A spring wedding is the perfect situation for bringing a sense of nature and renewal to an event, but centrepieces featuring a lot of florals can really add up. That's why Steven came up with a great DIY project to make gorgeous tree centrepeices fit for a princess bride.

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White Out!

Supplies:
-Store bought urn (The colour doesn't matter because you'll be painting it.)
-Branch (We used a Manzanita branch, which is available from your local florist)
-Store bought nests (available from local craft store)
-Store bought birds
-White spray paint
-Plaster of Paris
-Reindeer moss
-Clear plastic

Steps:
1. Spray paint branch, urns, nests and birds white. Take note: Manzanita is very porous, so it's really going to soak up the spray paint. Count on 2 - 3 coats of paint.
2. The next step is to mix up some Plaster of Paris. You can pick this up at any hardware store for about $3 a box. It's very simple to use - mix it up following the directions.
3. Centre the branch in the urn - you can use some tape to make a grid across the top of the urn to hold it in place - and then pour in the plaster. It's just like pouring pancake batter and it only takes a couple of hours to dry.

Extra tips:
-If you're planning for a wedding in the fall or winter, check your garden center at the end of the season and you may be able to get a great discount on the cost of the branch. The beauty of this is that they don't need to match exactly because they're all going to be painted white. You can also collect fallen branches.
-If you don't want to use plaster, you can use some floral foam and sand to keep it in place. Even some expandable foam insulation that you use to seal up drafts around your windows will work - just point the nozzle into the urn and spray. Then cut away any excess after it has dried.

Decorating the tree

Steps:
1. Glue plastic to the inside base of each nest.
2. Wire the lined nests to the branches
3. Wire birds to the branches
4. Tie ribbon to the urn

Extra tips:

-After we painting the birds white, you can paint them with regular old white glue and added a little glitter. You know we always like to have a little sparkle in our decor!
-You can also glue gun the birds in place.
-You can prepare everything to this point up to months before the wedding. The less you have to do in the days before your event, the better.

Floral arrangements and finishing touches

Supplies:
-Store-bought flowers
-Floral foam (available from the craft store or your local florist)
-Ribbon
-Reindeer moss and candy eggs

1. Arrange reindeer moss around the base of the branch to cover up the plaster.
2. Cut little domes of floral foam to fit in nests. Soak in water.
3. Insert flowers into foam.
4. Place in nests on the morning of the event.
5. Add more moss and small eggs to nests.

Extra points:

-If you have difficulty getting the stems into the floral foam, use a bamboo skewer to make a hole.
-We used button mums, hypericum berries and orchids. The beauty of this arrangement is that you don't need too many flowers - with just one bunch of mums, one sprig of the berries and one branch of orchids, you'll have enough for about two arrangements this size.
-You can do these a couple of days ahead of the wedding and keep them someplace cool. They're hearty flowers that will hold up well for a few days. Just make sure you're adding water to the tray so they don't dry out.
-On the day of the event, add the flowers to the nests once you've got the centerpieces set up on the tables. Now you know why we said to line those nests in plastic -- we don't want anything dripping on our guests!

Wedding favours

For your favours, you can easily carry on the theme and palette of the centerpiece by taking some more of those nests and filling them with your favourite indulgence. We're big fans of giving consumables as wedding favours - so we chosen a beautiful French milled hand soap in the shape of an egg. You can also try chocolate eggs or jelly beans. Everyone loves a treat after a wedding!

Supplies:
-Store-bought nests
-White spray paint
-Egg shaped soaps
-Cellophane
-Co-ordinating ribbon

Steps:
1. Paint nests
2. Add reindeer moss
3. Add egg-shaped soaps
4. Wrap in cellophane.
5. Add ribbon

Alternative: Winter Wonderland centerpiece

If you're having a winter wedding, you can do a similar centerpiece using a frosty blue and white palette. Substitute the eggs in the tree for pine cones. Spray paint them blue and add some glitter. You can also add holiday ornaments and some iridescent snow for extra sparkle. You can use the same wedding favour to match.

This is a special way to put your personal stamp on your big day is just that easy!

Resource List

Urn (Canadian Tire)
Ribbon (Mokuba, 575 Queen St W., Toronto, Ont.)