Wedding Centerpiece: Glowing Delight

I call these wedding centerpieces Glowing Delights. They offer a special, personalized, and elegant touch for your wedding tables. Custom floral arrangements can be extremely pricey, but these inexpensive hand-made crafts will create delight in the décor of your special day.

What you will need:
Small round red clay pot
Styrofoam ball (must fit snug in the opening of the pot)
Bushel of artificial small white roses
Bushel of artificial small roses in your wedding accents colors (for our example, we used sage green, lavender, and beige)
Hot glue gun and glue sticks
1 taper candle in wedding accent color
Book pages, cut in strips or personal photos, printed on thin glossy paper and trimmed
Mod podge decoupage adhesive
Wire cutters
Craft knife
Ribbon, pearl beads (optional)

This materials list is for one centerpiece. Simply buy multiple materials when making multiple centerpieces. These items can be bought at any local crafts store.

First, you will need to choose the style for your pot. This is your chance to really personalize your centerpieces, so give it some thought! You can decoupage with antique post cards, printed monograms, or even personal photos (photos must be printed on very thin, glossy paper in order to mold them to the shape of the pot. Stiff card stock will not work.) For our example, we will be using book pages from a classic romantic novel, torn out of the book and cut into strips, ½ inch wide and as about 5 inches long.

Apply a thin coat of mod podge to the pot with a sponge brush. Smooth on strips of the book pages, making sure to push out any wrinkles or bubbles that may form. Overlap the book pages so that no trace of the red clay pot is visible between the strips. Once the strips are applied and smoothed, add a thin top coat of mod podge to seal. Allow to dry completely.

If you would like, you can add elegant embellishments by tying an accenting piece of ribbon or gluing pearl beads around the rim of the pot.

Next, press the Styrofoam ball into the opening of the pot. The ball should fit snuggly within the rim, not sink to the bottom. You need the ball to create a dome cresting out of the pot. If necessary, secure the ball by carefully applying hot glue to the inside of the pot's rim prior to pressing in the Styrofoam ball.

In the center of the Styrofoam ball doming from the pot, use the craft knife to cut a hole for the taper candle. Make the whole deep enough for the candle to fit securely in without tilting.

Use the wire cutters to separate the small artificial roses from the bushel, leaving only about a ½ inch stem on each bud. Press the buds individually into the Styrofoam ball, clustering the flowers close enough together so the Styrofoam is not visible. Use the white roses for the majority of the coverage, adding in the accent roses randomly for subtle splashes of color. Use a small bit of hot glue to secure each bud, if necessary.

Place the taper candle in the previously cut hole in the Styrofoam ball. Press down until the candle is completely secure and no longer wobbly or tilting. Light the candle and create enchantment!

These wedding centerpieces are extremely elegant and can add a personal touch to your wedding reception. Try variations of this basic design to add even more flare and style that will charm your guests and make your wedding day even more perfect!