Creative Centerpieces for Your Wedding!
By Heather Radford

The centerpiece of a wedding reception is just that, the “center piece” of what everyone will be viewing for what could be hours. You want to make your table centerpieces reflect who you are while adding elements of grandeur and creativity. So how do you go about deciding on your centerpiece of choice? Consider the following examples of centerpiece ideas, and make them your own!

Powerful Petals - Think beyond the everyday arrangements of flowers. Build topiaries in elaborate pots or a wreath of flowers to add dimension to the center of your tables. Consider even the idea of silk flowers, which can later outlive their traditional counterparts and be used as decoration in family member’s homes. Sprinkling flower petals around the arrangements will bring depth to the center of the table and keep guest’s attention longer. Feathers - Using feathers as centerpieces may sound crazy at first, but arranging feathers in conjunction with flowers will attract your guests’ attention. The feathers are lightweight, can be dyed any color and show great movement proving their worthiness on the reception tables. Even consider them for your buffet table placed in long vases for eye-catching appeal. Peacock feathers and ostrich feathers are great choices here. Fruit - Building topiaries of flowers is one thing, but imagine a topiary or pyramid of fruit. Especially for seasonal weddings, the appropriate fruits can be built into elaborate structure for the center of your tables. If your color scheme is yellow, incorporate lemons, bananas, or grapefruit. Combining fruit and flowers is great too! Plop fruit in a clear vase and having coordinating flowers spring from above.

Fish Yes, fish! Use clear bowls filled with water and a couple of gold fish as your centerpiece. Guests will definitely have something to talk about during your reception as they watch the goldfish swim around. If goldfish aren’t your cup of tea, think about placing one male betta fish in a vase with a plant. Only use one betta because the males will fight each other if placed in the same territory.

Bring in the Baskets In today’s world, baskets come in all shapes and sizes, and utilizing these aspects can play to your advantage. Pick out baskets that portray your theme and fill them full of your desired item whether it is flowers, feathers, favors or more! Line the baskets with potpourri and place personalized soaps and candles atop it for guests to take home as favors!

Vases Use multi-sized vases as centerpieces. The vases can reflect your wedding theme and be centered alone or accompanied with flowers, grasses, or feathers. Each tabletop arrangement can vary in size and design to give a uniqueness about every table. Consider underwater lighting in clear vases, or floating flowers atop the water. People will simply wonder around to view what the different tables have a top them!

Candles Candles will never go out of style and now with a variety of sizes, colors, shapes, and aromas, candles can fit into any wedding these days. Try placing the candles into elaborate candelabras or candlesticks and set a romantic atmosphere. Other ideas include placing the candles atop mirrors to reflect the light, floating them in watered vases, or encapsulating them within lanterns. Either technique will set the scene for your reception!

Tiered Goodies Building on those candy-holics, choose centerpieces that give in to temptation. Candy bouquets with lollypops and oversized stemmed candies, chocolate towers, cookie towers, individualized wedding cakes and other sweets are great ideas for putting a twist on your table centerpieces.

Themed Centerpieces While the theme of a wedding should be clearly consistent throughout all aspects of the wedding, building centerpieces that reflect your theme or your personal tastes are an option. Coffee beans in clear vases, wine bottles, birdhouses, sand castles, seashells, glass stones or river stones, or even a wishing well for guests to put their “best wishes” for the new couple are possible. It’s your wedding, so create a centerpiece that reflects you.