Photo by Justin Baeder

You’re putting a lot of time and thought into the visual details and personal touches for your wedding.  The centerpieces are no exception.  Will you use flowers?  Candles?  Vases, baskets, or jars?  How will the colors match the bridal party, the linens, your bouquet…?

The last thing you want is for your wedding centerpieces to be wasted and forgotten at the end of the night.  I’ve seen it myself: dozens of gorgeous flower arrangements piled together, with the staff begging people to take them.

So how do you make sure your wedding centerpieces are appreciated?

Here are a few of my favorite centerpiece giveaway solutions you might consider:

1) Give them to someone special. Toward the end of the night, discretely invite your grandmothers, moms and aunts to take home the centerpieces.  (They are usually the ones plotting how to take home the centerpiece anyway.)

2) A simple announcement at the end of the night. Ask your entertainer to let guests know that they are welcome to take the centerpieces at the end of the night.  People LOVE free stuff; there won’t be anything left and the ones who want them most will take them.

3) Honor birthdays or anniversaries. Give the centerpiece to the person at each table whose birthday is closest to your wedding date.  If you have a lot of married couples, give them to the couple at each table who’s been married the longest.  You can even ask your entertainer to have all the married couples stand up, then sit down when their anniversary year is announced until the longest married couple remains standing.

4) Reward your quick RSVP’ers. If you keep track of when your RSVPs come in, you can give the centerpiece to the person at each table who returned their RSVP first.

5) The old penny or picture under the bread plate. Hide an object under one bread plate at each table before the guests arrive.  Announce that the person who has the object under their plate takes home the centerpiece.  One of our couples hid a note card with their love story printed on it beneath one of the plates.  The guest who had the card under her plate got to take home the centerpiece in return for sharing the couple’s love story with the rest of the table.

6) A centerpiece giveaway game. Use the centerpiece giveaway as an opportunity to break the ice and have some fun.  Every entertainer has a favorite method: some involve passing around a spoon or a dollar bill like musical hot potato, others involve trivia, a poem or a story.  A bit of suspense and activity will please your guests and find your centerpieces a good home.

How do you plan to give away your centerpieces?  Leave me a comment.