diy centerpiece ideas?

I guess it depends on what kind you want for instance something with candles? something with flowers? i would start off just kind of narrowing that down

View Quoted Comment Thank you yeah I haven't quite figured that out yet and what would really be a good type of price for spring.

We went for simple and classic. I did the candles and vases and my florist just added the greenery.

It could end up getting pricy, really depends on what you are doing. My parents are helping me make a wooden lantern like this. I'm not sure how much its all costing so far as my parents are mostly doing it, but there is lumber cost, stain cost, flowers cost and the fake candles - plus the nails and the wood glue and the time. On Etsy they sell for 30$ per lantern not including flowers and candles, so it might be slightly cheaper to do it yourself but it won't be cheaper by much.

View Quoted Comment Nice! Thank you!

View Quoted Comment Ooh that's gorgeous! I'm not gonna lie I've thought about something similar with a lantern idea. But yes trying to save as much as I can. Thank you!

Not sure why my picture didn’t post

I would say it all depends on your colors, the overall theme/vibe, your venue. And so on. I would start looking on pinterest to get ideas.

DIY can save money but not always. Votive candles are cheap. Bud vases can be cheap. Collecting and spraypainting old bottles could be a good idea. Succulents could be an idea - especially if guests take them home afterwards. In general I would say less is more. You don't need a lot. In general candles can be cheaper than flowers. Faux flowers can be arranged before and can be reused but are not necessary cheaper than real (depends on the type of flower).

I had a spring wedding with 90 guests (12 tables). We had did vases with white flowers and eucalyptus. Our colors were green, ivory and gold. I bought and arranged the flowers myself two days before the wedding. Arraning them took me around two hours and actually felt quite contemplative. I am just glad I booked my nail appointment for afterwards. lol

We had round tables with white table cloths and a blush runner. Every table had three vases (different sizes), a table number and a bottle of hand sanitizer (covid wedding. lol). I had designed and printed the table numbers and hand sanitizer labels myself.

The bud vases I got from Dollartree and Michaels and paid around 40 for 36 vases. The flowers I got wholesale. I ordered them 10 days before the wedding and picked them up two days before and arranged them two days before the wedding. For the flowers I paid around 140 Dollar (including a lot of baby's breath for the aisle and I had quite a bit leftover).

It was classic and simple yet beautiful. I had contemplated doing faux flowers at first but I am so glad I opted for real flowers. I loved it. We were outside, so it was pretty green and we didn't need much decoration as nature provided that for us.

The only problem was that it was quite windy, so it didn't really worked out the way I had planned. In the end we had to tie the vases together and fill them with sand to make them not fall over. It wasn't quite the look I had wanted. But it was still beautiful.

It will help to figure out the overall vision for your wedding and what you want it to look like. It’s difficult to suggest ideas when there is no clear-cut vision or direction. Also, DIY might save money but it doesn’t always eliminate the pressure.

I'd just agree with pps who pointed out this may or may not actually save you money. Once you have a vision, do a thorough job of researching the cost and effort required to bring that vision to life. Daughter did an awesome job of comparison shopping for all her vendors and ended up with a wonderful florist who was quite reasonable in our high cost of living area. She did lovely low centerpieces of fresh roses, hydrangea, and greenery in glass vases that she'd painted gold for $30 each. They matched all the other florals and added a LOT to the ambiance of the reception. Depending on your budget, that might sound like a lot, but when you're considering DIY options be sure to include the cost of raw materials as well as your time and effort (and don't forget to take into account storage, transportation, set-up, and clean-up). Daughter was a BM where the B had DIY centerpieces of fresh flowers in Dollar Tree vases, but then needed the BMs to be responsible for setting them up (including putting water in the vases, which wasn't available in close proximity so they had to haul filled pitchers back and forth) for the ceremony, then moving them for the cocktail hour, and then moving them again to the reception tables (all the while dressed for the wedding). At the end of the night, the BMs had to throw out all the flowers, dump the water (daughter's BM shoes ended up being ruined by splashed water...), and then pack up the vases so the MOB could take them home. While it wasn't the worst example of "assigning BMs 'tasks'," daughter did NOT enjoy it. After that experience, she really thought about the true costs of a bunch of DIYs, and beautiful $30 centerpieces that were assembled, transported and set up by the florist suddenly seemed like a pretty good deal. Good luck!

DIY gets pricey pretty quickly if you are not careful. Many forget to factor in time (at minimum wage per hour) plus sanity on top of materials.


You can never go wrong with candles though they are better suited for evening. If you want to do flowers, fiftyflowers.com will be cheaper than artificial from Michaels or various shops online. Have you browsed Pinterest for ideas?

You might also look at Costco.com they have a variety of fresh wedding flower packages -- most (if not all) will require some prep (watering and/or trimming stems, etc.). Another option to consider is hitting your local Hobby Lobby/Michaels/JoAnn's. This time of year they often have a clearance on small, premade bouquets of silk flowers. We bought several of them and I found small clear glass vases and we used them for daughter's bridal shower and then again as "practice bouquets" for the BMs at the rehearsal. I think I bought the bouquets on clearance 2 for $5. They weren't fancy, but including the vase they were probably ~ $4 each and required almost no effort.

Your venue might impact what you choose. My venue is a historic building so they have extra rules about all candles and open flames being inside glass enclosures (like Cyndy's picture above). I am thinking about floating candles and then some small baby's breath arrangements in bud vases. Not quite like this but similar idea.