Charitable Wedding Gifts

Ideas for Charities

If you'd rather give than receive on your special day, Martha Stewart Weddings has some great ideas for charitable registry gifts.

GlobalGiving.com: Love animals? Provide shelter for neglected horses, or help feed orphaned baby cheetahs.

IDoFoundation.org: Crazy for kids? Give to the Big Brothers/Big Sisters of America, or gift children with books.

JustGive.org: Eco-minded? Support your national parks, or even donate fruit trees to underprivileged families.

Alternatively, you can contact a charity directly and try to strike your own deal allowing guests to make donations; be sure the organization will notify you of contributions so you can acknowledge the gifts. Under both scenarios, "the person who gets the tax deduction is the one who writes the check," says Greg Rosica, a tax partner with Ernst & Young in Tampa.



Sunny Centerpieces

Bag of Blooms

A little goes a long way with this table decoration. Fresh German chamomile is placed in a jar, and then enclosed in a white paper bag for an exuberant centerpiece that is also economical. The top of the bag is trimmed with scalloping scissors, folded, punched with holes, and laced with yellow ribbon. Thread a tag with the table number onto ribbon before tying.

Garden to Go

A cluster of potted zinnias adds charm to the table at a country or casual wedding. A sign next to the display asks guests to ''Please pick one.''

Tea Tin Centerpieces

With their beautiful ornamentation and lettering, biscuit and tea tins bring old-fashioned charm to a reception table. New or vintage, the containers are inexpensive and easy to find at specialty-food stores, tag sales, and online auctions. Test tins to make sure they're watertight before filling with single-flower arrangements. If they leak, use plastic bags as liners.

Ranunculus Centerpiece

As romantic as roses or peonies, but not nearly as commonplace, ranunculus work in tight, formal arrangements or when placed in a simple, clear vase -- all the better to show off their curvy stems. Once cut, these bulb-grown blossoms last up to a week, making them the perfect choice for bridal bouquets or centerpieces.

Tweed Tabletop

Fashionable tweeds and monochromatic flowers form a fresh, friendly centerpiece. Just wrap fabric around inexpensive glass or plastic cylinders (rectangular vases look nice, too). Mix different tweeds in coordinating colors. The flowers play off the texture of the material.

Parade of Blooms

Delicate and airy, this centerpiece composed of single blossoms lets you make the most of a limited group of flowers. Showcase each one -- we used dahlias and garden roses -- in clear glass vessels, such as bud vases, jars, or even drinking glasses. To accentuate the arrangement, set the flowers on a runner with a hue that contrasts the color of the tablecloth.

Glorious Peonies



Large, open peonies settle into nests of twisted fern vines. Inside each basket is a shallow plastic bowl of water (for extra stability, use a wire grid to hold stems in place). A smaller nest atop the napkin at each place holds a more closed flower -- its stem sits in a water tube concealed within the nest.

courtesy of Martha Stewart Weddings















 






 






 

Real Parties

Meet the Baby Shower

I saw this shower over at Celebrations at Home and loved it. This baby shower by Loralee Lewis is so pretty with it's soft colors and it's vintage circus theme.  This was originally going to be a traditional baby shower for her friend, but sweet baby Beatrix decided to come 5 weeks early!  I think this "meet-the-baby shower" turned out just beautifully.

Winter Wonderland Tablescapes

So I was watching an episode of 4 Weddings on TLC this morning and all of the weddings took place around Christmas, hence me posting winter wonderland themed tablescapes. I know it's 80 plus outside here in Atlanta, but I couldn't help myself!

Photos by Trista Lerit; beautiful florals by The Treasured Petal

courtesy of Splenderosa

courtesy of Naturally Chic

And here's a how to video from Sandra Lee showing you how to create your very on winter wonderland tablescape

DIY Recipe: Oreo Truffles – Perfect (and yummy) favor!

Oreo Truffles (Makes 42 individual truffles!)

1 pkg. (1 lb. 2 oz.) OREO Cookies, finely crushed, divided

1 pkg. (8 oz.) PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, softened

2 pkg. (8 squares each) BAKER’S Semi-Sweet Chocolate, melted (Milk Chocolate, Dark Chocolate, White Chocolate..Choose your fav!)

Optional – Candy sprinkles for additional customization – find some in your wedding colors!

MIX 3 cups of the cookie crumbs and the cream cheese until well blended. Shape into 42 (1-inch) balls.

DIP balls in melted chocolate; place on waxed paper-covered baking sheet. (Any leftover melted chocolate can be stored in tightly covered container at room temperature and saved for another use.) Sprinkle with remaining cookie crumbs. (Here is where you can also add some of your candy sprinkles to add some color! You could also wait till after refrigerating and further decorate your truffles with different colored chocolate by piping pretty designs or swirls on top!)

REFRIGERATE 1 hour or until firm. Store any leftover truffles in tightly covered container in refrigerator.

courtesy of DIY Weddings

DIY Project: Cherry Blossom Centerpieces

Cherry blossoms are a beautiful sign of spring across the US. The problem with cherry blossoms is that’s the only time you can briefly enjoy their beauty! This makes it hard for anyone who wants them for their wedding in say..December. I found a solution to that problem with do-it-yourself blooming cherry blossom branches that would be absolutely perfect for centerpieces and decor! These flowering branches are also extremely affordable, since they consist of branches cut from your yard (or a friends!) and some vellum paper. What’s also neat is you can put your own twist on the blossoms, possibly coordinating the colors from the usual pink and white to colors of your wedding! Whether you want to create traditional blossoming branches, or change it up a bit with unique colored blooms..here are the instructions!

All you’ll need are..

Branches to attach blooms to

Vellum Paper in Color(s) of your choice (tissue paper works too if you cannot find vellum, it will just be more fragile!)

Scissors

Utility/Craft Knife

Glue

Next is to create the blooms!

Start by cutting your vellum paper into 3.5 inch and 4.5 inch squares.

Each square is folded into a flat cone, following the image below.

Use scissors to make four angled cuts to remove the top of the cone.

4. With your utility/craft knife, carve out a small rectangular sliver on each side of the cone(s). Snip off a tiny bit of the pointed tip of the cone, and unfold and shape the paper to create a blossom.

5. Take your branches and gently poke blossoms onto the branch tips. You can add a little bit of glue to each blossom to make the blooms a bit more secure on the branch.

6. That’s it! Now all you need to do is find a pretty vase or container and anchor the branch(es) inside it with pebbles, crystals or stones.

Whether you use these branches on every table for a centerpiece, or here and there around your ceremony/reception venue..your guests will be impressed by their beauty. They’ll be even more impressed to know you created them yourself!!

 

Also, if you love the look of the blossoms, but don’t want to attach them to branches, there are a couple other ways you can incorporate them into your big day. I thought it could look really beautiful to gently thread your blooms through colored ribbons or string and hang them from the ceiling. It would be like the gorgeous raining orchids seen in a lot of celeb weddings..only with your adorable (gorgeous!) handmade cherry blossoms. Another idea would be using the blossoms to decorate your favors! Using a hole punch, punch a hole in one folded corner of the blossom, insert a brad and thread with string or ribbon. Attach to your favor bag, tin..basket..whatever you like! Lastly, and probably most simply..scatter your little blossoms around tables for an additional wedding decor detail guests will love.

 

courtesy of DIY Wedding Projects