Hooray! I've been obsessed with the idea of canned good centerpieces for a while now, and 2000dollarwedding kindred spirit, Alison, pulled it off.Without further adieu, here's Alison to share a couple ideas for planning a wedding that reflects your values (despite eyebrow-raising from the Wedding Industrial Complex) and a wedding that is f-u-n!
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----------------------------So, our wedding was this past weekend and it was SO much fun! It was definitely not a $2,000 wedding (sigh, how I wish I was stronger in standing up to my parents at times. Who knew that being an only-girl child would lead my normally very reserved parents to spiral into "dreams we've been harboring for years but never clued you in on until this moment" mode???), but there were some elements that I thought your other readers might appreciate!
- We did pull off the canned good centerpieces. When I pitched this idea to my florist she was SUPER skeptical, but I just kept pushing. It also meant that our floral budget was cut by 75%!! We went to Costco and got roughly 250 cans for around $200. The crates I struck a deal with a local Hobby Lobby manager and got from about $3.50 each. A bridesmaid and I painted them one afternoon in my backyard using simple Acrylic paint. The cans themselves were wrapped in simple white paper (that was already partly recycled and will be recycled again). We reused the bridesmaids bouquets (blue hydrangeas) on some of the tables, threw in a few stems of lilies and used frosted votives (you can get really good deals online). Anyway, there is a picture attached! It was so much fun for us to pick them up today and take them over to the foodbank, where it turns out a girl I knew from college actually works now!
- We had a roulette table where people "gambled" on charities. We picked 3 that were close to us and each will get something based of "votes" they got. This was probably the BIGGEST hit of the night. The table was literally packed with people all night and some guests ended up writing down their names and pitching in checks and cash even if they didn't play (which we totally had NOT planned on and found really touching!!) We rented the table from a local company for pretty cheap and did hire a dealer, but if you used an acquaintance and made your own table it could probably be even cheaper. No picture of that just yet, but it was so much fun that I had to share the idea :)
Thanks for sharing, Alison!
5 comments:
We're growing wheatgrass in painted soup cans for our centerpieces.
Go green and save some green : )
nice to see other people using tin cans too! my best friend and i have been hammering designs into tin cans i've saved for weeks now to make tin can lanterns for our reception decoration- we are planning on just having one long row of alternating tin can lanterns and mason jars (from years of canning fruit with my grandparents) of flowers down the tables :)it's nice knowing that our "centerpieces" are so practical, green, and free!
Oh I'd love someone to email me about this... I LOVE the idea!!!
gin275@gmail.com
Thanks!!! :)
I love this idea! I think I'm still a little confused on the arrangement of the cans/flowers/crates centerpiece though. From the picture it looks like some cans are in the crate, some on the table with accents of flowers and candles? Anything more complicated than than? this is something we will consider incorporating! I love that you were able to donate all the canned food. thanks for sharing!
What a clever idea!
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