Decoration Inspiration, Part II

When we left off, we were talking about a vintage/romantic theme for our wedding decorations, with a bit of a fall twist.  Both Brendan and I really enjoyed hunting around for inspiration, and we are generally sticking with a fall vintage theme, in keeping with our New England locale.

At the same time, both Brendan and I are not at all traditional. Outside of his job, he loves music, comic books, and video games. I am a scientist and love “quirky” things. We will be incorporating little nods to our passions, making sure to keep people on their toes!

One of the best examples of the combination of rustic and quirky is our cocktail table decorations. I saw a lot of pictures similar to this, and I knew I had to incorporate my scientific roots somehow. This was the inspiration for our table decorations:

Test tubes + flowers = brilliant! (source)

I have already started prepping some wooden test tube racks for our centerpieces, and luckily my lab had a bunch of glass test tubes lying around, just waiting to be thrown away (no one actually uses glass test tubes in labs anymore!). We have a few feathers to add, and our florist has said she will include a few extra loose flowers for the test tubes.

If you really like the whimsical science theme, you can really run with it. We played around with doing this sort of thing, too:

Any wedding decoration that uses ring stands is a major win. (source)

But ultimately, we decided to go a bit softer for the centerpieces in our reception hall. Here’s what I’ve put together so far:

Table mockups - complete with tiny "table square" sample!

The table numbers have been a labor of love – I put them together from wooden numbers and twine. Many a glue gun stick has met its demise for the making of these numbers!

Table numbers

The green-blue glass mason jars will hold flowers, as will the skinny milk glass vases - the bigger goblets will hold candles for a little romantic light at each table.  Everything is all collected from flea markets and antique stores – we got some unbelievable deals that way! In fact, in shopping for things for the wedding, Brendan and I have discovered a new-found love for all things flea market. It’s our new go-to weekend activity, and it’s definitely brought us closer together.

Overall, I think we are all ready to go for our centerpieces – we have 30+ jars, milk glass vases, and milk glass goblets collected. The only thing left is to finish the table overlays – and they’re underway. And as a nod to Brendan’s love of music, we will be trying to add song-request pods to each table – but that is up to him to organize!

Of course, going with a vintage theme means a TON of DIY projects. Our house is covered in burlap, lace, glue, and spray paint, and it will be for the next 5 months. The most time-consuming project thus far is definitely the table overlays - they will be my pet project for the next several weeks! I have plenty more projects to share – but we’ll break it into a few posts over time as things come together.

Are you going with a vintage theme? Did you discover the beauty of the flea market?