10 inspirations for cut flower free wedding centerpieces

A more sustainable wedding option might be reducing your florals or not having them at all! Florals are stunning, I know I love them too but there are some lovely alternatives. Plus when you start thinking about not having flowers it opens up a world of creativity and thinking ‘outside the box’. You could literally do anything!!

Paper flowers

My beautiful friend some years back handmade all her florals for their wedding, it was just as colourful as flowers and more sentimental.

There are some incredible paper flower artists out there and loads of inspirations and guides on Pinterest to make your own.

I just stumbled across this amazing artist during my browse Doxa Flowers. Wow!

2. Greenery

I’m thinking Christmas all year round! Or even more OTT than a Christmas table as it’s a wedding! Draping garlands, wreaths, arches, vases filled with greenery. All could be collected around your home or venue. Steal the odd pampas grass I’m not judging! Variety is the key and then blend it all together creating a variety of green tones and lengths and heights. I couldn’t find what I had in my mind when writing this so i’ll try to do a forage myself and take photos!

Alternatively make it simple by layering a few fronds amongst treasures, shared platters or candles. So easy to DIY and cost effective and still feels beautifully occasional.

3. Potted plants

I love this idea, what do you think? Especially nice if you are needing new plants for the garden anyway, great cost saving!! Or those involved in the wedding party could take one home as a thank you.

4. Make it fragrant with herbs

Imagine the smells!! Make them match your meal and everyone will be salivating before the food arrives! Maybe a salad starter would be lovely so everyone can pinch off some herbs and sprinkle on.

5. Make food the centerpiece

For all the foodies, get rid of the flowers and make the food (after all it’s one of the most costly parts to feed all those people!) the main event at each table. I just saw this salad on my research and the colours struck me, so beautiful, I’d want to enjoy looking and eating that if it were displayed at a wedding table when I sat down, a refreshing way to start a meal and all the colour of florals. I was conscious not to include images where fruit has been the decoration but chopped up and not in a way that it was part of the meal, I felt that would end up being food waste so no more sustainable than the cut flowers.

6. Filled with lights

We couldn’t talk about no florals without the candlelight filled alternative. For the environment make it a natural wax; beeswax would add a lovely colour to the table, but can be more expensive than soy. You could have some fun making your own! Easily done in the kitchen. Jam jars can be the vessel or moulds aren’t expensive. Wooden wicks make things a bit easier.

With fairy lights more is definitely better!! If your venue cannot supply them then hit the shops in January to get discounted fairy lights. That’s what I did and then those lights have been lighting up garden celebrations and Christmas ever since! 9 years later and most of the sets are still working.

7. Fun and handmade craft

During my research I saw this cute idea for a birthday table but I thought it was so lovely and could easily translate to a wedding table. Lots of different colours and animals or even trinkets from your relationship or an edible treat for your guests on the carousel.

Credit https://ohhappyday.com/2014/07/spinning-carousel-centerpiece/

8. Baubles

Why do we only save these joyous decorations for once a year?! I couldn’t find any images that truly showed what was in my mind but I’m thinking something wonderful could happen with papier mache baubles and natural fabric ribbons, maybe with some greenery too.

9. Put a bow on it

Or Coquette being a big trend this year keep it simple with candles and bows. But don’t just use any old ribbon as most of it is nylon or polyester, choose natural fabrics such as linen or organic cotton. Or if you can splash out a little (depends how many tables you have!) on naturally dyed silks are just so special. I love Lancaster and Cornish for theirs or they have some dying some dying kits too.

10. Omit the centerpieces altogether!

Don’t focus on the centers instead play up all the other elements and create a table scape full of joy and colour. Honestly if I was doing our wedding again I think this is what I would do! We got married in August and yellow was part of our colour scheme.

You don’t need to spend a fortune you could hire tableware, like from here, or collect from charity shops a fun collection. You could make napkins from bedsheets found in charity shops if you were handy with the sewing machine. Sets of four could be given as gifts to the wedding party afterwards.

I’ve got a whole lot of lovely inspirations building up on our Pinterest take a look https://www.pinterest.co.uk/roandbe/

SAVE FOR LATER….

Cut flower free wedding