Unique Centerpiece Ideas: Decorate With Food

Flowers are a HUGE expense when planning a wedding. And while most every bride doesn't want to give up carrying a bouquet down the aisle, there are other ways to cut costs in the floral department.
Floral centerpieces are becoming less and less common, and not just because it helps the budget. Centerpieces at your reception are an opportunity to show off your creativity and sense of style. They can be a sneak-peek into your decorating skills, or showcase something meaningful to you and your new husband. They also can be an excellent way to subtly carry out a theme you've chosen for your wedding day. And there are so many different options for centerpieces that can include less or even no flowers at all. Today, we'll talk about using food (mostly fruit) in your centerpiece arrangements.

Starting at the top left corner, fruit can be used simply as decoration on the table, to accompany a floral centerpiece. When doing this, your centerpiece can be smaller in scale. Also, fruit can be scattered within a floral centerpiece, and it doesn't just have to be apples! Apples, lemons, and limes are the most popular fruit used in wedding centerpieces, but here we see grapes used in a creative way to accompany apples and flowers.
The fruit you use doesn't have to remain whole- the top right corner shows us lemons sliced open and lined up against the outside of a vase for a really unique look. Again, the flowers can be minimal when you make the vase the focal point. This technique works well with limes and oranges as well- just keep in mind that you'll have a citrus smell coming from these vases!
Fruit placed in the bottom of a vase can be just for show if you still want to spend the money on floral centerpieces. It's a great way to do something unique and fun, rather than just water and stems showing. The fruit can also be incorporated into the arrangement, as we see with the oranges hanging from the bottom of the pink and white flowers.
Next to the oranges, we see a really unique idea for food in your centerpieces. Here the bride has used brown paper as a runner down the table, and on it scattered various fruits and veggies, such as pomegranates and mushrooms. Hearty, curly-leaved lettuce makes a great filler in this sort of idea, and just make sure whatever you use is really fresh, and remember that some veggies could wilt. It would be good to do a test-run on this idea at home to make sure the items you choose will stand up to the day.
In the bottom right hand corner, we see a centerpiece design using no flowers at all- just fruit enclosed in upside-down vases with candles on top. I love this, especially if you're doing long tables for your guests rather than the traditional round.
The other one I want to talk about is in the left column with all of the green. We see limes and apples here, but also leafy greens used for decoration- so creative!! Again, you might want to do a test drive of this to make sure it won't wilt throughout the length of your event, but by chosing hearty veggies, this is a really creative use of food in your decor.
I hope this has been helpful as you're thinking about centerpiece and decor options for your wedding day. Tell me, what are you using for centerpieces?