Did anyone skip flowers?

I am getting $10 bouquets from Kroger for the tables. Kroger is also making my bouquet and two smaller bouquets for my BM's. I am going to make corsages and boutonnieres. The price is a steal compared to other places I checked out. I think using model airplanes as centerpieces is weird - like something you would see at a kids birthday party. Baby's breath in a simple vase would be quite elegant and no fuss and look like it belongs at a wedding.

I'm planning on skipping flowers, I'm even considering having a comic book flower bouquet. I've never been a big fan of flowers,

And instead I may use balloons as my main decor.

How big are these model airplanes? I'm wondering how you would meld the vignette of planes and flowers. I'm an expert at merging flowers with a lot of things, but that would be a challenge. I'd probably suggest you paint the planes in a single color and buy flowers in the same color. If your issue with flowers is budgetary, nobody can beat the price of bulk packages from Sam's. I've only heard good things about them.

My mom made our bouquets (with fake flowers from Michaels!). Our centerpieces were with vases, candles, and cranberries, with a few (fake) petals. So we mostly skipped flowers. No one even noticed!

With airplanes, I think you could get much more creative than flowers. I do think just the planes would be bare. What is the significance of the planes? That could help us brainstorm more things to put with them.

I totally get that the planes are odd! They're nice models--not like kids toys. Our overall theme is travel, and the models will be of planes and airlines we've actually flown on together. (Head table will be our honeymoon airline, that kind of thing.) They're 1:200 models, which makes them about 11-15" around--so small when compared to a 60" table.

The flowers are less a budget issue and more a preference for not spending money on something so fleeting. I'm much more a potted plant person than a cut bouquet person and always have been. Given, I understand that most decorations at a wedding are disposable or not for keeps, but for some reason flowers hit me that way more than most components.

Sue M.--I really like your balloons idea! Are you using helium? I'd love to see your inspiration pictures!

I totally get the potted plant thing, I feel the same way. I think potted flowers would be nice and not wasteful. I am considering orchids as my center piece and giving them to my bridesmaids and other people that helped me in the wedding.

Love the idea! What about pairing each plane with items that represent where you traveled to on those planes? The items could be natural (like a plant/flower from that area), or something else that holds value to you from that area.

Mrs. A & J--That's an awesome idea! I'm not sure it would work with flowers/plants (we'd be looking for things from places like Iceland and Turkey!) but now that I think about it we'll probably work that into our favors. We could do little food bites of "happy marriage cake" from Iceland and baklava from Turkey, for example. Thank you!

That's a great idea, Mrs. A & J. Very creative.

I'm skipping flowers (terrible allergies). I think your theme is really cute. You could also work in maps, postcards, and mini globes. (like maybe a couple paper flowers made out of maps or a frame map of a given destination).

Maybe you could save the planes for the gift table, cake table (or grooms cake) etc, and use pictures in frames of places you too have traveled to instead? The airplane thing for actual centerpieces makes me think of a kids birthday party. Like you could have a picture in a frame and then make boarding passes or something showing where you were etc., along with your treats from that corresponding place (as your favors)?

I am considering skipping the flowers and putting candles in the vases; however, I am not sure at this point. When my centerpiece stuff comes then I will make an executive decision.

I love flowers too much to skip them. Do you have a WP? It might be a good idea to get a good one who can help with design and keep the balloons or airplanes from going too kid's birthday party. Could you incorporate (silk) flowers from each country into the design? Or what if you set out the desserts on each table and made it part of the decor?

I'm not planning on having flowers. They're pretty but altogether I don't like paying money for things that die and wilt. The most important thing I'm putting on the table is food, lol. For centerpieces I'm using things that connect my theme and will possibly consider herbs and dried flowers. I would love to have booze infused fruit on each table, but for bartender licensing and venue reasons this won't be possible.

Link: http://offbeatbride.com/2012/08/boozy-fruit-centerpieces

We're doing flowers but we're going for an elegant feel. I definitely notice when they aren't at weddings.

I think you'll be fine without them since it sounds like you're going the non traditional route.

I knew the die and wilt defense would come up. Food gets eaten, music goes away, but flowers still suffer from die and wilt syndrome....

If that is really a factor, consider connecting with Repeat Roses; your flowers won't die and wilt alone; they'll be retrieved by other couples, rearranged and brought to nursing homes, etc, to bring joy to a lot of people who never even came to the wedding.

How well the 'alternative' centerpiece fits in depends on your venue backdrop. Four mason jars full of baby's breath might look just fine in a barn venue; in a ballroom...not so much. Balloons? I honestly haven't seen a balloon in any context since 2005.....

I like the plane idea; maybe with antique globes/books/battered mirrors..I think it can work, but heck, I just love flowers.

@Celia Milton, I had no idea that a flower rescue like that existed! That's pretty cool. Live flowers still probably wouldn't fit my theme so much as greenery & herbs, and I think planes and flowers are a more difficult tie in as well. I like the globes/books/mirrors, maybe travel maps, etc. idea better.

The only flowers I used were for my bouquet and the bridesmaid bouquets. I used candelabras as centerpieces.

Last wedding I went to didn't have any flowers in the centerpieces. The did flameless tea light candles on a mirror, simple and elegant. I didn't think it looked bare :-)