Everything looks better in candlelight

As of Sunday, my wedding is exactly 8 months away. As part of the centerpieces, I wanted an abundance of candlelight. My reception will take place outside on a terrace, where there is sure to be a lot of wind. Good for the September heat, bad for the candles. An inexpensive solution is to drop votives in glass holders into tall zombie glasses. (Which can then be reused.) I plan to use 2 or 3 different height glasses on each table for some added dimension. Since I wanted quite a few candles (over 100), I'm buying wholesale. The same can be done with the glasses from a restaurant supply company. Which, by the way, is also a great place to pick up wine glasses and bar ware for your own home.The same idea can be applied with floating candles and different levels of water.

The modern Holiday Table

If you need more room on your table, shift the focus up. With your centerpiece now floating above the table, you have more room for those calorie-filled goodies! I'll be doing this in my dining room this weekend (I know, I'm a little behind, but my big holiday party isn't until New Year's!) So enjoy Pottery Barn's rendition until I get my own photo up.

UPDATE: I finally got my photos up. This was one of my centerpieces.Glass ornaments hung with monofilament (aka fishing line)
Ornament and gift tag place card.

Branch centerpieces

When life gives you lemons, make lemonade. But when life gives you a storm and a yard full of tree branches, make centerpieces! Gather some branches and arrange them in a tall vase. I put some moss at the bottom of the vase to secure them, but you could also use river rocks or marbles. Then hang Christmas ornaments with ribbon from the branches. That's it! You're done! You could also spray paint the branches silver for a wintery look or a bold red for a bigger statement. I think it would look fantastic on a dining room table, but mine is currently occupied with unaddressed Christmas cards.

Holiday Party Tips

With the holidays just around the corner, it's a great time to entertain. However with larger parties, it can get expensive fast. If you need more wine or champagne glasses, try a glass outlet like Libbey Glass Co. You can usually buy them for less than it would cost to get plastic. Also, if you live in Dallas, the party rental company RSVP Soiree is having a sample sale where you can get chargers, plates, glasses, etc. for cheap cheap cheap.

For holiday decor, use a lot of evergreen boughs (Christmas tree scraps, that is) either from trimming your own tree or go to a place that sells Christmas trees and ask for some scraps. Make a mock garland by laying them end to end and attach simple glass ball ornaments with wire to make it more festive.

Another look I love is cranberries and simple floating candles in a shallow dish. Very Pottery Barn. The cranberries will float to the top with the candles. You can also use tall cylinder vases and fill each one with a different level of water so that the cranberries float at different heights.
Wrapping paper can also get expensive. A great look is to cover gifts with brown kraft paper and then use a beautiful red satin ribbon. You can buy kraft paper in rolls from uline.com for about $20 for a 1,200' roll. Then it can serve double duty as packing material when mailing gifts to out of town friends and relatives.