DIY, Event Planning Tips, Wedding Planning Tips

How to Create Beautiful Centerpieces for Winter Weddings and Events

When it comes to planning a holiday event or winter wedding, one of the most enjoyable parts of the process is choosing a décor scheme. Winter décor is full of deep colors and crisp white sparkle and it often involves the season and the holidays in some way. This doesn’t mean, however, that you have to stick to the classic red-and-green Christmas theme! Evaluate how your clients want the event to look and feel, and find a creative way to combine those elements into a gorgeous tablescape.

Check out these ten unique winter centerpiece ideas!

1. Christmas balls or decorations

For a Christmas party or a wedding near December 25th, one of the best ways to tie the holiday season into the décor is by incorporating Christmas tree ornaments into your centerpiece. Choose glass balls in simple colors that match your scheme or in eye-catching designs. Fill clear glass vases with ornaments or stack them carefully on decorative trays. If you’d like a little contrast to balance the sparkle of the ornaments, disperse some pine cones throughout. Try colors like blue and silver, deep purple and onyx chrome, or white glitter and traditional Christmas colors.

2. Rustic colors

If your clients are fonder of the idea of polished, premade center pieces rather than DIY creations, color scheme will be important to tie the pieces you choose into the rest of the décor. Think of the different shades you see naturally in the winter and evaluate which colors complement those well in a decorative scheme. Consider arrangements of leaves, fir branches, and flowers in natural colors like dark green, burnt orange, chocolate brown, and deep burgundy red.

3. ‘Bare’ minimum

The trees around you are bare in the winter and running with that theme in your décor can give the event a gorgeous minimalism. Gather branches that have an interesting or elegant shape and paint them white, silver, or dark red. Use these as a centerpiece paired with some pine cones, Christmas balls, or bells for accent pieces or place holders on each plate. If a solid paint color is too plain for your clients’ tastes, consider covering the branches in colored glitter instead.

4. Gems and glass beads

Incorporating white gems and beads into your centerpiece gives the illusion of ice crystals without having to be out in the cold! Paired with rich winter colors like chocolate brown or deep maroon, gems and beads provide a simple but eye-catching accent. Use them to add some twinkle to a vase holding a simple bouquet of firs or sprinkle them amongst the candles across the tabletop like frost and pieces of ice.

5. Winter plants

Just because it’s winter doesn’t mean you can’t bring a little life to the scene! Look for plants that flourish specifically in the winter for your arrangements. Try rose hips, cranberries, sprigs of holly, and other jewel-toned plants. For example, cranberries pinned into Styrofoam balls that have been glued on top of decorative candlesticks make adorable red bundles to give the table some bright texture.

6. White carnations

White is a clear winter theme. Don’t shy away from it just because it’s simple! White carnations are a beautiful flower for evoking snow covered scenery without having to really be out in the snow. Arrange small rounded bundles of them in little bowls low to the table or a tall, tapering tower of them to look like a snow-covered tree. Dot your ‘tree’ with colored ornaments to drive the point home and make sure your centerpiece isn’t too monochromatic.

7. Gold plated pears

Your guests will automatically think about partridges in pear trees! Gold dust can be purchased at baking stores for a light gold shimmer, or you can paint them if you’d like a more solidly gilded look. Nestle the pears in a basket amongst some evergreen branches or firs, then dot magnolia leaves around the edges. The leaves will look delicate and lovely with a coat of gold as well! A sprig of holly or a branch of cranberries can add some color to each bundle if necessary.

8. Candlelight

Give the table a classy glow with candles of all shapes and sizes. A simple white candle looks crisp and clean, but can also be fancied up with an ornate candle holder or a bundle of deep red poinsettias around the base. For a more rustic glow, place tea lights on top of little wooden pedestals, surrounded by barriers and pinecones. Do you want to glam it up even more? Cover the candles in white, silver, red, or gold glitter.

9. Epsom salt wine bottles

For the DIY lover, these make the perfect crafty winter centerpiece. Fill them with whatever you please; try glittered branches and leaves for a glam touch or holly braches and firs for a more natural feel. Epsom salts give the appearance of frost and snow. Paint or spray paint emptied wine bottles white. Empty the Epsom salts onto a newspaper and use spray adhesive on the bottle in sections, rolling it in the Epsom salts so they stick. A light spray all over the bottle will help loose pieces stick.

10. Old skates

Yes, in this case it is okay to have footwear on the dinner table! Just make sure you clean them first. Lace up a vintage hockey skate or a clean white figure skate and fill the top with evergreen, firs, sprigs of holly, and a couple white roses. Put the table number on a stick and nestle it amongst the plants so the number shows above the leaves. For a little extra glamour, dust the skate with white glitter or finely ground Epsom salts to give the illusion that someone’s just used it for a skate on the pond. Dust a little on the table around the skate too!

Get creative!

Whether you’re a DIY fanatic or you just have unique ideas for decorative combinations, putting centerpieces together is a chance to really think outside the box. Choose a winter centerpiece design with enough color, sparkle, or subtlety that it contributes to the atmosphere of your clients’ event. Above all, have fun designing them!

Do you have other great ideas for winter centerpieces? Tell us about them in the comments below!

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