Wedding Fun Wednesdays - Book Centerpieces

So if you know our engagement story, you know Tom spent many nights at his friend's house watching the guys play video games while he had to diligently hallow out the center of a Harry Potter book. Poor Tom - this act alone is proof of how much he loves me.  I saw some great pics on a few sites and we decided we we would try to do something similar for our centerpieces.

From Here

From Here

You'll also probably remember all these free books I scored a few months back.  I'm putting it mildly when I say we weren't exactly looking forward to cutting holes into all of these books They were already riddled with screw holes, so I felt slightly less guilty about the ruining them, but it also just seemed like an immense amount of work.  We kinda put the thought out of our heads for a few weeks and we were walking around a Michael's and we found these cardboard book-a-likes (haha see what I did there?) that opened up on one side (presumably for your fun trinkets or a hideaway spot). Of course I forgot to take a good picture of it by itself.  We instantly realized these would be great for the actual flower beds themselves, and we can stack a few of our real books below to give them a little extra height on our tables.

Fast forward a few weeks, and some brainstorming and discussions between Tom and myself, and I finally started to prep these to our liking. I went through one round of gray primer spray paint on books before 1) I ran out of spray paint and 2) it was too cold outside to continue.

 Since I haven't 1) gotten more spray paint yet and 2) it's still too cold/rainy/windy to give these guys another layer or two of spray paint (multiple thin layers is always key when it comes to spray painting) I decided to move onto the next step.  Last Saturday night I stayed home (yes, my life is glamorous) and painted the inner edge of each book with gray acrylic paint that is almost identical to the spray paint. I did this for two reasons:  1) I was afraid I would have too much paint build up and leave runny edges if I tried to get into these nooks and crannies with the spray paint and 2) I knew if I did this extra step, I could start making our three sides that would be pages, actually look like pages.

Yep, now I sit at home and slowly glue one long strand of thin rope/thick yarn back and forth with regular Elmer's Glue to make this sides look like pages.  And you know what - it TOTALLY looks like a book.  I'm super impressed with how they are turning out.  Once it warms up and I can do some more spray painting, I'll carefully cover these edges with plastic and painter's tape so that it stays nice and "bridal white" (the actual color of this yarn).  Slow and steady wins the race.  I've got 6 done and another 16 to go.  I'm going on the assumptions that we will have 20 ten person tables, so I'm making 20 plus two extra for screw ups.

I'm getting better with my camera tricks, huh? Nice white background for once!

As far as how this will actually be a planter, we are going to discuss with our florist (once we hire one).  Right now I'm thinking we will cut a slightly smaller hole in the top of the book that acts as a hinge to the inside right now (instead of ripping that whole piece off), and we might even do something as simple as Tupperware filled with pebbles, moss, and succulents.  Think of it as attaching a sink underneath a countertop, so done right, you won't even see the Tupperware. Maybe we will have to get a little more creative as these aren't very deep, so there are some concerns there, but succulents don't really need a lot of water or stem room to stay vibrant for a few hours.  I'll certainly share the final product with you when we make these decisions! I'm hoping these really stand the test of time and can be used again and again after the wedding for house decor and other party centerpieces.

Side note - I think I found my Rehearsal Dinner dress!!  I actually ordered it in from the Junior's Prom section of Macys.com - it's a simple fitted scoop neck white dress with white sequins. Hopefully it fits!  Best part - on sale for $59!

So did anyone else spend their last two Saturday's doing anything as glorious as me?  Carving books/painting boxes/gluing rope onto anything interesting?  Got any tips for me on growing succulents?  We'd love to actually plant and harvest as many of our flowers as possible from my parents house and skip the florist fees on the centerpieces altogether, but we will see what prices our local florists and nurseries can give us before we plan on that.  Saving money is one thing, but saving your sanity and having a professional come in on certain tasks can't be stressed enough!