Your wedding centerpiece and table decorations can be the difference between your guests feeling comfortable or awkward.

Think we're being dramatic about a simple wedding centerpiece? When your guests arrive at your wedding reception, what's one of the first things they see? Their table - with your wedding centerpiece, wedding favors, and so on.

Why put so much thought into your centerpiece…or even have one at all? Try this exercise. Sit down at a table with a few other people. Clear everything off the table and make sure nobody has anything to do - no cards, no drinks, and no silverware.

What's going on? We'll make a guess. It's a little awkward isn't it? Best case scenario is that someone is kind of funny and they start talking and the table gets rowdy. Worst case scenario is that people get quiet, look around into the distance, shuffle in their seats, and turn away from eye contact. Now, in your case, you probably took family or friends to do this exercise and they might have been fairly comfortable. But... ...imagine doing this with strangers at the table or, at best, acquaintances. And multiply this effect across all your guests at all your tables. You're bound to get some negative results and some uncomfortable guests. After all, wedding receptions have all sorts of people from all over the country. And they're here as your guests and you want them to have a great time or you wouldn't be reading this. This is a good thing and speaks well of you.

Okay, so what are we saying - that wedding centerpieces can make friends of strangers and make the lonely feel welcome? Absolutely not. But they can do something that eases the problem of an empty table with strangers staring across it, not knowing what to say.

How do they do that? Your wedding centerpieces help create space! What? Okay, now go back to the exercise we did earlier. Imagine that you’re a guest from out of town, a little bit shy, and you and your date or family are sitting at a table with other people that are very familiar with each other. Other people at the reception are coming up to them and laughing. But no one talks to you.

Result? Happy, comfortable guests that are going to have a great time and appreciate your efforts for a long time to come.

Ceremony Flowers - FREE (Almost) - You can reuse the flowers from your wedding, if time permits between your ceremony and reception. This is a great idea for the head table centerpiece (primary flower arrangement from alter or front of ceremony site). If your reception is small and will not have a lot of tables set up for dining guests (like 8 or fewer tables), then you may have enough flowers from the ceremony to suffice here. Just appoint 1 or 2 relatives or friends who are not in your wedding party to make the transfer from the ceremony to reception site tables.

Hurricane Lamps and Mirrors - FREE (Sometimes) - If your reception will be held at a site that regularly hosts dinner functions and wedding receptions, you may be able to use some wedding centerpiece materials available for free or a small fee. For example, many hotels and country clubs have small mirrors and/or hurricane lamps for your use, if you want them. You'll want to spice them up by adding your own decorations to fit your wedding theme. This may include flower petals, candles, or any other idea you may have. We've even seen glass fish bowls with colorful betta fish and floating flowers be used in combination with mirrors, hurricane lamps, flower arrangements, and candles to make unique wedding centerpieces for reception tables.


Themed Wedding Centerpieces - Whatever your wedding theme, there is a way to incorporate it into your wedding centerpiece. These tiki torch centerpieces are a great addition to your tables for a beach-themed wedding.

And along those lines, some people use actual wedding cake as a centerpiece! That's right. They use a small one or two tier showpiece cake for display and put a tier on each table with flower petal decorations or wedding cake toppers on each one.

TIP: If you were planning on saving money on your wedding cake by using a smaller showpiece cake and using regular cake for the actual serving, this method allows you to save money and look like a great decorator at the same time.

Floral Arrangements - can get costly - Consider whether you would like a wedding centerpiece that sits low to the table or one that is tall. If you're going with taller arrangements, it's best to put flowers and/or branches in a tall vase that is narrow at eye level, so your guests can see each other across the table. The blooms can be above eye level, giving extra dimension to the room. It may also be nice to mix your centerpiece styles up a bit, using 2 or more complimentary styles on alternating tables.

For flower centerpieces on a budget, you can put single stemmed flowers in a cluster of bud vases on each table. Or use just a few blooms floating in water in a glass dish or pedestal bowl (pictured here).