Five Easy Do-It-Yourself Wedding Centerpiece Ideas
What's a great way brides are saving money on their wedding budget? Doing their own wedding reception centerpieces, of course.
If you keep it simple, you too can have elegant centerpieces without breaking the bank. Here are five quick ideas to get you started.
Shimmering Silver
This is probably the cheapest do-it-yourself centerpiece of all! Gather up branches, driftwood, leaves or pine cones. Spray them with metallic silver spray paint and arrange in the center of the tables. Add a few tea lights and you have a shimmering centerpiece that's perfect for a winter wedding. This looks stunning against dark linens!Tissue Paper Mason Jars
Here are surprisingly elegant centerpieces that cost under $10. Gather assorted mason jar sizes and wrap them in colored tissue paper, add a few flowers and you have cheap centerpieces. Or skip the decoupage, and fill with bright colored water to match your palette.
Skip the Flowers
Consider using unusual finds for your centerpieces, like peacock feathers or small sculptures, wooden carvings or pretty teacups, vintage books or glass vases full of beach sand, or even interesting rocks.By choosing things that can simply be arranged, you'll save a ton of time and have unique do-it-yourself centerpieces everyone will remember.
Think Functional
Pillar candles of varying heights give off a romantic light and can easily be set up ahead of time in an environment that's not too drafty. Or, turn to food as an attractive yet functional centerpiece. Consider arrangements of tropical fruits — including star fruit, pomegranates cut in half, melons and citrus — for a lovely summer centerpiece sporting bright colors.Mix and Match
Scour thrift stores, discount stores and garage sales for intriguing vases to mix and match colorfully. Even drinking glasses could attractively display single stems. Trim with scraps of lace for a sweet vintage touch. Add a few long stems, and you'll have a lovely bohemian look for your reception tables.Helpful tip: always remember to do a mock-up centerpiece a few weeks before the wedding, so you're sure it lives up to your vision. It's also a smart idea to enlist the help of a few friends if your centerpieces are at all labor-intensive.
With a little creativity and a little effort, you'll have unique wedding reception centerpieces in no time!
I am getting married 11/08/08 I still haven’t found my centerpieces. I am having a wedding reception with 21 round tables. I am looking for something in expense and I am not sure what to do. I have square mirror tiles. I have also decorated my votives to look as though they are sitting in a red rose and will sit two on each table. However it still is missing something. mY colors are red, black, & White. I don’t want it to look Christmasy/ like valentines. please help i’ve found alot of items that i probably could use on dollartreedirect.com but don’t know what to do with them my mind goes blank. please help
What if you placed a clear vase in the center and filled it with all red m&m’s or black beans – something that would be eye-catching. You could then place some flowers on the top in the other wedding color.
Or you could make white chocolate and dark chocolate lollipops and stick them in the vase. Fill the vase with red flower petals for an added effect with foam underneath that goes unseen. Guests can take a lollipop during the reception one at a time so that at the end, you don’t have alot of picking up to do after it’s over.
Lastly, how about floating candles? You can fill a round vase with water (and even put little crystals or lights in the bottom) and then put some floating candles in your wedding colors in the bottom. That way when you light your votive holders, you can also light this which would reflect off the mirror. You can also throw some crystals on the mirror part for an added effect.
If you need any help, let us know. We can find some of this for you if interested.
I like Lissette’s ideas. Or you could get some cheap silver 8×10 frames from the dollar store and print off lyrics to your favorite love songs to put in them. Each table could have a diferent song. And then you could place the frame on the mirrored tile with the candles next to them so the mirror reflects the light off of the candles around the frame. If this still looks to plain you could sprinkle rose petals on top of the mirror too or just put two crossed roses across the mirror with red or white ribons on them.
This is a variation of what I am doing for my cousin’s wedding. Her colors are Black, white, and Fuschia. So i got some scrapbook paper (12×12) in face designs of those colors and layered them in the center and cut lengths of fuschia, and black ribbons and layed them across it before putting the frame with her favorite loves songs on it (shes a music teacher thats why we went with a musical accent) and i will put rose petals, tea light candles, and hershey’s kisses sprinkled around it. The estimated cost is about $100 for 25 tables. Hope this idea helps!
oops! My comment was supposed to say “fancy” not “face” designs. lol! The ones I have are lace prints and rose prints and some silk prints. You can even put some real lace over it if you’d like the paper to show through. Or paper doilies work well too. So many ideas!
I’m making my own centerpieces for my October 11 wedding. One word – wheatgrass. It’s so very cool…
Here’s what I’ve done – I collected tin cans (large, medium and small) and I wrapped them in beige burlap. I bought ribbon to match my wedding colors to wrap around the burlap. I bought really dark potting soil and I bought wheatgrass seeds online.
The wheatgrass literally takes 1 week to be at centerpiece growth. I have 20 round tables, plus other tables to decorate, too. The grass is light green and very simple to do and looks SO modern and cool! My fiance loves it…and it’s so inexpensive.
I’m placing smaller ones throughout the reception (which is outdoors) and I’m also putting a lot of votive candles on the tables with small glass containers of candy that matches my wedding colors, as well.
I’ve got lots of ideas…! I spent less than $100 on all my centerpiece stuff…
Kylie, great idea! I love wheatgrass and those are great directions for DIY. You make it sound easy.
I hope you share more of your centerpiece ideas …
here are some wheatgrass wedding inspirations from google and flickr. Wheatgrass makes bright colors look incredibly festive, or, it can give a subtle asian feel if you use it with white, natural materials like wood or bamboo and a few branches or orchids. If you’re growing wheatgrass in clear containers you can wrap a thick ribbon around the bottom of the glass to conceal the soil.
I also like your wheatgrass suggestion! it goes great with the whole “green” wedding idea. You could even have wheatgrass teas and smooties too! Or if you weren’t planning on keeping them afterwards you can spray some glitter in them like they do with artificial (and sometimes real nowadays) flowers. So they catch the light in the breeze. It would be gorgeous!
I have seen glass rocks (the ones with a flat bottom) placed around the mirrors to carry the centerpiece out a ways. I would also suggest something that would add a little shine; such as crystals. As long as you pick one main color and use the others as accents it will not look like a holiday themed wedding. Too much of every color will make people think red and white only, Valentines. But red with white accents would show elegance.
Hi, I hand-make favors and centerpieces for weddings and such at Your Moments Created. So, I thought I might share with you a centerpiece that’s been a hit with our brides and you can do it yourself! Just buy 4 clear glass, small, square candle holders at Walmart for about 68 cents each or such.
Buy one matching square vase that’s taller than it is wide (also at Walmart for less than $10). Also purchase either a handful of real flowers or fake flowers, and 4 matching color small candles. Lastly, buy a bag of coffee beans at your local shopping mart. Not ground, but actual beans. Fill up each small candle holder halfway with coffee beans. Then place the small candle in the center. Do this to each candle holder. Than fill the tall square one with foam or moss and drop coffee beans all around the foam so that it looks like you filled the entire vase with beans. Now place your handful of flowers in the center. It’s a beautiful centerpiece that anyone can definitely appreciate! See our picture to confirm!
We do alot of affordable centerpieces and favors so if we can help anyone out, contact us at YourMomentsCreated.
I found this image on google, so sorry for not crediting it, but I love it! Gumball topiaries- colorful, playful, cute and artistic. They would be easy to create with mini gumballs.
I know I used some a while back as party favors and they were a hit- We also incorporated gumballs in the candy buffet. I got mine at Gumball.com and the service was excellent. I believe using the half inch ones glued to little balls on sticks with ribbon and terra cotta pots would be great!
Good luck with all your planning!
Hi Sonja,
My wedding was outdoors, so for my centerpieces, I bought annual flowers from a nursery and planted them in cute, inexpensive containers. It made for a great centerpiece because it went right along with the season I had my wedding during and after the wedding guests could take home a centerpiece to plant in their garden (the few that weren’t taken at the end of the wedding I gave to my mother-in-law, who also planted them). That way guests (or you) can plant your new marriage in the garden after the wedding and watch it grow and bloom!
Another idea from a girlfriend is that if you have a Trader Joe’s (it’s a grocery store chain) in your area, they sell minature rose plants that come in a cute tin container. They cost 3.49-3.99 each and are adorable. You can order them ahead of time to have the tin match your color scheme or just go with a shiny tin that looks great when surrounded with votive candles because the light shines off of them and they sparkle. These can be planted too after the wedding (I have one in my yard from my friend’s wedding two years ago. Cute, huh). My only advice is that I would get them or have them delivered to the store 2-3 days before the wedding because they don’t last in the containers for too long. My friend got them a little over a week before and had to replace many of them (we also had a heat wave of 115 that week, but hey, better safe than sorry!).
Just a thought…
Dear Denise,
The newest trend is to have a cake made of styrofoam and covered to look like a real cake. Only the top layer is made of edible materials so the bride and groom can still do a cutting ceramony and save the top layer for their 1 year aniversary. They then have regular sheet cakes that they cut and serve the guests. It’s much more affordable!
You could do your daughter’s cake this way also so that she could have cake to serve her guests while having the top teir of the faux cake made of something she can eat.
I am getting married the last weekend of August, 08. We are planning on having finger foods , so far I haven’t done anything except for a few things, I would like for reception to simple but elegant on a low budget. I am wanting to do my centerpieces myself—-any ideas.
My soon to be Sister in law and i did my center pieces i am getting married Aug 9th 2008 all we did was fish bowls with glass stones and floating candles. my sister is gonna go from the wedding to the hall to fill them with water. My soon to be sister in law is also making my bouquets for me. i wanted to do everythign myslef cuz it is cheaper
Great ideas!!! I love helping people be more creative and have helped many people with do-it-yourself centerpieces for their Bar/Bat Mitzvahs or weddings. I will defintely pass this information on to them.
Hi Kelly, a few ideas for you from some of the cooler uses of grapevine I’ve stumbled across lately!
Pic #1: the small placecard holder (grapevine ball) is a DIY project by Tricia at WeddingBee. She glued rings on the bottom and cut a slit in the top to hold the cards. You see a lot of grapevine "orbs" on tables now, a very contemporary, rustic and appealing look!
Pic #2: Brides went wild with the grapevine orb idea, making really large ones covered with twinkle lights and hanging from the ceiling. Extremely chic, I love it!
#3: This is Mrs. Radish’s DIY grapevine ring pillow, too sweet for words. She only had a few minutes to put it together, but the result looked great.
Okay, second row pics. #1 is an adorable "birds nest" decoration hung from trees with lovely satin ribbon. This from an incredible StyleMePretty wedding.
Pic #2 is a delicious chocolatey-looking grapevine monogram wreath, also from StyleMePretty. After seeing this, most other wreaths look kind of blah to me!
Finally, Pic #3 is a centerpiece from Michelle Rago. No grapevine here, but you could cover slender square cylinders like these with a base fabric, then wrap the entire thing in grapevine like she has with natural fibers. Wiring mini-fruits like a belt is a gorgeous touch, you could use berries, pods or small green apples.
Just some ideas … you can also use grapevine as a beautiful swag along fences, aisles or head table chairs (try combining with a floaty organza fabric). You can also arc it over floral designs in vases like you see so often done with bear grass, very simple and rustic. This CP at brides kind of shows what I mean. Hope that helps!
Hey All!! I am getting Married this september and I am really looking for some centerpiece ideas that I can do with my girlfriends!!! I have a whole bunch of flower vases and I also have grapevine!! Any ideas!? I am wondering what I might be able to do with the grapevine because its really pretty! My colors are the fall colors and my girls dresses are Latte! Any help would be greatly aprreciated! THANKS!!!
Can you tell me what the centerpiece above is and where I might be able to find it or something like it (the one with the green things popping out of the white rocks)? I’m doing brown and green wedding and wanted to go with an “earthy” feel for my centerpieces, without spending much money. Thanks.
i need help with centerpiece and i wanted it green.
Well, I was going to answer this individually and then decided perhaps to you collectively would be better! Whenever I’m designing for a bride, one of the questions I ask is “where is your favorite vacation spot” … the reason I ask this question is that, being a destination designer, it’s important to know WHY they chose our destination. Many times, Puerto Vallarta is not their favorite destination choice but was a destination which was affordable. Their answers help me to create an ambiance which they will love – whether their favorite destination was Italy or Spain or Napa Valley I can bring that feeling into their wedding, but still mix-it with the area we are in!
So, my suggestion to you when you are trying to plan centerpieces and decor, is to list some things that either you as a bride know about yourself and your groom (or as a helper in the creation of the wedding list about the bride and the groom) love … aside from colors you need to list flowers, songs, movies, favorite vacation spots, things you love to do together – the list is endless but I think you will begin to see a pattern emerge.
After you’ve done that, then you can start planning on how to really specialize the little details – the centerpieces, the tablecloths, the placecards, etc. around the things that make the two of you a couple!
So, my suggestion to Andrea would be to find hearts made in a way that isn’t Vday heartlike but more artsy heartlike – I would turn to art, photography, those sorts of things in order to plan on how to incorporate the hearts without being cheesy. You could do willow branches shaped into hearts for the middle of the table, with apple green chiffon overlays. I would do a slightly different shade of green for the napkins and then use the red color as accents – instead of the focus. Instead of doing typical chocolate and flowers, I would try incorporating the hearts in ways the bride and groom would love but their guests would not expect and that’s hard to know without knowing the bride and groom … i.e. here in Vallarta I would paint some artistic hearts on marracas or, perhaps, find some funky pewter heart charms to tie around napkins both as an accent and as a favor.
For cornflower and ivory … glass containers filled with rocks and either ivory gerber daisies or roses would look really nice. Perhaps buy some inexpensive bowls that you can paint a cornflower blue to float tealights in. Or you could fill the glass bowls with rocks and water, color the water a cornflower blue and float tealights and between the glass bowls place heads of ivory gerber daisies – sortof like a runner. With cornflower napkin accents, I think that might look really nice. But, like I said, adding accents which really represent the bride and groom as a couple will help you come up with some amazing ideas.
Re: the caribbean … the wedding theme is built into what makes you and your groom a couple – what are the things you love to do, love to listen to, like to visit … why are you choosing the caribbean in the first place … what sort of experience do you hope to encounter there – what would you like your guests to experience? Once you’ve decided those sorts of things, I think a wedding theme will be a lot more evident.
I would highly recommend against tall centerpieces. People can’t see and, if your wedding is outside, you are going to compete with wind (or the chance of wind) and having the problem of them blowing over. I think short to medium centerpieces are a lot better. If you really want to make your wedding tropical, you might try bamboo runners and short centerpieces filled with local tropical flowers like ginger, lilies, etc. I would research what’s popular in the caribbean – look-up photos of the area and, from those, decide how you would like to decorate your tables so you really get a feel for the local culture of wherever it is you are at.
hope that big long message was helpful and best of luck to all of you on your wedding day (or the day for those you love!).
-mishka
Hi,
I am getting married in January 2009 in the Caribbean and I am having trouble on deciding on a wedding theme and what are the pros and cons on tall or short centerpieces suited foe tropical islands.
Please help I do not know where to start!!!!!!!:((
My friend wants to have a fall wedding. But we are having a hard time picking out centerpieces. Her colour are midnight blue burnt orange.
My daughter is getting married in November of 08, her colors are cornflower and ivory, which I am having a very hard time trying to make centerpeices for her tables, which she wants flowers and glass containers and tee lights, I am lost and new at this, any help will be greatly appreciated. I want to do them myself because I and her are doing all the corridornating.:-?
My brother in law and sister in law are renewing their vows on Valentine’s day next year. I am the matron of honor. Their theme is Valentine/hearts and the color is apple (a little darker than red, ,not as dark as burgandy. I need some ideas for favors and center pieces (cute not cheesy). The wedding being on Valentine’s day I was thinking of incoporating chocolate, candy, flowers. Any ideas?
Thank you so much,
Andrea
Dear Jessie,
Hello! Well, the very first thought that came to mind was using watermelon! I’m not sure if you’re a “not a fruit bride” but, if you like the idea, I think it could look really great! You would just scoop out the insides of the watermelon and then fill it with some fresh flowers – an inexpensive flower that would look great would be alstromeria and they come in a variety of colors!
We did an orange, green, fruity type of wedding a while back (but I haven’t posted these photos to a gallery yet), so I’m attaching a few just to give you an idea. We also hollowed out pineapples and put big pillar orange candles in them and, at night, they looked fantastic and smelled amazing! (I’m not a good nighttime photographer so, unfortunately, I don’t have a good photo).
Another idea you might try would be filling a fish bowl with salt, placing pink mums around the edge and then, in the middle, you add a small glass vase with water and a few gerbers in your colors … I’ve attached a photo example of the idea of that as well!
have a great wedding!
warmest regards,
mishka
I’m getting married August 22nd, 2008 and i’m looking for some inexpensive, fun centerpieces and i could create with some friends. My colors are watermelon and honeydew and I want something fun and bright, very summery but also fun to make. Any suggestions?
Denise, I’m not educated on the fine points of celiacs, but could you make a rice krispies treat-style cake for your daughter … you know, marshmallows and margarine and all that? It would be sooo sturdy so you could really go to town architecting and decorating it. Plus, everyone loves rice krispies treats!
Here’s a great post on a krispies cake from Jennifer’s Blog. Not a wedding cake, but pretty cool. Then, check out this adorable R/K wedding cake from Oklahoma Sugar Artists.
You could also take a page from this cake artist, Layers of Love, and have the bottom layer rice krispies and the other layers traditional cake! Verrry clever. HTH!
Hi Tina, welcome.
You sound a little overwhelmed already! Let your daughter know you’re happy to help, but need a lot of imput from her. Everyone is usually pretty happy to give their opinions, you know? Most of all the bride!
Find out things like:
The budget you have available.
… which determines the guest list you can accommodate.
The season … does she have a time of year she’s in love with?
Once you have these worked out, you can choose a venue.
Once you have a venue nailed down & the contract signed, this helps you know what color schemes might work best, given the decor there.
See if your daughter has a theme in mind. Really get her to cough up a picture of what she imagines. Ask her to clip photos from bridal magazines and put them together on a page or two for you.
Once you have all this, get a list of “things to accomplish before a wedding.” There are hundreds of ‘countdown’ lists on the web. Just get a good list and check off each item, one by one. It will start to come together. Don’t do this all yourself! This is a lot of work … it takes 250 hours on average to plan a wedding. And definitely MORE hours if you plan a lot of do-it-yourself elements. The bride needs to be a big part of this!
Hopefully this will get you started … come back with more questions any time!
Hi Stacie, is there something specific you need to do with the gel? Because you can float candles in water-filled fishbowls no problem, you just need to buy the candles designed for floating! You can also tint the water, which can be a really nice touch with some color schemes.
my 20 year old daughter is getting married in oct 2008 and i have no idea how to even begin to plan a wedding and she wants me to do most of it im not crafty im not girly and i feel like im lost help please
i am getting married aug 9th 2008 and i am trying to find instrucations on floating candles in the fish bowls doen with the gel that the candles float on if you have one please let me know
Hey I am getting married in August and am looking for a unique inexpensive Idea for centerpieces that I can do with some friends or something?
Hi my daughter is getting married in April. I would like to make her a fun wedding cake out of rice cakes as she has celiacs so she can”t have a regular cake! Any ideas??
HI. I am getting married in my parents back yard this August..it will be a very simple garden wedding but I want something really unique & beautiful for the centerpieces.
My colors are sage, pink & ivory.
Any ideas???
3 more! 1st, a cute silk design (I think the orange looks great against the feathers) …
Then, some innovative entryway decor combining feathers with copper wire … I love this look.
Finally, a hasselblad photo to die for of another peacock bouquet with a lot of peacock hues worked into the actual flowers, and the shape of the feathers echoed in taller blooms.
Finally, check out the peacock moodboard on wedsmack just for fun.
Jacqueline — a couple ideas for you!
First, a peacock feather wreath centerpiece idea. You could also wrap pillar candles in satin ribbon (say, teal and bronze) and use the tips of feathers to create a gorgeous design.
Then, a tower centerpiece from an Asian-style wedding. Obviously you see this motif a lot in Asian-influenced areas, so Australia is pretty mad about peacock decor in weddings (so am I).
Finally, here’s a fun table design from a Texas wedding planner, courtesy of AustraliaEntertains. A few more up after this!
Hey! I’m trying to incorporate peacock feathers into my flowers and center peices for my wedding. Does anyone have ideas on do-it-yourself’s, or web sites, etc? Thanks!