Simple and Elegant Do it Yourself Centerpieces

Spring is in the air and wedding season is upon us. The goal of every bride is to create a wedding that is personal and unique. The other challenge is staying under budget.  An easy way to meet all your goals is by making your own centerpieces. You can create centerpieces by renting basic items and adding your own touch to match your theme and wedding colors. With just basic glass mirrors, a cylindar vase, and votive cups, you can create elegant centerpieces for much less, and the shimmering votives add a romantic ambiance to the table.

When topped with shimmering votive candles, a mirror becomes a pool of reflective light that casts a glow onto the reception tables. For this centerpiece, we stacked a 14-inch-diameter mirror on foam boards to make a platform, then covered the edges with a wide ribbon and added a thinner ribbon for decoration, folding ribbon ends under and securing them with decorative-head pins. To decorate the vase, we wrapped a coordinating ribbon around the bottom and fastened it in place with double-sided tape; it's best to use a tall vase like this cylinder so the blooms won't get close to the flames even if they droop. Because the ribbon we chose was 1-inch wide, we combined our 1/4-inch-thick mirror with 1/2- and 1/4-inch-thick foam boards (cut to match the shape of the mirror with a utility knife) to create a 1-inch platform; once you've selected ribbon, you can use as many layers of foam board as you need to get the proper height. The ribbon we used for accent is 1/3-inch wide.

Read more at Marthastewartweddings.com: Mirror Centerpiece