Weddingbee Blog

One of the earliest decisions I made regarding our wedding was to use some kind of unique, vintage vases for our reception centerpieces. Shortly before we got engaged, I had started to collect hobnail milk glass. (Mr. Turtle even gave me the “wedding jar” piece to add to my collection on the night he proposed.) So between the sentimental value and the fact that it is white, I decided pretty quickly to use milk glass for our wedding! With this in mind, I began adding to my collection whenever I spotted a piece I liked for a good price at an antique store. When my mom heard about my growing collection, she began to scour eBay, randomly surprising me with more pieces! My personal collection still consists of my beloved hobnail pattern (the ones with the little bumps on them!), but in order to expand the collection for the wedding, my mom and I also added a lot of pieces we’ve liked that are not hobnail.

First the collection filled up my hope chest, (the one from the proposal). Eventually it grew to dominate our dining room. Oops! Here it is in all its glory:

Obviously some of the pieces (butter dishes, salt & pepper shakers, etc.) won’t be of much use for centerpieces, but some of my collection is not for the wedding, just for fun! All of the vessels that are vase/bowl-like are the ones I’m picturing with flowers in them.

I cut flowers all the time and put them in milk glass bud vases in my room. I love the simplicity of how this looks. The clean white form of the vase really accentuates the beauty of the bloom. They’re pretty, but not extravagant or over the top. Here are a few pictures of the flowers that make me smile at home:

I have a picture in my head of what I would like the centerpieces to look like, but I’ve had trouble finding inspiration pictures to represent it. Often, milk glass arrangements look too country for my taste, but I’ve seen it look very feminine and sophisticated, and that’s what I’m going for. Here are some examples I’ve found of flower arrangements in milk glass vases that I like:

(Photos from Style Me Pretty, but I Photoshopped the flowers pink (they were white) in the two pictures on the right.)

(Photo source: Style Me Pretty)

(Photo source: Once Wed)

(Photo source: Snippet & Ink)

(Photo source: Style Me Pretty)

So, this was part one in my effort to gather my centerpiece inspiration. Next up: an addition to the milk glass!

Is anyone else using milk glass vases? If you have any inspiration pics, please share!