DIY Centerpieces

Look at all the pretties!

You can in fact do DIY centerpieces for under $150 and with only about three hours of work- IF you have some good friends willing to help you.  Last night my bridesmaid and maid of honor helped me put together all the centerpieces, bouquets/boutonnieres, and other decorations.  Everything we are using to decorate with was purchased on sale from either Michael's or Jo-Ann Fabrics.  We used fake flowers because a) fake flowers can be made well in advance of an event and stored in less than favorable conditions (like jammed in a box) and survive well and b)  flowers are expensive, and florists even more so.  

Our centerpieces are made from:

- "rustic" cans purchased at $0.30 each from Michael's clearance section

- silk gerbera daisies in "bunches" ($1.11 each) cut apart with wire cutters

- gravel (to weight down the cans and keep the flowers upright) purchased from Home Depot for $2.50 (for 30 lbs!)

- Chalkboard table picks, $12.99 for 12 from Michael's (we only used 7, since we only have 7 tables)

We made slightly more expensive centerpieces for the head table, which were made the same way only with two large watering cans ($7.99 each), a larger set of silk flowers ($2.99 each), and raffia bows. 

Janelle, my bridesmaid who is a DIY goddess, also figured out to make the bouquets using floral tape, white ribbon, and raffia to hold it all together.  She also figured out how to make boutonnieres for the two guys. We had a slight problem with what to do for our "groomsperson", Laurel.  Luckily, she is wearing a gray version of the bridesmaid's dress, which includes a pocket, so we just tucked a flower in there, and voila!