OBB Flickr pool and perhaps they'll end up in our next round-up — version 2.1!
Read more posts about: centerpiece, decor, diy centerpiece, non-floral centerpiece, paper flower bouquet, roundup« Previous post
About Megan Finley
Megan Finley is the Managing Editor for Offbeat Bride and the Associate Publisher for the Offbeat Empire. When she's not slaving away for the Empire, she's sharing her dork side on her own blog and on Twitter @meganfinley.
Kate said
Paper flowers don't even need stems: http://www.flickr.com/photos/4…110411967/
(Also, look what lovely cousins do with them later in the night: http://www.flickr.com/photos/4…110411967/)
Jess said
I wanted to have non-floral centrepieces, but I got vetoed by not only MOB and GMOB, but by FH as well!!!! not fair. well. it's ok. I was thinking having mini-cakes for centrepieces, or gold fish or something cool.
(My 2nd mother however is providing all our florist needs, and everything will be beautiful. I can't really complain)
Sara said
I keep hearing of brides getting vetoed. It makes me so sad! I think you should veto them back – but you definitely need people's support. Good luck.
Mary B. said
I don't know, I think grooms should be able to have a veto for anything they don't really like. I'm not okay with other people having veto power, but it's only fair for offbeat partners to be able to say no.
SaraL said
I second Mary B. My husband vetoed my floral ban, and our flowers ended up being one of my favorite things about the day! I still generally prefer weddings without a ton of flowers (my own personal taste), but I am glad my husband vetoed me!
Jettie said
Ooooo, maybe if you show them your cutie little goldfish (I LOOOVE FISH! – and would definitely do this idea if we weren't having a destination wedding ). Maybe have them in little bowls (or chic cylinders… or glass blocks!) and fill the bottom with colorful glass rocks. That's sure to look colorful and festive and I'm sure even Grandma would think it's a darling idea.
Or betas with frosted white rocks, or bright little tetras with no rocks at all, or…..
Tiffani said
We're doing lanterns on the tables! I'm so excited because each one is different and I get to keep them when we're done. What will I do with 15 lanterns? I'm not entirely sure, but I'll have easy last-minute gifts in the future!
Katy said
Do you have a garden/back yard? My mum loves hiding various lights around the garden (mix of solar powered electric ones and candle lanterns) and it looks really pretty at night.
Tiffani said
Not yet, but I'm sure we'll have a yard someday. Thanks for the tip!
Dani G said
Tiffani, we used Moroccan lanterns placed on a mirrored tile. We also wondered what we would do with them all afterwards… our guests took a lot of them home (mostly the prettier ones too). Out of 20, we only ended up with about 5.
ashley said
My mom collects laterns and puts them all hanging on a large tree. It's beautiful
Trish said
Please oh please tell me how to do the pictures in oil in colored Mason jars! They're awesome (and has anyone got a good place to find pink ones cheap? I'm coming up short.)
Liz said
I think the oil is what makes it look yellow. You could probably try using oil that's pink for a pink look – food coloring with a clear oil like lamp oil?
Katy said
I'm not sure where but I know you can buy coloured lamp oil. My mum likes doing those glass oil lamps with bits of plant and stuff floating in them and she uses coloured oils sometimes. But food colouring should work as well! (Just check the colours first, some of them are a little…flourescent, and it doesn't show as much in the bottle.)
Jesh said
If you laminate the picture (Staples? Your office?), you should be able to submerge it with no problems!
darlingbride said
Here is the explanation from the bride whose blog I found linked to the image. Hope this helps! I was thinking of doing two separate pictures and different sized mason jars on the table. I can buy brand new mason jars at my local grocery store, maybe you can too. I'm just trying to think of a cute way to hide the metal top!
http://augandeverythingafter.b…-jars.html
CrystalFB said
You can hide the tops with ribbon, felt, paper, anything like that. I really like the old beat up look I think that is great! I love the book idea, and the mason jar idea. I think I will do a combination of the two! Good luck!
salaciousD said
Here's her blog DIY; I suspect the yellow is lighting or from the herbs on the other side http://www.augandeverythingaft…on+jar+oil
and here are some colored oils.. http://glassdimensions.com/s.n…egory=-109
probably too late, but maybe it'll help someone else!
Katy said
I love the idea of 'did you know?' type things as center pieces!
I get hooked on all those books (I currently have The Book of Useless Information in the bathroom). I'm not sure if I'd want to do general trivia, which I could go on forever with, something wedding related (ie. 'Bride' is an old word Teutonic word meaning 'cook') or stuff about us as I'm sure there's a lot our family and friends don't all know (eg. 'Did you know Tony and Katy first met in an argument online? 5 years later it has yet to be resolved')
I'm not sure how it'd go over with everyone else, but maybe I could combine it with some other ideas. I especially like the felt flowers, and my sister makes felt. Maybe she'd be willing to make some I could turn into flowers.
Thanks for all the brilliant ideas. I know planning center pieces months in advance is the classic 'over thinking the wedding' thing but this time I think it's a good thing.
Uggh said
We're using flowering tea in clear glass teapots on top of clear glass warmers (with a tea light inside).
We'll drop the tea balls inside and pour the water when everyone sits down to eat so that the guests can watch the tea bloom.
Inspiration picture:
http://img.auctiva.com/imgdata…0977_o.jpg
Meghan said
That is such a cool idea!
Brookie said
Be prepared for people to consume your centerpiece!! I used Rainier cherries in vases as my centerpiece and was totally suprised when I made my rounds to see a lot of centerpieces half full. Funny!
Uggh said
We want people to consume the centerpiece! We're serving Chinese food with oolong and flowering jasmine teas to drink. When the tea is gone, our guests can toss in a new tea ball and some fresh water and watch it bloom again.
Offbeat Megan said
That is a REALLY awesome idea. Make sure you take pics of that. I'm kind of obsessed with those flowering tea leaf things since I saw something about them in Sky Mall (no joke). I also included them in my yummy wedding favor post.
Katy said
That is so cool. I've never seen those tea ball things before but jasmine tea is great, might have to track some down.
I also love the idea of useable/edible center pieces.
JE$S said
that is soooo cute and awesome! & cool gift for your wedding party as a take home!
Laura said
Awesome! Where did you get the glass teapots?
Uggh said
I've seen several online, but we're buying ours from little shops in San Francisco, where they were substantially less expensive. Amazon had the warmers for about $6.00.
Magenta said
Im using Moroccan lanterns as centerpieces. I will have four lanterns per table with candles inside. We are so excited with this.
Laura said
We're both musicians and got married last June. Along with daisies, we had flip-folder pages (used for marching band) tied with ribbon scattered on the tables. Each one had musician jokes, lyrics from songs, really bad puns,poems about love and/or music, etc. in them. (example Q:How many clarinetists does it take to change a light bulb? A: Just one, but he'll go through a whole box looking for the right one.) Very cheap to do, and fun to put together.
lindy shoes said
That sounds so fun. As a former marching band geek, I love it.
enigma said
Awesome!
What is it about marching band and bad puns?
Also: Q: How many trumpet players does it take to change a light bulb? A: 9 – one to change the light bulb, and eight to stand around saying "I could do that."
It's the only one I can always remember, ha ha.
lindy shoes said
Haha, that's fantastic!
Whit said
OMG! Hungry Hungry Hippos!! That's amazing.
Leehee said
We're using glass vases filled with origami cranes. Thought it would make an interesting replacement for flowers.
enigma said
That sounds really pretty!
Kate said
Oh, lovely idea! I've got a few hundred origami cranes that my students made me (I teach English in Japan), but I haven't sorted out what to do with them yet. I was thinking of just scattering them around the table, but vases would be interesting. I might scatter some too, as my students wrote messages on the wings and it would be nice to show them off.
Heather said
We had lanterns, and cards with the table numbers on one side, and on the other side, I split up the text from the story "I Like You" by Sandol Stoddard over the ten tables, and on each of those cards it started with continued from table #, and continued on table #, ending with the bridal table, so people had a reason to get up and walk around the other tables reading the story.
http://ginevra.vox.com/library…e-you.html
Kat said
That story idea is fantastic! I may just have to yoink it!
Laura said
Love that idea! We're doing a brunch with no dancing, and I really want a way to get people moving from table to table. Maybe even a trivia question with "go to table 6 for the answer"
A-L said
I love Heather's and Laura's ideas. They're awesome. I might have to steal them.
Cori Jessy- August and After said
Hi there! I'm the bride that used the oil filled Mason jars. If you're interested in how to do it I put a post together last fall that explains it all:
http://augandeverythingafter.b…-jars.html
Thanks for the feature, and love all the ideas!
Gracia Fraile Donet said
Please oh please help me find a tutorial for the felt&paper flowers! They are SO pretty!
Sara said
I love the fruit idea! It's such an easy way to get color and nature into the center pieces. I also like lanterns …. have you seen anything done with them that looks interesting and unique? And games on tables? So cool. Thanks!
Kate said
We used baskets of cookies for our centerpieces. They performed triple duty:
1.) The cookies were desserts!
2.) The cookies were favors, for those who wanted to take some away!
3.) They were centerpieces!
They were also a way to get my mom and "aunt" involved, because they made the baskets, and to get a friend involved, because she made half the cookies. (I made the other half.) It was my friend's idea, when at one point I lamented, "I don't know where *I* am in this wedding." She answered, "well, you always bring those ginger cookies for everyone." And she was right!
Photos in action:
One
Two
(Gues img src doesn't work in comments. Oops!
Stephanie said
Where have people found those log slices? I've looked, but not even sure what to search for.
Offbeat Megan said
My husband grabbed a couple of log slices from a "cut your own tree" Christmas tree lot. They were just lying around perfectly sliced like the photo above.
bluefrog said
Apples in a vase: so simple, yet looks awesome, AND is full of tasty apples!
Rachel said
We did vases with colored glass pebbles with branches from some dead trees we cut down in our yard and teasel that we had spray painted in our wedding colors.
Julie said
Jars of candy would be cute too esp. M&Ms or jellybeans or other colorful tiny candies. Or Reese's pieces for a fall wedding maybe? Okay, I'm drooling now.
DemonFayre said
My FH and I are doing candy as our centerpiece. It's a Halloween themed wedding so it fits right in. I think we're going with jelly beans or maybe those little candy pumpkins since we don't want anything chocolate melting.
Bonnie said
Maybe someone could help me with mine. I do want a sort of music theme wedding and know instead of numbers, I'd like to name tables after some of our favorite singers/frontmen (ex: Cornell, Weiland, Cobain, Reznor, etc), favors will be CDs of our favorite songs and the tables will have trivia about the bands etc. So, what should the centerpiece be? I'm stuck there.
Erica said
How about some bowls made out of old record (such as these ones http://www.wikihow.com/Make-Bo…yl-Records) You could DIY them or Etsy has a ton of them.
Bonnie said
I love that! And then I could fill it with something from here, like fruit. Awesome thanks so much!
My second choice would be the board games. Hmmm.
Offbeat Megan said
Records bowls were a suggestion in the first non-floral centerpiece post. And Shrie also wrote up a nice little how-to.
Tessa said
We are recycling our favorite paperbacks from two genres– trashy romance novels from me and sci-fi from him. These are also going to double as favors with bookmarks in them. Oh, and did I mention that I am a librarian so books are kind of a big deal at our house? I like that we aren't buying anything new, that we are supporting reading, and that it is a way to weed our own collections without having to throw them out/donate them to people who might throw them out.
Jenny said
Every centerpiece at our reception was different. We couldn't decide on a theme, so we gave each table its own theme – something that we both like. For example, we had a Halloween table, a Board Game table, a table about our dog, a table for the place we work (where we met). Each table had little trivia cards on it. They weren't exactly pretty, but they workd for us.
Kait Scott said
i love this idea!
Vixen said
We are making Tissue paper topiary's. Using all kinds of shades of purple and silver tissue paper, tulle and organza and whatever we think will look good. Did a teat run and looks great!
T'Rinaxxl said
I am making tissue paper flower bunches (the style they make in Mexico for Day of the dead) http://kindawonderful.typepad.…owers.html My Handfasting is in April but at Christmas you can often buy tiny little strands of battery operated LED lights and I plan to those into the bunches to light them
A-L said
We're probably going pretty simple. We have rectangular banquet tables, so there's not too much room for most centerpieces anyway. But we're doing taper candles and rose petals. Keeping it simple, affordable, with the focus on good conversation. Haven't figured out how we're doing table numbers yet, and I might have to steal some of the ideas in this thread.
M said
I love the mason jar picture centerpieces! How presh are they?! I also really dig the trivia idea. Having little facts about the history of weddings or cute facts about the couple is adorable! I'm so glad I haven't decided on centerpieces yet! ;]