With a guest list that’s overwhelmingly hitting well over the 500 mark, we’re going to be setting the hall to fit 560 guests. That’s 56 tables that seats 10 individuals each. And that means we’ll need at least 50 centerpieces (the tables on the dance floor location will be moved after dining–no need to get fancy there). Wowzers!

I’ve been testing myself by looking at albums at the Knot to see what appeals to me and sure enough I’ve found I like similar things. I’m thinking we’ll do a variety of arrangements out of these (click on thumbnails to enlarge):

1. Putting fruit into water filled vases
   

   Since we’re thinking our colors are going to be Venetian gold and ivory, we’ll use golden Asian pears. In the first picture, it’d be a white calla lilly wrapped around the vase. I especially like the idea of cutting open the fruit. It looks so pretty in the third picture! It wouldn’t be a bad idea to cut open lemons–it would look good with the color scheme and smell great as well. However, what if we used the Asian pears and cut them open horizontally so you’d see the star inside:
   

   We’ll have to test it out and see how the fruit will sit in water for several hours–hopefully it won’t turn brown!

2. Tall floral arrangements
   

   I absolutely love these tall arrangements. I’m imagining the head table set up similar to the third picture with the strands of pearls strung with it as well.

3. Short, square vases filled with pearls, flowers, and candles
   

   Simple and pretty. I saw a lot of these short, square vases at IKEA for super cheap. I like the first picture with the peonies a lot–but imagine it with white roses filled with water and pearls instead of the rocks. Yes? I also like the last picture: capturing nature and bringing it inside.

Another idea that combines the above is to fill tall vases with the Asian pears and water and top it with an arrangement of curly willow branches sprayed painted gold–similar to the second picture in the first bullet point.

I’m very lucky and blessed to have very talented members in my family that will help put all these together. So, the only thing that we have to worry about in our budget is purchasing the flowers, vases, etc. I’ve been looking at mass ordering from Costco and online sites–a little daring but will definitely help cut the costs of ordering from limited floral places in my little hometown. The great thing is, most of the flowers I want is in season: white roses, hydrangeas, stock, and calla lilies. There are also a lot of fruit vendors up here in the Twin Cities (I’m talking the Hmong flea market) where we can probably get boxes of the Asian pears to bring down. If we do an assortment of these arrangements it’ll also keep the price down.

With that color scheme we’re thinking of, I’m imagining the hall glimmering with gold hues, pearls, and shimmery ivory. What do you guys think of the arrangements? Any ideas, suggestions, changes? What about a ballpark for the price of flowers and flowers alone? Please do share your thoughts!!!