Wedding Blog
As you can probably tell by my previous posts, planning for me has been a lot of trial and error.
Centerpieces were no exception! While I have long considered myself a crafty person, I have never crafted any invitations, or thank you notes. I’ve never tried my hand at favors or cake toppers or veils. And I have certainly never tried to make a floral centerpiece! I am a bit embarrassed to show you my first try at centerpiece making, but I think it’s important to see that not everything turns out quite the way you envisioned it. When I first joined the wedding blog world, everything looked so gorgeous, and I was often disappointed when my projects didn’t turn out like all the pretty pictures I saw.
I knew from the start I didn’t want many cut flowers at the wedding. I wanted to rely more on herbs from our garden, succulents, and different varieties of ferns (including fiddleheads, my favorite). After an early morning trip to the flower mart for ferns and floral foam, I settled in to create my first ever work of floral art!
That is what I came up with. Not completely horrible (I did display it in my house for a week or so) but not at all what I was going for.
It was also HUGE, busy, and bushy, which won’t work with our family style tables and meal. I started looking for something a bit more streamlined and contained, and ended up jumping on the bell jar bandwagon.
While these examples are nowhere near perfect, they are definitely more in line with what we want on our tables. We recently picked up several flats of baby succulents, a few of which will make it into our apothecary jars. By late summer our rosemary plants should be huge, and I have been collecting mason jars for months. We can’t afford a florist, but we can afford a 5 AM trip to the flower mart the day before the wedding! We are doing all of the flowers, centerpieces, and bouquets ourselves, with a LOT of help from friends and family.
Are you saving some cash and doing the flowers yourself? Or skipping floral centerpieces for something that works better with your aesthetic?
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Share this post: Project: Centerpiece Trial and Error!
I love the bell jars! And fiddlehead ferns, obviously!
Great job 
Thanks for sharing the mishaps, too!
I love fiddlehead ferns, I wish they had a place in our wedding. And I love that your not crafty but are willing to do so much DIY. You make girls like me feel like we have a chance
You are definitely rocking those centerpieces. I’d say a great start! We are skipping the floral centerpieces and opting for pinneapples instead. We are rockin it aloha style.
Ummm I LOVE THIS! Hello awesome centerpiece ideas
I love these! How can you say they’re no where near perfect?!?
I love the idea of going to a flower mart and picking everything out and making the bouquets. Anybody know if there’s anything like that near Chicago??
Maybe you can find something natural to make the table numbers out of. Perhaps a distressed piece of wood you can paint on. I also love the pink contrast to the “natural” colors. If it were up to me, I would look for other natural ways to a little splash of color into each of them.
I love the combo of succulents/herbs & bell jars. LOVE the bell jars.
@kmattso2: I was a Chi-town bride, & we used Costco roses (and assorted other mixed Costco bouquets) & Home Depot potted orchids. You should pre-order everything, but you don’t have to. I don’t know if there is anything like a flower mart in Chicago. (I thought you had to be a card-carrying florist or something to go to a flower mart.) I am selling a thorn stripper and an almost full can of ClearSet if anyone in Chi is interested in doing their own bouquets!
succulents work well in that sort of arrangement as well. like hens and chicks… just a thought
Very cute! I like them a lot.
And, we’re doing manzanita centerpieces (small ones , 10 - 14 inch branches) to save on the floral budget.
I love the succulents/bell jars/herbs combo. It’s so relaxed and cool.
The bell jars are so cool!
I love the idea of using herbs…and they will smell so yummy! I love when rosemary is put in arrangements…smells so delish…
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Mrs. Sprinkle, Los Angeles
Age and Occupation: 26, Preschool Teacher
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 30, Television Production/Writer
Engagement Date: December 24, 2008
Wedding Date: September 2009
Venue: The Marvimon House
About Me: I'm a Bay Area native trying to create a life for myself (and my fiance, and our three cats!) in the vast city of Los Angeles. I love vegan red velvet cupcakes, pilates ,and mid-century furniture. Mr. Sprinkle and I met when my band toured through his city (we bonded over cake and a mutual love of Morrissey) and we are getting married on the four year anniversary of our first date. When I am not teaching preschool (or blogging!) you can find me perfecting recipes, petting kittens, hiking in Griffith Park, and overusing exclamation points. We are planning a vegan, green-as-possible, DIY wedding, and I couldn't be more excited to share all of the details!
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