Milk Glass Out and About

Part of my marketing plan for my job was to increase my medical practice's involvement with community outreach. So, I volunteer at several area senior center's during lunch time-handing out drinks, collecting trays, etc. 2 of the 3 senior centers I volunteer at (by the way, I LOVE grassroots marketing like this...and I LOVE that my bosses let me do it. It is by far the most smart marketing move my practice is making right now, IT WORKS) have milk glass centerpieces, like the ones Ryan and I had at our wedding!

So I just went through and looked for a picture of our centerpieces....and couldn't find but one. Um. Probably because I did lots of this....



One was for Ryan. Really. Who is now saying that he didn't drink it. I could've sworn I got this for him...


I'm sure I could find pictures of our centerpieces via our photographer's CD we have with pictures, but...that's upstairs. But yeah, every time I go to one of those senior centers and see that milk glass, I think about our reception and how much fun we had, and how much fun Ryan and I had picking that milk glass out at thrift stores and garage sales.


Go milk glass!


Do you see reminders or your wedding at odd places?

Milk Glass Update

We are less than 10 vases away to having all of the milk glass we need for the wedding! And we still have months and months to gradually pick them up.

Ryan's mom and his best friend and his best friend's wife were kind enough to think of us when they were out thrifting last weekend, and they each picked us up a piece. Ryan and I swung by a Salvation Army Saturday afternoon and picked up 5 pieces....for $1.25. That is $0.25 a piece. I am positively delighted with the fact that we are doing this, because this enables us to spend next to nothing on our centerpieces (I'm thinking it's going to be way under $10 per centerpiece).


We have found though, after the centerpiece mock-up we did a few weekends ago, that some of the vases have really narrow necks and might not work. But, for the price we're paying for them, we can easily pick up a couple extra. The vases that are too narrow for centerpieces can be used in other places, and we're thinking of filling them with carnations or with red fabric flowers.


Did you start a project only to find out later that changes needed to be made? Have any of your wedding projects made your thrifty heart sing with joy?



Also, I need to figure out what we're going to do with all of this milk glass after the wedding! I know we'll keep a couple of our favorite pieces, but there's no way we need 40 vases. Any suggestions?

Centerpieces, Take 52

Last weekend when I was up in St. Louis, Ryan really wanted to do a centerpiece mock-up. Here are the past posts on our centerpiece saga.

Here's the closest picture I could find for what Ryan was going for:

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He had the idea to use carnations, because they're cheap and they actually look pretty cool tightly packed. So, we headed off to Dierburg's and picked up 6 carnations. They didn't have red, so we went with pink!


While I stripped the flowers of their leaves, Ryan headed out to the back yard to spray paint a branch white.



Mad spray painting skills!

After the branches were dry, Ryan and I started to arrange them into one of our milk glass vases. Earlier in the day, way make a stop by Joanne's a picked up half yard of this aqua material to make table overlays with. We cut it to the size we wanted it and stuck it under the vase.

The beads on the overlay are from Ryan's sister's wedding a few years ago.

And here's the finished product!

It won't block any guests from each other, which is a good thing! That's Ryan's parent's cat Casey, by the way. He's really nice but I'm allergic :(.


And here is it with some candles we got at Michael's...with the 40% off coupon, they cost $5.14/dozen.

I am thrilled with the results. I think they are really modern and cool, and very different. But Ryan and I can't agree on if we need the beads sprinkled on the overlay or not! What do you all think? I am also thrilled that I have an involved groom...because I was 100% tapped out on ideas for this! He definitely saved the day.

Ryan wrote a guest post about the centerpieces, so here he is. Keep in mind that he is incredibly sarcastic!

"So Stacy asked me to write a section in this post as a “guest blogger.” I guess since the centerpiece was my design, I can oblige and write a little bit. I have heard many people talk about how I just need to sit back and let Stacy do all the planning and decision make all on her own. However, I am not the type of person who is able to sit back and keep my opinions to myself. This includes EVERYTHING in the wedding planning process. I am glad she lets me have an opinion, I think it will make it much more enjoyable for both of us and I actually want to be involved. I know this sometimes drives Stacy crazy, but I like to think that most of the time I actually help matters and make her life easier. God knows I am better with rational thinking, numbers, money, and keeping calm…….while she is busy freaking out, I am busy being a baller." (quick note...see what I told you about the sarcasm? He lays it on thick ladies! Back to Ryan) "It works nicely for us. So when she started trying to design the centerpiece, I let her run with her ideas and gave her my opinions and ideas on how to better the original pieces. To me much of the design is an elaborate process, not a single trial (Stacy would rather have immediate satisfaction. Except the whole while I was devising what I thought to be a symmetrical, architecturally sound centerpiece." (Another quick note...who does that. Seriously, an architecturally sound centerpiece? What can I say, he considered architecture school....) "Some might say I am too practical and calculated, however, in this instance I knew I had a good idea. Stacy was actually a bit hesitant and was fairly sure she was not going to like my idea for a while. Reluctantly she said we could try it, and low and behold it was, as far as we are concerned, a masterpiece. I’m a regular Martha F-ing Stewart over here! I am thinking about quitting my career and becoming hellaz full time wedding-centerpiece designer extraordinaire. All in all it was a great experience developing this with Stacy and I am glad it worked out because it is one more thing off our plate and we are both (I think) very happy with the way it turned out.

P.S. - I welcome all comments that tell me how awesome I am. "

So, ladies and gentlemen, that is how we ended up with our centerpieces! Ryan has reminded me numerous times now that he is "Martha F-ing Stewart"....and it's only Tuesday.

Anyway, in terms of cost, these will be cheap. The vases we're getting for $1.50 or less, and we already have about 28. We're planning for 36 tables, so we're almost there! The branches will be free, spray paint to cover them is cheap and the carnations are $0.50/stem from Costco if you order online. We're buying the fabric for the overlay with coupons, so it will be cheap as well.

So what you do you all think? Beads or not beads? Any other thoughts? Comments on how awesome Ryan is (hehehehe, there's his sarcasm again!)?

Centerpieces Revisited

I wasn't happy with the last centerpiece mock-up we did, so Alli and I revisited it.

We put 2 branches instead of just one, and added some paper flowers we punched out.






I am much happier with the fullness of the branches, and I think the flowers need to be double sided.

Ryan had a really good idea that we need to do a mock-up of and see how it goes. Here's the closest pic I could find.

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Think this with our milk glass vases with a small cluster of flowers at the bottom and sticks shooting out of the flowers, more straight up and down than this picture....and much less big.

He also thinks that an oversized napkin in aqua would be nice for the vases to sit on, and then maybe we can get red napkins from our caterer. We're going to a fabric store in St. Louis this weekend to see what's out there.

Anyway, I am reaching the point where I am sick and tired of talking about centerpieces. I kind of don't care anymore, as long as we have freaking centerpieces!

So, as soon as we do a mock-up of these, you all will be among the first to know...

Did you have any wedding projects that you were thoroughly sick of but drug themselves out?

Centerpiece Expose

So, Alli and I did a quick mock-up of our centerpieces this past weekend. Here's our inspiration:

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Here are the branches before being painted. We just cut some off a fallen branch in my parents backyard...high class.


Here's what we came up with after spray painting the branches silver and sticking paper flowers on with glue dots:
A close up:



So I think we need wayyyy more flowers, and the flowers definitely need to be double sided. Also, a flower punch would really make this go faster instead of cutting out however many individual flowers.

Alli and I think that just this on a table is going to look really skimpy, so we're thinking about getting cheap paperbacks and covering them in red and aqua paper, and use them to add height to the table. We also want to look into clear glass votive holders to sprinkle about, and punch out extra flowers to sprinkle on the table. Ryan also suggested using white boxes to add height to teh tables, and he also found some very inexpensive manzanita branches on Ebay, so we might end up buying those.

So, what's your honest opinion? Does this look ridiculous or does it work? Any other ideas?

On My List

My sister Alli and I are itching to do a centerpiece mock-up. We'll probably do it next weekend, since I won't be visiting Ryan (he lives in St Louis, I live in my hometown 2 hours away, and he has to work at a half marathon all weekend so he'll be busy).

This is what we're shooting for:

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I've been collecting milk glass vases to hold the branches, and I'm up to about 28, I think. We're shooting for 40, so I'll have no problem getting more by next summer.

I want to give these a shot because if they don't work, then I need to figure out a back-up plan that utilizes the rows of milk-glass vases I have lined up in my basement! I am having a hard time finding branches with a bit of shape to them. A few weeks ago, I found a decent one and stuck it in a vase and it was very blah, so I'm thinking we could spray paint the branches silver to dress them up. I want to punch paper flowers out of pretty patterned paper and hang those in the branches too. Alli mentioned last night that we could sprinkle the paper flowers around the table like oversized confetti, which would be inexpensive and look nice.

I'm thinking about making an oversized napkin to set the vase on. My sister has a love for no-sew glue which would work nicely with such an easy project. I am also considering votive candles, but our decorations budget is pretty much non-existent, so these would have to be very cheap to be a contender.

What are you doing for centerpieces?

The Morning of the Milk Glass

A few Saturday mornings ago, Ryan and I made it big.

We went garage sale shopping on Saturday morning for milk glass vases to use in our centerpieces. We weren't finding anything at the garage sales after about 2 frustrating hours, so Ryan suggested going to a flea market across the river. Southeast Missouri/Illinois brides, e-mail me and I'll fill you in on where it is. Anyway, we did so much better than I could have dreamed! I expected to find maybe 3-4 vases, at that, and I was not planning on spending over $2 per vase. This seems ridiculously low, but we need about 40 of these, and they just aren't something I wanted to spend a lot on.

Did we cash in or did we cash in!

A sampling of the vases, washed and drying on my counter.

Here are a few of my favorites. I am especially partial to the one on the right.

I already had 2, and we found 19 vases at the flea market. Seriously! And for the 21 vases we've found, we have spent a grand total of $21.50. Can you believe it? I am so thrilled that our vision is working out at such a fabulous price. I am super pumped about these, now I just need to do a mock-up with a branch in one of these guys.

What do you think?

Martha, Martha, Martha

I find it really odd that I have found the majority of my wedding reception centerpiece ideas from Martha Stewart. I guess I had the misconception that anything on her website would come with a hefty price tag. How wrong I was....

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I love trees. I gravitate toward leaf and branch motifs in jewlery, and I love stark, black and white pictures of trees in the middle of fields. I think that exposed roots are gorgeous. Maybe that's why I like these centerpieces so much. How cheap would these be! The branches I could pick up in my yard or at my uncle's farm, and then spray paint them whatever color I want. There are directions on Martha's website for how to make the little flower blossoms on the branches, and they can be made of paper. The vases they are in wouldn't be bad either, as I am an avid thrift shopper and could easily pick up ceramic vases and then spray paint them to match. Plus, the different shapes of the vases would make it look more eclectic.

I haven't even priced floral centerpieces, because I am 99.9% positive that I will not be willing to pay the price for them. I am not opposed to making floral centerpieces myself, but fresh flowers are expensive, and I am not a fan of silk flowers. My only concerns with the branch centerpieces:

1. Will our guests be able to see each other through these? You couldn't really go much taller without sinking some serious money into vases, but you couldn't really go shorter either.

2. Will I be able to find enough vases that are sturdy enough to hold the branches up?

3. How do I go about transporting these?

I also looovveee these, but they are cost prohibitive. That's ok, I like the branch ones better.

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I found the candle sticks on CB2's website. They are on sale, and cost between $3.95-$7.95, not including shipping. That just doesn't fit in my budget, when you think about how many you would need per table. Once again, I am just as happy with the branch centerpieces.

While these won't be the main centerpieces, I think they'll be good as decorative filler:

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These would also be cheap. I'm sure I could find some small votive holders online or thrift store shop for them. I like an unmatched, eclectic look anyway, so if they aren't all exactly the same, no biggie. As long as I keep them all in clear glass, they will look cohesive.

I also am intrigued by these, maybe because I have a thing for useless kitchen items of days gone by. This has champagne flutes (pretty useless in my world, at least) and cake stands (not quite as useless to me, as I just used one for a cake for my mom for mother's day, but in the grand scheme of things, pretty useless). I adore cake stands. I think you could fill these with a variety of things, too. These would be easy to find in thrift stores. Have I mentioned how much I love vintage stuff? It makes me happy, and I would love to have it at my wedding.

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Besides my love of vintage things, I love topiaries. I need to price these at a garden supply store. The buckets to put them in wouldn't be expensive, and you could spray paint them to match each other.

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I got all of these centerpiece ideas from one Martha Stewart article. Seriously? One article. That just saved me a crazy amount of time, because I am simply going to stop looking now! I am super indecisive, and the more options there are, the more overwhelmed I get. So I am going to stop, and Ryan and I can choose from these options. I've already mentioned the branch idea to him, and he really liked it.

It's not necessarily a centerpiece idea, but I think it would be a pretty/cheap/easy thing to do on the tables at the reception. Martha strikes again!

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What are you doing for your centerpieces?