Centre Stage

You know, I was kind of happy that the venue we had chosen for our reception didn’t actually include the table centrepieces along with everything else. I figured this meant that I would not be stuck with an arrangement I’d never chose for myself such as the ubiquitous hurricane vase nestled in a wreath of flowers and foliage. Or perhaps flower petals strewn across the table underneath a 3-pronged candelabra. Not that there is anything wrong with either of these designs in and of themselves but when they’re thrown into your package with the token gesture that ‘we’re happy to match the “colours” of your wedding’, they can end up looking, well, just a bit naf really. So I was happy that we’d get to choose our own centrepieces. I know better now.

Inevitably, when The Boy and I go to choose something for ourselves, we pick the most hard to find, obscure, expensive things there are to find out there. Which is so unnecessary but there you go. My friend had huge glasses of M&M’s as the centrepieces at her wedding to represent both her mother and her new mother-in-law whose names both began with M. Simple, colourful, functional, meaningful and inexpensive. We on the other hand found pictures of charming Manzanita branches that formed canopies across the table from which to hang small tea lights and sprigs of birch branches for that winter wedding feel. Which would be fine if we lived in the United States. Which we don’t. So then on the branch idea we started looking at driftwood in artistic shapes and realised that we should be living in Queensland where we could find the right type of wood for free and not pay a hundred dollars for something thats already dead!

After we’d had thoughts about the dead stuff though, we came back around to the live stuff. Or rather a-live stuff. Fish to be precise. I rather liked the idea of having centrepieces with fish swimming around in them. Something simple perhaps. Say a black goldfish and an orange goldfish. In a tall vase with maybe a flower or two submerged in the water for effect. And a floating candle on top. And a few more candles in holders on the table cause I like candlelight. So ok, not all that simple at all after you buy the vases, the fish, the gravel, the flowers, the candles and the candle holders. Not all that cheap either. Especially if you wanted to get lights for the bottom of the vases to give you that glowing look. But everything costs in this industry. Even most of the other options we reviewed as possibilities.

There are some way cool candelabras out there. Massive wrought iron things that look somewhat gothic but appealing nonetheless. There are also some beautiful exotic flowers that have amazing scents and look absolutely stunning. There are collections of elaborate vases, ice sculptures, bonsais and balloons that all would give the room a different look and feel but are just not entirely practical. Or feasible. We’re still yet to find the idea thats just perfect. The one where I’m not irritated that we’ve bought stuff nobody actually wants at the end of the night or that we paid too much for something we didn’t really like and where The Boy is satisfied that we have accessorised befittingly the only wedding that we’ll ever have and that we have created an aesthetically pleasing space around us. The more cynical side of me would say good luck with that but stranger things have happened. And we do live in an area of Sydney that is highly populated by Asians which translates in the wedding business to amen for $2 shops.