Wedding Decoration
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Here’s what we had on hand, sort of:
We had these things on hand because I have been scouring the local thrift shop ever since the most amazing Son-in-Law-2-B EVER proposed to the entire family. They have half price sales and clearance sales regularly. I’ve been watching especially for silk ivy leaves and dark purple silk flowers. Whenever I see a container with dark green or purple glass discs, I snag it, and really, I just look for things that strike my fancy. Basically, I’ve been prowling for ingredients for decorating for the wedding and reception. I’ll decide what to do with them later.
The purple flower and the ivy both came from a much larger display of silk plants. I pulled out all the non-purple flowers and gave them Jenny for flower fairy dolls.
Oh, the paint chip in the background? Ignore that. I had a plan for it, too, but it didn’t work.
Here’s what I did with the above ingredients:
This is just an experiment- we may go with something different, but we kind of like this general idea. I also have some dark purple bath salts which could be used to fill the bottom of some small glass containers. We could keep with the garden label mode and do a variety of scriptures and scraps of poetry, or we can quote larger chunks on larger pieces of paper (in which I would go with computer printing instead of hand calligraphy) scattered on the table. I can also burn the edges a bit for a nice effect. Or we may dispense with the garden stake altogether and put the verses inside the container, up against the glass so it can be read.
If you didn’t need very much, you can make your own colored salts by grinding up a colored piece of chalk with regular table salt and mixing them well. Our general idea - right now- is more small, clear containers- we don’t care if they match or not, and some may well be mason jars or antique canning jars- colored beads, salt, or bath salts, some purple flowers or candles, and silk ivy along the center of the table. We don’t like tall centerpieces that hinder your view of the person across from you.
I don’t know why the garden ’stake’ looks like it’s blue in the above picture. It’s actually almost a perfect match to the flower. Here’s a picture with the flash to show the color more accurately:
We’re also thinking about growing some wheat or rye grass in small shallow containers for the tables. We may use candles, ribbon, and some antique china as well- we’re still in decision mode. We don’t feel like each table has to look exactly the same either. For instance, every table will probably have something similar to the above arrangement, but the clear glass containers will not all be the same shape. The purple flowers will vary- I have some silk violets, as well, and some silk asters, and some other dark purple flowers of an indeterminate species We’re trying to dry some live flowers, too, and we’ll have to see how that turns out.. Some tables will have purple vases with cream ribbon, and some green vases.
I have been collecting small picture frames for place settings- they each look a little different, but I’ll be painting the frames in the bride’s color theme before the wedding. So the shape and size will be slightly different, but the colors will make the settings compatible and unified.
There’s another ‘what’s in my hand’ item pictured above. The surface of my calligraphy/craft table is a bit of counter-top from my kitchen. The builder cut out a slab out for the kitchen sinks. I asked him to save it, and it sits on top of an old door, which rests on two filing cabinets for my craft desk.
I’m open to any ideas and suggestions anybody else has for decorating for a wedding and reception.
11 Responses to “Wedding Decoration”
August 8th, 2008 at 6:22 am
Beautiful! You know what I think would be pretty? Split up I Cor 13 into sentences and use each sentence on the “garden markers” in the votive holders! Then you wouldn’t have a whole lot on each one, but the entire message would still be present.
August 8th, 2008 at 7:55 am
If you fancy a sweet watch the color wrappings on the hershey’s kisses. Sometime soon there should be a package with purple wrappers, as always buy them on clearance. Then you can either put them a small basket somewhere or have someone walk around offering a kiss during the wedding or wrap them up two at a time in gauze/mesh tied with ribbon. Cute sayings somewhere: kisses for our guest, or those about love. For two weddings we did a finger food reception, at one we set the mesh bag at each seat and at the other passed around a basket after everyone seemed finished eating. Leftovers are good and can be carefully doled out for months after the wedding. It is a pleasant way to discuss memories after things have settled down.
August 8th, 2008 at 9:30 am
Great items! The only one I might think of changing out the popsicle stick for somethingmore organic, like a nice stick from a tree or garden.
August 8th, 2008 at 10:13 am
Melanie- that’s kind of what I had in mind. Stephanie, we have some cashew roca, which comes in wrappers so deeply blue that they are almost purple. They were marked down to 1.50 a bag. I really like the idea of having servers carry them around in a basket to offer them to guests.
August 8th, 2008 at 1:05 pm
Very pretty! I like The little “signs” in each pot. This is somewhat similar to what we did at our wedding. We also had artificial rose petals strewn about about on the table to help the tables look not quite so empty. I was able to get those, and a lot of our other decorations, from eBay for really inexpensive. Another thing we saved money on- making our own unity candle. It was actually pretty easy. We made it for $4.25- much better than the $20 price tag in stores. If you want to see pictures and directions, just let me know!
August 8th, 2008 at 9:46 pm
The last wedding I went to was simply decorated- but VERY elegant. They bought yards of cheap white netting and draped it everywhere with white Christmas lights and tucked in flowers and greenery. Simple candles on the table (mismatched) and some ribbon completed the look. It was beautiful.
August 9th, 2008 at 1:18 am
How about using some purple tissue paper, very cheap most places, to make a big flower for each table. Remember how we used to make the Kleenex carnations, fold several Kleenex together, put a bobbie pin, or paper clip in the center then spread out the pieces. They were beautiful and you could very easily adapt the idea to the tissue paper. Then instead of netting use green tissue paper on the tables.one sheet then put the tissue flower, and your other decorations on top of it.
August 9th, 2008 at 7:24 am
I love this idea…I wish I had seen it before our wedding last year. I will be filing this away, for future parties that I need to host. I think this would be cute at a baby or wedding shower.
Thank you for sharing your idea.
August 11th, 2008 at 2:28 pm
Love this idea—-very pretty! I like your flexibility in not having everything “match” perfectly. You’ll understand that better when I tell you my MIL and I got into a heated disagreement b/c she wouldn’t let me use a white serving platter at a bridal shower—the platters had to all be crystal or glass to “match”!
August 14th, 2008 at 6:47 am
It’s simple and sweet wedding decorations theme!!
August 22nd, 2008 at 10:09 pm
Very cute!!! It is so easy too. I absolutely love it.
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