"metal and milk glass" is the new "leather and lace"

okay, so if you know me, you know that the fun part of the whole wedding is on the forward end where i get to crawl through all of the local thrift shops for things i can use. the better the bargain, the happier i am! i've contemplated what i would do on the tables for centerpieces since i decided on paper flowers. what containers could i use? i wanted something that was inexpensive and reusable. since i will be throwing away or giving away the paper flowers, i wanted to reduce/reuse/recycle the containers. i've always loved milk glass and these days it is relatively inexpensive to get second-hand. the other thing that you can pick up for a good bargain is aluminum products. i've always had a thing for those aluminum juice glasses.

so the idea combo i came up with is "metal and milk glass" stuffed with paper flowers. the milk glass is a simple, understated and a blank canvas while the aluminum is shiny and will reflect light (and we all know how i feel about shiny things). so check out what i've managed to acquire so far:

5 pedestal bowls, 1 pedestal vase, 2 plates (28 dollars = av. 3.50 per piece)

11 aluminum cups (less than a dollar each!)

and an aluminum tray with roses (5 dollars).

so i brought them home and gave them a good clean and separated them into centerpieces and i got 5 centerpieces out of combining them. that is 8 dollars and 20 cents per centerpiece. if you add the paper flower supplies which will be about two dollars, you are looking at 10 dollars 20 cents a centerpiece. you would be hard pressed to find a florist willing to do a centerpiece for that!

new rule, new challenge = i will not buy another centerpiece item that is more than 3 dollars. the tray was 5 and the pedestal vase was 5 and i think that is just too much. if i want to add a few candles, i'll have to cut back on the container prices. my goal is 10 dollars a centerpiece. at 13 tables that is 130 dollars for flowers/decor.

so here is a picture of a possible centerpiece, you'll have to imagine the flowers (you know, if you put candles in these instead of flowers it would look just as great):

and now for the brilliance of all of this!!! i've achieved my reduce/reuse/recycle goal. i can keep or give away all of these items (i love these things in *real life so i would be very happy to keep them). or i can resell them on one of those wedding resale websites like Recycle Your Wedding or Bride to Bride Boutique.

*i'm not sure what i meant by "real life"