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Remember how I didn’t want floral centerpieces? Yeah, well, like most things in wedding planning, things changed. My main reason for wanting non-floral centerpieces was the cost. Our large guest list and thus large number of tables means a lot of centerpieces. I had no idea centerpieces cost an arm, a leg, and sometimes a baby too!
So after much complaining from the Mamas, Aunts (geez… everyone), I decided to DIY something that would be easy to put together the night before.
Let’s start with the final product.
Three Gerberas wrapped in ribbon, stuck into some floral foam with daisies in a glass cube vase.
Cute right? It took a long time to get to this end. Here we go folks.
(1) Wrap some ribbon around your vase. I used my favorite sticky of all time (aka double-stick tape) to keep the ribbon in place. Never leave home without it!
(2) I cut the floral foam to fit the vase. I guesstimated here. Heck, I used a butter knife to cut it! This stuff cuts like butta. It also crumbles like burnt toast all over the place. So, put down some newspaper to catch it.
**Sorry, I forgot to take pictures of these next steps.**
(3) Take desired number of gerberas and wrap with ribbon of choice.
(4) Stick it in the middle of the foam.
(5) Stick the daisies into the foam to cover it.
This is what you end up with.
Wait for it… wait for it… waiting…
A couple hours later… THIS!
Stupid gerberas. What the heck man! They were dying on me. Mama Hot Wings to the rescue. She gave me a meat skewer to stick in the middle of the gerberas and told me to make it shorter. Yes ma’am.
Turned out better right? Like a little floral palm tree, no?
In the end, no one (including myself) really liked the end result. Auntie Flowers came over and turned the rest of my dying flowers into this cute little table display.
Then came the best part…
Auntie Flowers offered to do ALL of our wedding flowers! She hasn’t done flowers for a living in ages, but has won several small floral arrangement competitions at local fairs. She’s working up some inspiration for us! Yay! That’s one less thing on my to-do list.
Have you gotten any offers to help after a DIY fail?
Thank goodness for helpful aunts! Mine is doing our invitations!
Thank goodness for aunts! My aunt is making our wedding cake, she used to own a bakery and she is saving us a lot of money!
Aren’t aunts the best?! Mine has her own salon, and did my wedding day hair & my bridesmaids’ hair.
Our wedding is a total family effort, too. Thank goodness for being able to exploit your relatives 
My Aunts are going to help make the cookies for my dessert bar! Yay.. less that I have to make, freeze (somewhere) and transport!
@Miss Pudding: That’s basically how I think of it too! Thank goodness love is involved. 
What an awesome aunt! Can’t wait to see what she comes up with!
haha good effort still though! i actually like the simplicity of the ‘dying flowers’ in the vase. glad yr aunt’s gonna help!
So sweet of your aunt! Can’t wait to see what she does!
LOL- yeah I have family and friends save me from myself quite often. I’m glad they had the heart to tell it to you straight, and take the project off your hands so you can focus on other things!
A way to avoid droopy heads is to use floral wire to keep them in place - it kind of reinforces the stems. But really I think if you’re using gerbers you could do low arrangements that ran down the middle of the table so you don’t have to worry about that kind of thing. Like this: http://alwaysfabulousevents.blogspot.com/2009/09/daisy.html
@camrie: I totally agree. Like the last one my aunt ended up doing. No reinforcement needed.
I know it might be a silly question, but did you soak the floral foam once it was in the vase? Oasis is designed to hold water for hours and hours. Any flower would start to wilt like that without water. Otherwise, i would suggest wrapping the heads/stems in floral wire before wrapping them in ribbon.
@whitesonnet: Good question. I forgot to mention that step. I did soak it in water. When I re-cut the stems for the shorter version, they lasted A LOT longer than the first try. So maybe it had something to do with how I cut the stems originally.
Good choice. I always felt like gerberas are an excellent centerpiece choice, since they’re so pretty, friendly-looking, and cheap!
Hooray for auntie Hot Wings! Auntie Lace is also doing flowers for us. CHECK! I like checking things off the list!
Did you soak the foam in water?
Glad your aunt can help. Florists insert gerbera stems into straws all the way up to the flower head. You can use long wide straws from McDonalds or bubble tea. Use foam meant for real, not silk, flowers and soak the foam in water and flower food for a couple of hours before you use it.
That is such a win! Can’t wait to see how they come out!
Hoooray, Auntie Flowers! Can’t wait to see what she puts together!
yay for auntie flowers! sometimes a simple vase arrangement is all you need. i’m interested to see what she comes up with!
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Mrs. Hot Wings, Chicago/San Diego Age and Occupation: 28, Professor Fiance's Age and Occupation: 32, Instructor Engagement Date: December 20, 2008 Wedding Date: August 2010 Venue: Ocean View Villas/Jasmine Seafood Restaurant About Me: I am a psychology grad student living in Chicago and planning my wedding to a fellow psych grad student. I am a Sunny So-Cal bred gal who trudged across the country to follow her love of psychology and ended up finding a partner in the process. I am overly passionate about anything I involve myself with. I am an activist, a foodie, a reality TV watching junkie, an over-analyzer, a photography obsesser, and am utterly cheesy to the core. This is a story of what happens when a boy and a girl meet, fall in love over academic dorkiness, and a shared love for life. We (mostly I) are planning our semi-destination wedding in my hometown of San Diego. We are excited to bring our families and friends together from across our lifespans to celebrate our future in a grand 400+ person culturally blended affair!
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