In keeping with the “brights” palette so popular this year in wedding themes, many brides are looking to for fresh sources–other than (or combined with) flowers to make a summer statement as their dining-table centerpieces: fruit! Easily arranged in variations on similar themes:
Particularly citrus, which just shouts “sunshine” in addition to providing a blast of color. Low glass bowls (square is actually better than round, as it’s an interesting contrast to the round fruit) with the simplicity of oranges, lemons or limes snuggling up to a matching or contrasting candle in the center (be sure it’s tall enough not to burn down to the level of the fruit, perhaps a 3” X 6” pillar), maybe with a crefully-placed "scattering" of silk Stephanotis blossoms peeking out here and there–and a contrasting napkin at each place setting–what a cheery way to say both summer AND matrimony. Citrus and wedding ceremonies have a long history: orange blossoms themselves, which were already an ancient favorite as a “wedding” flower, were solidified as THE wedding flower of the century when Queen Victoria married Prince Albert in 1840. As late as the 1950’s, brides were still routinely incorporating orange blossoms (real or wax) into their bouquets. Since then, Stephanotis, which closely resembles orange blossoms, has tended to replace the genuine article. (Real Stephanotis is delicate and difficult to handle, so a realistic-looking silk substitute is recommended for tucking into fruit arrangements to give it a bridal pop.)
Mix it up: a low-profile mix of lemons and limes (or lemons and oranges, etc.) together, with white or yellow daisies happily lifting their heads from amongst them. Or, lime-green Santini mums with lemons are almost smugly happy in both shape and shade. Or use larger, taller glass containers (they don’t have to match, but simple lines are best) for a slightly loftier (8-10") display filled just over the top with any one of the citrus fruits, giving a minimalistically simple, still-life quality to the centerpiece, while still having a fun, friendly feel. In this instance, for an evening reception, you may wish to add some twinkle with 3 to 5 votives in clear holders around the container of fruit. Double the elegance by setting the container AND the votives on a mirror.
Clear glass bowls or vases can be lined with full or half-round slices of the citrus, with a small, simple floral arrangement such as a combination of white roses and mini-carnations filling the center and spreading out above. By now everyone has become acquainted with battery-operated tealights; there are also battery-operated underwater lights that would give the translucent fruit slices a magic, "stained glass" effect.
(All kinds of lemony examples at Google Images: http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=lemon%20centerpieces%20wedding&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wi and Epicurious gives a great tutorial at http://www.epicurious.com/articlesguides/entertaining/tablesettings/spring_centerpieces?mbid=RF )
Artful elegance in another variation of the season’s hot colors: a low, clear-glass bowl of bright green Granny Smith apples, topped by a pair of cymbidium orchid stems (real or artificial) in fuschia. Artsy chic!
Grapes have long been a symbol of abundance and opulence. With today’s exploding popularity of domestic wines giving rise to wine-themed and actual vineyard weddings, a candle-lit display of an artfully-arranged “tumble” of grapes in a variety of colors in a large, one-of-a-kind fruit dish would be perfect on the banquet or buffet table, and repeated on a smaller scale in vintage-looking glass compotes (matched or not) centering the dining tables with a candle in the center rising above small clusters of black, red, green and white grapes. Again, make it jump to life by setting it on a mirror and adding 3-5 clear glass votives around it.
Life is just a bowl of cherries–what a happy thought to bring to your celebration. In summer, bowls of dramatic dark-red cherries or their bright-red sisters would say it all around the foot of a pillar candle in a round, low clear-glass container. Actually, chip-and-dip sets in clear glass or white pottery work fabulously for this idea, candle in the “dip” bowl surrounded by a “mote” of cherries. (Stems left on looks best.)
As the season moves into late summer, and then into fall, there will be more varieties of apples coming into season–reds, golds, and mixed red-and-gold, and the Granny Smith greens will still be available, too; adding a few golden (even golden-brown) pears to this mix would make it that much more interesting. You can use one type/color or a mixture, especially toward fall and harvest season. Apples might not be quite delicate enough to accent with dainty Stephanotis, but would go well with white, ivory or golden mums, if you want to mix in flowers. Even moving on toward the holiday season, bowls of holiday-red apples make welcoming and seasonal displays; burn cinnamon-scented votives.
Thinking about fall, brides using browns and coppers and golds can create simple, yet upscale centerpieces with a variation of the same theme of an interesting glass vessel holding a candle in the main wedding color, surrounded by coffee beans or a variety of unshelled nuts, on a mirrored tile with votives twinkling it up. Brown is a wonderful neutral that shows off almost any color (except possibly red) to great advantage.
There are even some avant-garde brides who are using hollowed-out pineapples or stacks of stately artichokes or standing asparagus spears tied like fence posts around the outside of a glass with wedding-colored ribbon, and a tall candle rising above the glass–as dining table décor–but personally, I would find these items more appealing as part of the centerpiece on the banquet or buffet table with the rest of the food.
With fruit imports from South America now making the “seasons” of fruits much longer, there’s a large variety of fruits available to compliment the happy colors of today’s weddings, so that by using variations on the simple theme(s) of candles and mirror bases and/or mixing the fruit up with florals, it’s easy to come up with something that up until now just hasn’t been seen that often.
Was your favorite fruit not mentioned? What to avoid: strawberries are happy little red statements, too, but avoid almost all berries as centerpieces since, particularly if the room is hot, piling them up creates the likelihood of having them “mush” down from their own weight, and draw gnats. (Exception: cranberries in winter, piled and spilling from between 3 central white pillar candles on a white plate with enough of an edge to keep them from rolling off. Beautiful!) Peaches, apricots and plums could add lovely shaded to the fruit palette, but are easily bruised, get torn skin, and then–again–may attract gnats. And if I have to explain why bananas might not be the best choice, you’re not old enough to get married.
05.02.09
