Home > Wedding Planning > Wedding Reception

Ideas For Do It Yourself Wedding Centerpieces

At your wedding reception, your wedding centerpieces will determine the mood of your party. Wedding centerpiece ideas range from fun and casual to elegant and chic and are considered the most important element of decoration at a reception dinner.

A great way to save money on your wedding budget is to do your own wedding reception centerpieces. If you keep it simple, you can have elegant centerpieces. Here some of the ideas of do it yourself wedding centerpieces.

Silver Flowers
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 perfect for a winter wedding. Looks stunning against a black or dark colored tablecloth.

Tissue Paper Mason Jars
Here are surprisingly elegant centerpieces that will cost around $10. Gather assorted mason jar of different sizes and wrap them in colored tissue paper, add a few flowers and you have cheap centerpieces.

Skip The Flowers
Consider using unusual things for your centerpieces such as peacock feathers, small sculptures, wooden carvings, glass vases full of beach sand or large rocks. By choosing things that can simply be arranged, you’ll save a ton of time and have do-it-yourself wedding centerpieces that everyone will remember.

Consider Fruits
A centerpiece of candles gives off romantic light and can easily be set-up ahead of time. Likewise, food can be used as an attractive yet functional wedding centerpiece. Consider an arrangements of tropical fruits including star fruit, pomegranates cut in half, melons and citrus. This would be a lovely summer wedding centerpiece with bright colors.

Mix and Match
Scour thrift stores, discount stores and garage sales for interesting looking vases. Mix and match several colorful vases in scattered arrangements for your centerpieces. Even drinking glasses could hold single stems. Add a few colorful flower stems and you’ll have a lovely bohemian look for your reception tables.

Flower Arrangements

After purchasing your flowers make sure to store your them in the coldest room possible. Ideally, store them in a closed off room that has a window air conditioner that you can leave on. To prepare your flowers for arranging, cut off all the leaves that will be sunk under water when they are put in your vases. Cut off at least an inch from the bottoms of the stems too, this will help them take up water. Wearing gloves and using a scissors is a must here, especially if you are dealing with roses—trust me, you’ll thank me later. You don’t want cut up hands right before your wedding. Also adding a teaspoon of clear soda (Sprite, 7up) works wonders for your flowers and the preservatives help keep the flowers fresh. You can also use a pinch of table sugar. Crushed aspirin also works to extend the life of your cut flowers.

Always remember to do a mock-up centerpiece a few weeks before the wedding so you are certain that it looks the way you envision. It is also a smart idea to enlist the help of a few friends if your centerpieces are labor intensive at all. With a little creativity and a little effort, you’ll have unique wedding reception centerpieces in no time!