Weddings are super expensive, so unless you’re a millionaire (call me!) or just go to City Hall, you should be strategic and cut costs wherever possible. One such area can be the table centrepieces. Ordering fresh, beautiful bouquets costs an absolute fortune, but there is a way you can DIY these pieces easily at home, without losing the finesse or elegance. Enter, twine…  

Reuse and recycle

Unless this is a quickie wedding, you’ll have plenty of time to acquire the materials you’ll need. Jars and bottles. Finished your coffee? Save the jar. Used up a scented candle? Scrape out the wax and save the jar. Had a lovely bottle of wine or whisky? Save the bottle. If the glass is clear/without patterns or logos, or if it’s easy to remove them – great. You can order lots of pretty ribbon in bulk and tie a lovely bow around the top or neck of all your jars and bottles. Maybe add a couple of dots of PVA glue just to hold them in place. 

If, however, which sadly happens more often, the bottle is covered in the brand name, dietary requirements etc, then not to worry. You can get a solid colour ribbon, and wind it around the whole body of the container, but this might be more pricey. In which case – twine to the rescue. You can get metres and metres of twine for hardly anything, and wind it around your jar or bottle. This can be fiddly and a lengthy process, especially if you have a lot of tables, so definitely enlist the help of your bridesmaids or crafty friends and do not leave this to the last minute.

Add a rustic touch

Twine itself looks nice and rustic so you can leave it as is, or you can spray paint it to match the rest of your colour scheme. A nice pastel or something metallic? You can paint the twine before or after you wind it around the containers, but some paint might crack and come off when you start to bend the twine, so it might be best to add colour after it’s attached – use masking tape to ensure neat edges. 

Flowers

Next comes the question of the flowers. If you have a spring or summer wedding, pick a non-rainy day, ideally the day before the wedding (maybe get your bridesmaids or other helpers to do this) go to the woods, or a field, and just pick wild flowers. They’ll look beautiful and au naturale and won’t cost you anything. Just make sure to keep them somewhere cool with plenty of light, to minimise wilting before the big day.

If you have an autumnal wedding, then why not pick some of that gorgeous foliage. You can put together vibrant bouquets of yellow, orange and red maple and oak leaves. They will look stunning, add a pop of colour to every table and if you wanted you could spray a little gold, silver or white on the tips, to style it up a bit. 

Of course, with both these options, there are some problems. First, it’s seasonal. If you’re getting married in winter, there won’t be anything to pick. Secondly, time and storage. By hook or by crook, anything natural will wilt or dry out or rot, and gathering these things takes a lot of time, so it can be tough to pre-plan this.

Faux vs Fresh

You can order fake flowers, but let’s be honest, they always look terrible. You’d be better off with novelty centrepieces like lava lamps, than cheap plastic flowers. Plus, they’re no friend to the environment. What you can do is either dry lots of flowers in advance – and this doesn’t have to be a chore. Periodically get simple cheap bouquets of roses and place them on a window cill where they’ll get full on sun exposure, or keep them in a very warm room, like an airing cupboard or next to a radiator.

Alternatively, you can pre-order very beautiful dry decorative branches. They’re real, so no need for yucky plastic and can look very elegant, plus they’ll bring out the lovely rustic element of your twine covered jars and bottles. Some even come with led lights wrapped around, so they can turn into lovely lighting for the evening time.

If you did want to opt for something artificial, then check out these stunning silk cherry blossom branches. They never fail to look lovely, and using silk or satin for the petals ensures they won’t have a cheap look to them. Plus, you can keep them and decorate your home after the wedding!