When it comes to planning my own wedding, I wanted to put as many special touches in every detail the way we've done for other weddings. I also had to be very mindful of the cost since my fiancé and I are paying for everything ourselves. So in this blog, I'd like to talk about our centerpieces.
Since this is the piece that guests will be looking at the longest (considering a normal reception lasts about 3-5 hours) we put in a lot of creative thoughts to give them something unique to look at.
My criterias are:
1. Red, red, red
2. Chinese but not cheesy
3. Mix 'n Match (I like variety and didn't want the same centerpiece in every table)
4. Affordable
What we did:
1. We chose red dahlias, red carnations, red James story orchids, red cymbidium orchids and red rose petals.
2. I wanted a Chinese wedding because I love the vintage Chinese era when the women still wear stylish gipao and the men wear handsome suits and hats. But with the idea of the Chinese wedding, I didn't want it to be the traditional red and gold Chinese wedding. I wanted to give it a fresh, modern spin. Nothing too stuffy since it's in the summer too. So I stayed away from red/gold brocade and kept everything in the red, silver and black.
Tip: Recycling is always a great alternative. I used the leftover fabric that my sister used to make our money box to give our black vases a modern Chinese accent.
3. Besides liking variety, my option to mix it up was for practical reasons as well. In the course of our one and a half year wedding preparation, we've gotten a couple different things here and there, but those purchases are usually not enough to cover the increasing number of tables (from 12-14). At the end of the day, we took inventory of the pieces we had and worked with what we have and bought a few more standard vases to fill in the blanks.
4. Each centerpiece has varying prices. To save on cost, we cut down the number of centerpieces that are more expensive and have more of the budget-friendly ones. Flowers tend to make the cost go up pretty quickly, so we kept the flowers to a minimum but it was in the details that made all the difference. Everyone adored it and couldn't stop talking about it. The result was beautiful, elegant and unforgettable.
Anyways, here are some more snapshots of our centerpieces...
Florist: Bella Blooms
Photography: Thao Vu Photography
