Photography by Anna Kuperberg – see more at www.kuperberg.com
If you’ve rented the centerpieces for your wedding flowers reception tables, giving them away to guests is obviously not a good idea. But if you’ve created centerpieces and want to make one guest at each table feel like a lottery winner, give them away, but do it fairly. Here are a few ideas – some mundane and some a bit of fun – for dispersing your highly coveted reception table centerpieces equitably!
Put a gold star or some other sticker under one chair at each table. At some point during the festivities, have the DJ, emcee or best man invite everyone to look under his or her seat for the gold star. Whoever has it wins the centerpiece!
Have the reception DJ, emcee or best man announce that the centerpiece at each table goes to the person who traveled the farthest to attend the wedding. This way a small token of your appreciation can be given to your dear friend who’s made the trip out to be a part of your special day. Don’t forget to personally say thank-you before the reception is over!
With a nod to respect for elders, announce that the oldest person at each table is the recipient of the centerpiece. This is where female guests must decide which they want more-to keep their age under wraps or your centerpiece. Then again, there may be women who want the centerpiece so badly that they’ll add a decade or two to their age just to get it.
The “Hot Potato” centerpiece giveaway ploy is silly fun. The emcee first requests that someone at each table pull out a dollar bill, which will be returned. Then, without telling them why, the emcee has the guests play “hot potato” with the bill. As the music plays, the bill is passed around in a circle from guest to guest. The centerpiece goes to whoever is holding the bill when the music stops. Remember to have the winner return the dollar bill to its owner.
For this method, the emcee can announce up front that it’s time for the centerpiece giveaway. The emcee then says, “The first person at the table to pull out foreign currency from pocket or purse wins” or “the first person to pull out a cell phone that isn’t black wins.” Make sure the emcee has prepared several options in case it takes three or four rounds to give away all the centerpieces.
Finally, if you and your groom share a bizarre sense of humor or simply want to make the evening go quickly so you can get down to a more personal celebration of your marriage, here’s your centerpiece giveaway. Have the emcee announce, after the salad plates have been removed, that the centerpieces go to the person at each table who finishes his or her entrée first. Then sit back and enjoy the next few minutes. It’s fun to see how many people will inhale their food to get that centerpiece
March 8th, 2010 at 12:28 am
This is a great idea for all weddings. You can save money on favors and make your flowers an even bigger part of your wedding day.