A Little Off Center

Centerpieces have been the skeleton in the closet.  Not the nice one who teaches you anatomy, but the evil one who comes out to kill you in your sleep.  Well, maybe that’s a little too edgy, but you know what I mean.  Things like this sneak up on you and cause anguish for no good reason.  Mom Library has been busy harping on the fact that I am not certain about our centerpieces, so I figured it was time to bite the bullet and get down to business with them.

At the beginning of the wedding planning process, I was excited about centerpieces.  They were some of the first things I shopped for.  They were actually my first wedding purchase with Mr. Library.  Somewhere along the line, I lost interest and figured they would work themselves out.  I was wrong.  Now, I have a bunch of parts that don’t really go together.  It was up to me (and Mom and Dad Library) to figure out what to do with them in order for it all to work.

Here are the starting pieces:

Our lovely blue lanterns.  We got them on eBay for about $4 a piece with shipping.  It was a sweet deal, and so were our votive holders.  Unfortunately, size (in this case) does matter.  See the height comparison between the lantern and the votives?

Yeah, they’re a little big compared to the true centerpiece.  Oops.  Mom Library suggested getting new votive holders, but I didn’t like the idea.  I had already put a lot of money into these (even though it was a good deal), so I wasn’t willing to give up so fast.  After the discussion got a little heated (yeah, I have been that bride lately), Dad Library stepped in with an idea.  What about a stand to hold it up?  It had possibilities.  He got to work and came up with this:

Um, did I mention that Dad Library is a blacksmith?  Yeah.  He rocks.  He went out in his workshop and came in with this about an hour later.  He ended up making three of them on Saturday and promised to make about a dozen more for the tables.  I love him a lot.

You’ll also notice the fake flowers in the picture.  I had picked them up to make flower toppers for our guest book pens, but I discovered that they are basically fake bachelor buttons, the same flowers the girls will have in their bouquets and the guys will have as their bouts.  Why not add them to the reception too?  Mom Library had made a comment about how the votive holders looked like cups, so I thought about turning them into little vases.  I emailed our awesome florist Carole the next day to have her add 90 bachelor buttons to our order.  Sorry Aunt M!  Add in a few candles and some ferns, and we could have a winner.

Here was the run through without ferns and with a place setting:

I like it!  You just have to picture it with a white table cloth, matching silverware, better glasses, lit candles, and a bigger table.  Oh, and no bunny food in the background.  After that, it will be perfect!  What do you think?

Have your centerpieces caused a ruckus in your planning perfection?