Mrs. Lemon, Los Angeles/Monterey
Age and Occupation in 06: 26, Graduate Student (Public Policy)
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 29, Environmental Consultant
Engagement Date: April 7, 2006
Wedding Date: July 7, 2007
Venue: Rosary Chapel & Monterey Marriott, Monterey, CA
About Me: My FI and I met online, but we like to tell people that we met at a "cookie shop" which is the technical location of our first encounter. He proposed exactly 1 year, 1 month and 6 days after our first date (it's the only part of his proposal speech that I remember), and we're planning long-distance from Los Angeles for a July wedding in my hometown of Monterey, CA. I have a passion for all things "cool, cute and quirky" and I enjoy video games, reading blogs (WeddingBee, trashy celeb, consumer & political) and crafting in my spare time, if I have any!
DIY Details: Centerpieces
July 24th, 2007 @ 6:46 pm by Mrs. Lemon
The urge to DIY comes in many forms: wanting to save $$, putting your personal touch on your wedding, or creating something that you couldn’t have otherwise. My situation called for all three. When I saw the going rate for centerpieces ($50 for something I would laugh at and $300 for something I enjoyed), I resorted to taking care of the task myself. And here’s what I got:
Now this idea didn’t pop into my head out of thin air, but rather from a couple pictures I saw on a florist’s website that captured my eye. Candles, candle holders, flower petals.. got it! Not too hard! So, I set out to recreate the look my own way, and save some $$$ at the same time!
Step 1: IKEA (aka. my favorite place to spend a lazy Saturday afternoon)
It never hurts to think outside of the box as you walk around the gigantic store. I like to think of IKEA as a craft store and I’m ready to walk in and transform what they give me into something much cooler. So, instead of spending money on “vases” or “candleholders,” I bought lots and lots of drinking glasses. Total cost for the 160 glasses: $90. I also bought the tall ivory candles (another $30) from IKEA.
Here is my mock arrangement (without the votives):
STEP 2: More candles!
I performed a candle burning test and soon realized that standard tealights and votives weren’t going to hold up for 7 hours… so I went in search of some candles with longer burning times.
After doing some price research online, I chose to buy 100 soy tealights with 7.5 hour burn times from Moon Glow Candles ($35 shipped), and also 72 votives with 10 hours of burn time from cudge.net ($23 shipped).
Step 3: Flowers!!!
While I enjoyed the look of the rose petals, the amount of petals needed to recreate that look would be mighty costly. Plus, I wanted to enhance the golden glow of the candles, so I opted for my favorite flower: plumeria. I adore their smell and love the colors of the flower… it just brings back wonderful memories of tropical islands.
I chose to order 2000 loose plumeria from Molokai Plumeria for $200 shipped. I had ordered leis from Hawaii for various occassions before, and knew that shipping plumeria was an option, but a risky one. Plumeria are extremely perishable once exposed to the elements, so even if they survive to the big day, they wither quickly over time. While the perfect situation would have allowed the flowers to arrive via FedEx on Saturday, we were warned that if an agriculture inspector is late to Saturday inspections, then our flowers would not arrive on time. So just to be safe, the flowers arrived overnight on Friday, and my Dad took care to mist them and keep them in an ice bath until they were spread on the tables at 5pm.
Step 4: DONE!
In the end, the guests loved the centerpieces (especially the low height) and they added the most beautiful glow to the room that bounced off the windows in every direction. The total cost was $378, which was about $25 a centerpiece, including extra glasses and candles. So… cost effective and exactly what I wanted! 
I don’t even want to know how much a florist would have charged me to create the same thing… just to “rent” the materials. Plus, throwing plumeria into the air at midnight is lots of fun… even if the clean-up staff grumbles at you!
More photos of the centerpieces from guests:
42 Responses to “DIY Details: Centerpieces”
your centerpieces look amazing! I love how the plumerias compliment the candlelight so well.
Mrs. Lemon - I was wondering what you did with them after? We also hit up Mecca (aka Ikea, hehe) for our centerpiece components. I have no idea what to do with it all after the reception. Did you just leave it to be tossed? Did people take them? I appreciate the info!
PS Your tables look uh-mazing! 
Pretty, pretty, pretty, pretty, pretty!!! I was thinking of doing something rather similar, so I’m excited to see how beautifully it turned out for you…. (And now I may, um, “borrow” your flower petal idea, ha ha!)
Was wondering the same thing as Tricia … what did you do with so many glasses, etc., once the wedding was over?
Neat! DIY-ing the centerpieces is my *big* project so I appreciate all the ideas.
Brilliant! They must have smelled so good.
Beautiful centerpieces! Plumeria is such a wonderful flower- you did a great job!
cuteness! i’m going for candles in our centerpieces also, but i think i’ll be getting everything at moskatel’s in downtown LA, since i want lower candles/vases, and a floral arrangement in the center.
did a lot of people walk off with the glasses?
Wow. Beautiful. You are so creative.
That looks amazing! And for $25! Don’t you feel proud of yourself?
I also did my own centerpieces, they were also about $25. $15 for two dozen bridal white roses from freshroses.com. $4 for a 5″ a white frosted cylinder vase from Jamali Garden. $6-$7 for 6-8 pale yellow frosted glass cylinder votives with ivory candles. The hall added their own clear glass votives so each table was a little different. The roses were cut down to be quite low so the guests could talk. I thought about putting rose petals on the tables but decided it would look like the roses were falling apart! Got compliments on my florist’s nice job. And all the centerpieces went home with guests.
I
LOVE
IT
Plumerias are one of my favorite flowers too! You made something so simple look really beautiful and elegant. Great job!
Thank you thank you thank you for posting about plumerias! They are my absolute favorite flower ever but I had no idea how to get them because they are so risky! Now at least I can look into it! Thank you thank you thank you! You seriously made my day!!!!!!
Glasses instead of vases? BRILLIANT!!!
So freaking pretty!
You could have used the cut-off candle stubs from the other post today, eh?
They are beautiful…
Your centerpieces are absolutely gorgeous! What is that saying…imitation is the best form of flattery? *smile*
How many tables were you able to cover with your order of 2000? I’m planning to have about 20 tables and wonder if 2000 would be sufficient.
Also, how many glasses and votive holders did you use per table?
Thank you SO much for sharing!
so beautiful!!! great job!
thanks for sharing this tip! I’m planning a bridal shower and now I know where to get the plumerias! Also very beautiful centerpieces!
I love your centerpieces! they’re so beautiful and elegant! thank you so much for posting about the plumeria site!
Thanks for posting this. I’ve been undecided about my center pieces, but I’ve known all along I want lots of candles. Your centerpieces are so beautiful!
simple, beautiful, and cost effective. i love it!
I love it…they look amazing. I never would have thought to use drinking glasses instead of vases.
Thanks for the compliments gals! The glasses were boxed up for us at the end of the night (no one took them) in the same boxes we delivered them to the Marriott, and are currently in my parent’s garage. One of my cousins is throwing a huge 50th b-day bash in a couple months (and tenting her entire backyard) and asked if she could use them (she just called from IKEA yesterday and couldn’t figure out what I had done). So… that takes care of that!
As for the plumeria, you can also get them from Paradise Flower Farms on Maui. Each of these spots usually only ships to spots that get overnight deliveries from Hawaii… which is limited to the west coast. 
seriously? i’ll probably end up spending three times as much and it won’t look a third as good. you are the master!
You are a genius! Your centerpiece looked fantastic! I saw the plumeria site and it said 2000 was $275 — were you able to negotiate them down to $200 or did the price go up?
Helen - I had reserved my order last year, so I guess prices have gone up since then Still fantastic since the overnight shipping from HI is $75+ anyhow!
hello miss lemon,
I wanted to see if the german ikea has the same stuff since I am getting married in berlin next spring… would you mind giving me the names of the glasses so that I could check it out online? thanks so much!!!!
as a wedding/event planner i use IKEA a lot. two event so far i’ve used some kind of votive or vase to decorate the table. just recently was a wedding in august. it came out beautifully.
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Hey Mrs. Lemon- love the idea! I don’t know if anyone else got the response, but how many tables were you able to cover with 2000 blooms? I’m also considering “borrowing” the idea Thanks!
Thank you so much for sharing your beautiful ideas with all of us and for the information on how to use plumerias to get the most out of them. Sounds like you followed instructions well! Yes our prices have gone up, mostly because FedEx has gone up. We wish we had stock in the company!! One thing I did want to say, we DO ship to east coast all the time…for all you east coast brides.
Aloha, Aome, Molokai Plumerias
Wow that is brilliant use of flowers in these pics, I spent a lot and still did not get the look that u guys have.
Hi, Mrs. Lemon. I loved loved loved your idea, but Ikeas are currently no where near me right now. Could you think of any other stores that I could use the glass idea? Also, if I could get to an Ikea, what kind of glasses did you get from them such as the names of them?
This is so beautiful. My fiance and I both love them!!!! I have 2 questions if you don’t mind answering. Who set them up on your wedding day? And what did you do with them afterward? Again, they are so beautiful! Thanks for the idea!
This is a great idea. In order to add more color, I added colored sand and glitter to add color and dress up the glasses. I brushed on tacky glue (had to water it down alittle) to the glasses and sprinkled a mixture of colored sand and crystal clear glitter. Used 2 applications, waited til first application completely dry. This dresses up the plainest of glasses, vases, even plastic clear florist vases. You can use as many different vases as you like, since the sand application unifies the look! Hope this helps
Thanks so much for the pictures! Your centerpieces were beautiful! I, too, am not willing to pay what the florists are telling me centerpieces will cost, and I’ve been trying to figure out how to make my own (without them looking silly or cheap). And you’ve come up with the perfect solution!
Hi Mrs. Lemon,
I love your crafty idea here! An Ikea just opened near me and I would love to re-create your centerpieces. Could you tell me what types of glasses you purchased? Just general sizes or names if you have them, would be so helpful!
Thank you soooo much!
I love your centerpieces and I was thinking of doing something similar myself for my wedding this September. I never would have thought of buying glasses instead of expensive vases and candle holders from IKEA! Thanks for sharing your great idea!
OMG… Loves it!!! I have bookmarked this page and I am SO totally doing this for my wedding. I will probably use rose petals instead, but I am so hitting up the nearby IKEA and doing the glasses and candle thing. SO Gorgeous!!! THANKS SO MUCH!!
oh my! I’m so glad I stumbled across this blog! I’m in the process of planning a wedding, and DIY is the way I’m going. Thanks for sharing your beautiful ideas!
A-l-l-e-l-l-u-i-a! I looove the idea of using glasses! You are a genuis!
Bravoo! Work well done!!! Soo… excited will be getting glasses too!!!
