Last week I shared all the bouquets, corsages and boutonnieres my superstar mom made for the wedding, but today we’re going to talk about centerpieces, decorating the cake and bringing some fresh flowers into the decor elsewhere.
There are lots of things that are optional at a wedding, but for me flowers are such a key thing…although that doesn’t mean you need to spend a fortune on them. By buying our flowers wholesale and making the arrangements we saved a ton of money.
Centerpieces 
For the centerpieces, my mom and I agreed on a relaxed, garden-like arrangement that was low enough for people to see their fellow guests across their table.
We picked out big white mums, pink carnations, white alstroemeria, pink tulips (a last minute grocery store addition) and white ranunculus, as well as babies breath, dusty miller and greenery.
For the most part, we picked up all the flowers from a wholesaler a few days before the wedding and then supplemented it with store bought tulips.
Once back home, we kept everything in buckets in a room in my parents’ rental cottage that could be kept cold.
Making the arrangements started with having all the right tools in place:
- Good Scissors – My mom bought extra pairs to have on hand for anyone who came over to help and it was so nice to not have to wait for someone to be done with them before you moved onto the next step. We should have done it years ago, ha!
- Scrap Bucket – This is a great place to throw your scraps away and keep your work surface clean.
- Protected Surface – If you’re doing this on a wood table, lay down a plastic tablecloth to protect your work area. This also makes it easy for clean up and wiping it down.
- Greenery & Flowers Prepared – If you’re using roses, peel off the outside petals and trim the thorns off.
For the containers, my mom found these mirrored vases that went great with the mercury glass candles on the tables. They were a steal at a few dollars each.
She soaked blocks of oasis in an empty sink and then cut them to fit into the containers. Tape it down with florist tape, if you need to. The foam should fit in the vase nice and snug, with about 1-1/2 to 2 inches sticking above the top of the container.
For the greens, she cut pieces in various sizes and inserted them into the oasis until it looked like a thinned shrub. You can prep the greenery in the vases a couple of days before the wedding and then just water the arrangements as needed. Closer to the big day, you can add in your flowers and filler.
The trick with adding the flowers and decorations is to use odd numbers to make everything look more aesthetically pleasing. It was about this time that I left to go set up the venue so I missed getting photos of this process, but basically you want to continue eyeballing where you want each flower to go and then trim it to the necessary length.
The centerpieces turned out so lovely and the glass surface really captured all the ambient light in the evening.
For another idea, check out the DIY Wildflower Flower Mason Jar Wedding Centerpieces my mom and I made for my friends’ wedding a couple years ago.
For the head table, we used the bouquets placed in mercury glass vases. By using a similar colour palette for the bouquets and centerpieces, it pulled everything in together.
The Cake Flowers
While the cake was delicious, it’s arrival was a bit of a disaster with the delivery man putting his hand through the side (!) and the design not turning out like the photo they were sent, but thankfully my mom came to the rescue.
She was able to take leftover flowers, berries and baby’s breath and add them to one of the tiers. She cut each stem, then wrapped it in plastic wrap before inserting it directly into the cake. It turned out even more lovely then the inspiration photo we had. And did I mention she did this while she was all dressed for the wedding as guests were arriving – seriously a superstar.
The other two things I loved about the cake – the cake topper from my parents and great aunt’s weddings and the vintage style cake stand we found on ebay. It looks like something out of Downton Abbey, ha!
When the servers cut the cake, we asked them to served up the un-poked pieces first and save the ones that had flowers for us to take home later if there were leftovers.
Arrangements
When buying the flowers, we made sure to get lots of extras because we knew we could use them to decorate throughout the venue. After the bouquets, corsages, boutonnieres and centerpieces were finished, the remains were made into arrangements to go around the venue, like this big mercury glass vase full of beautiful soft pink and ivory garden roses.
We placed them on a table in this seating area to go with the Instagram hashtag sign. It also made an appearance in some photos with my parents (hi mom and dad!)
Another mercury glass vase was filled up with white carnations and alstroemeria for this arrangement at the bar, with our signature cocktails sign.
Outdoors
Some sweet friends also picked up hanging baskets to use at the chapel and on the back porch as some outdoor decor. The venue also planted up their window baskets just in time for our arrival and with the cold May we’d been having, I didn’t know if they’d be able to in time.
The flowers on the porch with the green grass in the background (thank you April showers!) could all be seen from the porch and inside the venue too. I loved that after a crazy winter and cold spring, our wedding still made it feel like spring and summer were on the way.
You can really save yourself so much money doing it this way!