Flowers, Centerpieces, and General Decorations

I grow my own herbs in the front yard, and I wanted to incorporate some of these into the floral arrangements. I also knew a couple of other things: I didn’t want to spend lots of money on flowers, and I wanted a bouquet I could dry later as part of a keepsake arrangement. Originally I’d thought about getting some fresh flowers the day of the wedding, and I’d even toyed with getting a real florist. At one point, I thought about boutonnieres and corsages for the families. Then I realized that minimalist was probably better for our tastes and budget anyway, and nixed that.

Pew Bows

Pew Banners (or, how to injure your thumb without really trying)

• Dowels. One regular 1/4" diameter dowel did three banners for me. I cut them down to a third the length with a pair of clippers.
• Felt. The beauty of felt is that it glues well, it doesn't fray, doesn't need to be sewed, comes in bright colors, and is easy to cut.
• Glue. Use fabric glue, or thick white craft glue like Aleene's.
• Ribbon. About a 12" length per dowel.
• Scissors. Duh?
• Flowers, Little Rings, Little Doves, etc. Anything that might be used as a package tie-on will work. Bows, jewels, whatever floats your boat.

For our banners, I cut two different shapes in two different colors. I chose green for mine and burgundy for Todd's. The banners were half a regular sheet of felt. I glued the top over the dowel, tied on ribbon of the opposing color, added the flowers, and glued the flowers and ribbons in place. I also cut out the designs for each banner. The raven on mine was designed for a website of mine, by my friend Llyra de la Mere. The phoenix on Todd's is a stylization of the phoenix on the necklace he wears. I asked him, "If you had to have a symbol on a banner, what would it be?", and that's what he replied, so that's what he got. The same designs and colors showed up on Corey and Chris as our ushers/pages.

Floral Arrangements

Centerpieces

Then I realized that this would require time to set up, someone to bring it home, the acquisition of said vegetation, and I’d have to do something with them once the reception was over. Hrm. I was plodding yet again through Michael’s, contemplating Halloween decorations, when I saw that floral picks and fall flowers were on sale. And it hit me, like a week-old pumpkin…I could make artificial cornucopias.

I’d made centerpieces before for various functions, so I was familiar with the process and required items. I spent over an hour in Michael’s contemplating the choices, and bought enough to make 5 medium, one small, and one large cornucopia. They’re really quite nice. And as an added bonus, I’m sending them home with family members to use for Thanksgiving centerpieces. No setup, no cleanup, no last-minute purchasing required, and the problem of disposal goes away with the guests!

The biggest cornucopia I made. I gave this to Carol and Richard.

One of the average cornucopias I made. These wandered off with my gramma, my grandmother and grandfather, Todd's stepmom and dad, Todd's stepdad and mom, Jack and Olga, my cousin, and Camille.

Making a Cornucopia (Or Other Seasonal Arrangement)

• Start with a wicker or woven base. You can get these at craft stores for $5-15, usually around $8. Or, you can get them at the Goodwill or thrift stores for $1-3. If you are not having a fall wedding, or can’t find cornucopias, use baskets!
• Glue or wedge in some silk flower foam. It’s a green styrofoamesque block you can find in the floral section of craft stores. Don’t use Oasis, as it’s more expensive. You won’t need this to hold water, and that’s the only reason Oasis would be preferred over the dry floral foam. If you’re using a cornucopia, you can cut the foam to shape and just wedge it in. If you’re using a basket, you’ll want to secure the foam to the bottom either by hot glue or with wire.
• Bows or Ribbons. You can choose to tie on a bow or not. Wire-edged ribbon works well for making bows, and tends to stay tied well, but you can use whatever’s cheap or whatever you like. I chose fall-themed wire-edged ribbon for the bows and some solid color ribbon to tie the bows onto the cornucopias. If you’re doing another season or using baskets, you can choose lighter ribbons or ones with patterns that match your foliage.
• Choose the contents.
  • Fruits and Vegetables: For a fall arrangement or a “bounty” arrangement, you can get artificial fruits and vegetables at the craft store. Their rubber grapes are really cool. I bought rubber grapes, small apples, small green pears, and small yellow pears. I also bought larger apples, pomegranites, and pears.
  • Floral Picks: There are lots of different floral picks to choose from as well. Picks are small bunches of flowers, leaves, fruits, and decorations wired to a pick which can be stuck into the foam. I chose picks containing acorns and leaves, as well as grapes and tendrils. I also chose some containing berries for variety. The picks available tend to vary with the season, so trying to arrange a spring basket in the fall will be near impossible. You’ll have to wait until closer to the actual wedding time to get seasonal picks, but don’t wait too long…the “craft store seasons” run about two months ahead of the real world!
  • Leaves: I picked up some bunches of real maple leaves that had been treated with some chemical to make them colorful and plasticky. You can use real leaves, dried leaves, or silk leaves. If you’re doing a spring or summer arrangement, you could use green leaves or bunches of ivy.
  • Other Foliage: There are loads of dried flowers and herbs to choose from, or you can pick silk. I chose wheat, black bearded wheat, and lavender to go in mine, and also chose some mint, lavender, and rosemary from my yard for some of the arrangements.
  • Other Items: It’s your arrangement, be creative. I contemplated small doves and mushroom birds, but eventually decided against it. Just whatever strikes your fancy. Small fairies, birds, insects, you name it and it can probably be found in the floral section.
  Don’t forget that you’ll need hot glue, scissors, a craft knife, florist wire and appropriate cutters, and possibly white craft glue.

Assemble the Arrangement

• Foam Wedgie. Cut the foam to the appropriate shape. Foam can be cut easily with a knife, but be careful. If you’re filling a cornucopia, cut the foam into a pointy shape and wedge it into the cornucopia hard. It shouldn’t stick out the front, but should rest about an inch or two inside the cone. If you’re filling a basket, you want to put a layer of foam over the entire bottom of the basket.
• Add the Leaves and Fruits. Choose a few picks for each arrangement, which compliment one another. Choose a bunch of leaves to fill in the spaces, and consider using a couple of large fruits or flowers as a focal point. Choose longer and shorter pieces, and contrast or match the colors according to your own tastes! The picks and leaves can be stuck directly into the foam, and shouldn’t need securing.

  If you’re filling a cornucopia, the longer pieces should go on the bottom, as the bottom of the basket should look “fuller” than the top. When I built mine, I put a stick of ivy out the front of the bottom, and wired a bunch of grapes to it and to the lip of the cornucopia. I then put a couple of floral picks into the foam above it, and several stalks of wheat and sprigs of lavender sticking straight up at the upper edge. I filled in the rest of the area with the maple leaves jabbed into the foam.

  If it’s an odd shape or has no pick, such as a plastic apple, wait until the pick-part is done. Apply hot glue or white craft glue, and hold in place until it stays on its own. You may have to prop it up for a while if using white glue. You can also wire fruits, birds, and other decorations directly to the basket. I chose to glue three small fruits into most of the cornucopias, and three large fruits into the largest cornucopia. You may choose to make your pile mostly fruits and vegetables. If so, fill in the back first with leaves, and glue the fruits to the leaves and basket.

• Take a Bow. You can tie on whatever kind of bow you like. You can buy premade ones at the store, or make your own out of ribbon. I made a bunch of loops with wired ribbon, and then tied a contrasting ribbon around the base of the loops. I puffed out the loops to form a multipart bow, and then used the contrasting ribbon to tie it to the cornucopias. You can wrap the handle of your basket, add beads, glue lace or fabric around the edges, whatever you like.

The Bouquet

Having done this now, let me tell you that making a bouquet out of dried, crumbly flowers and herbs is a complete nightmare. It’s messy, it’s frustrating, and it’s not particularly easy. I got flower bits all over the place, and got poked in the finger a lot. What I ended up with was a smallish bouquet for my Maid of Honor, which has no silk roses and is wrapped in lace, and a smallish bouquet for me, which is held in the tussy mussy and has ribbons hanging down. It looks nice, but HOLY HECK is it fragile. It’ll be interesting to see how it holds up.

General Decorations "In Theme"

• Liberal use of herbs and grains. Lavender, rosemary, thyme, mint, wheat, barley, oats, and roses would all be very appropriate. Tie them up in small bunches and scatter them about. Tie them to pews. Stick them to the guest table or the cake table. Just a note on history: corn is a New World grain and wouldn’t be historically accurate, though I bet your guests would never know the difference if you used dried corn.
• Natural candles. Beeswax candles are a bit on the spendy side, but they smell great, look great, burn and drip in interesting patterns, and are historically okay. Tallow candles would work too, but ick. Who wants to burn beef fat at their wedding?
• Banners. If you have an industrious sewer on hand and have a place to hang one or more, banners would be very appropriate and interesting. I am a sewer, but have no place to hang one in the church I’m using, so I’m not going that direction.
• Wood and Metal. If you want to stay in theme, avoid the use of plastics wherever possible, and keep glass to a minimum. You’ll probably have to use plastic silverware and glasses, but those are the prices we pay to keep cleaning up easy.
• Garlands. Even if they’re fake greenery, garlands of ivy or other greenery look nice.