DIY Centerpieces: Trial

Last week I had a few hours to kill between work and a Bible study. Due to high gas prices (We're up to $4.99 a gallon here in Knoxville, and we're reported to have a shortage. It's been a bit of nightmare, actually.) I opted to avoid driving home to then drive back toward work for the Bible study.

Alas, the best laid plans for saving money were spoiled when I decided to spend my vacant hours wandering around a few of my favorite discount stores in search of wedding-related items.

My first stop was to Big Lots. Now, I have to say that this isn't my favorite store in terms of atmosphere. Sometimes I feel like I need to shower after I've been in there. But boy, do they have deals. It was totally worth the heebie-jeebie feeling when I found these great candle scape rocks. At other stores, including discount super-stores, 16 ounces of these shiny glass rocks are about $4 each. Not here. At Big Lots I got the awesome stones you see pictured for just $2 a bag. Plus, I also got two 24-ounce jars of clear rocks for the $2 price tag. I'll probably be going back to buy out the rest of the rocks later in the game. They're exactly what I was looking for. I'll have more photos of rock implementation in a later post!

So after the Big Lots adventure, I headed to Carolina Pottery. If you've never experienced a Carolina Pottery (or Old Time Pottery, or the recently-out-of-business-much-to-my-heartbreak Dixie Pottery) you're missing out. Such stores are warehouses of goodness for ridiculously low prices. My mom & I picked up 8 glass globes that we'll be using in our centerpieces at Old Time Pottery a few weeks ago for a mere $1 each. We bought out the globes at Old Time, and we still had 6 tables to go, not to mention others that I'd want scattered (in the bathrooms, on the guest "book" table, on the food tables, etc). Moral of the story, I needed more globes. So, I stopped into Carolina Pottery to see if they had something comparable. Sure enough, they did. And though the globes here were a buck fifty, I bought one to compare with the eight we already had. If they worked, I'd head over and buy the remaining 5, and any others I found necessary! Also, Mom & I had scouted Carolina Pottery a few months ago, and we found these cool tall vases that I really liked. Since I was there, I picked one of those up, too, just to test them out.

Now that I had the rocks, the globe, and the vase, all I needed was flowers to complete my trial run at centerpieces. Off I went to Kroger, whose floral department is quite possibly my favorite. I found gorgeous white hydrangeas, which just so happen to be the blooms I have in mind for the globes. I also grabbed some white daisies, as the BM bouquets will have Gerber daisies, and I thought it might be nice to see what they looked like. Lastly, I got some white alstromeria, because, well, they're cheap. But these flowers seriously last forever, and I really like them in general, so I decided they were a good investment.







So, the photos, all from my awesome camera phone, show you the different centerpiece options. What do you think? Do you have any other suggestions?

-Amore'

And we have flowers!

Mom & I spent the day yesterday doing wedding things. It was so nice to take a break from all the crazy traveling I've been doing and just think about my wedding. The first stop on the list was a florist, Susie's Pretty Petals. The website's not that great, but her prices are phenomenal, and I love what we came up with for my florals. 

The quest for gorgeous florals has been an interesting one. First, I wanted all whites.

 Period.

 No greens. No nothing. Just whites. Then Momma Amoré brought up the point that all-white flowers wouldn't show up well against my all-white dress. Then, once I saw Financial Bridesmaid wearing her dress, I realized that I needed color in the BM bouquets as well. So, I started looking for something I liked. Knowing that my palette is navy & sage, and knowing that "navy" is not-so-much a flower color, I decided to stick with greens and whites. Fo

r good measure, I thought some yellows might be nice to add. Still analogous, soft, and

 hopefully gorgeous. However, I just couldn't find "my" bouquet in photo form. Here are some of my inspirations. 

(all from the knot)

So, going off of these general ideas, Momma Amoré & I met with the florist. I felt like such a huge pain in the butt, because I kept changing my mind in the course of the meeting. I had sent her an image that I said I really loved, and by the time we go there, I had decided that I didn't really love it anymore. Plus, we are not using boutonnières for the wedding party (more on that later). But, half way through, I realized that we needed bouts for the dads and my grandfather. And I've since realized that I'll want bouts for the cousins who will be helping with the guest

 book and programs. So I've got to call her and add those, too :)

But, Susie was incredibly nice and very helpful. She's a wedding coordinator, too, so she had lots of helpful advice. She was able to make some great suggestions, and I'm really happy with what we've come up with. Since we just sort of worked from photos to piece a bouquet together, I don't have anything that will show you what the bouquet itself will look like. However, I'll try to paint the picture for you using these two images. 

The bridal bouquet will have white hydrangeas and green coffee berries, just like this photo. (source) Mine will also include light cream roses, yellow "Judy" roses and a single bright white rose. I'll also have some pearl sprigs to add a little luxury.  (source)

The bridesmaids' bouquets will have pale yellow gerber daisies like in this. They will also have the same cream roses and green coffee berries that are in my bouquet. (source)

Two of my bridesmaids are also sorority sisters, so their bouquets, like mine, will feature a single bright white rose, which is our sorority flower. It was very important to me that their bouquets have these flowers because of the symbolism we associate with them. All of the bouquets will be wrapped in the same navy ribbon that we're using on the pew bows (more on those later, too!)

Corsages for the mothers will feature three cream roses, coffee berry, and pearl sprigs with ivy. Corsages for the grandmothers will be two cream roses, coffee berry and ivy.

Corsages for the reader (that's Love!), and another sorority sister who is helping will each be one bright white rose with ivy (again, the sorority symbolism).

The corsage for the female guestbook attendant will be one cream rose with ivy.

The fathers' boutonnières will be cream roses with coffee berry and ivy, as will the bout for my grandfather. The male program attendants and guest book attendant will each have a cream rose with ivy for their boutonnières. 

Susie will also be crafting an altar arrangement and a memorial arrangement, but we still have to pin down the details on those. 

And we'll be able to do all of this for under $800. I call that a victory.

So, what do you think? Who are you honoring with special flowers? Are you forgoing flowers in favor of something less traditional?

-Amoré