Centerpieces--CHECK!! (well, almost)

I don't like flowers. Let me correct that: I don't like CUT flowers--they are overpriced, overused and DEAD. So, I convinced Ellie that we didn't want the floral centerpieces included in our venue package taht guests couldn't take home & that we should do something awesome. She thought fountains would be nice, and the hunt commenced. Eons ago we found the fountain we wanted to use:

Now what to do with them? Being 4"x4"x6", they were going to get lost on the 8' round tables with all the glasses and whatnot. How were we going to lift them up? Going with the "Faerietale Forrest" idea, log slabs were our first thought, but ensuring they were all level so the fountains could work properly was going to be too difficult. Small baskets turned upside-down? Meh. Plastic display risers that you see in stores? SUPER expensive, and ugly to boot. Then, my dad gave me my birthday gift. The gift doesn't matter, the packaging does--a small (6"x4"x2"?) paper mache box that he had found in a box under my old bed!! He thought that my mom had brought them when she moved in during her cancer treatments, but I had bought tehm years ago for a craft project--the company had trippled my order & didn't want them back, so there they had sat for the last...6 years, still good as new.

Close enough; image from Jo-Ann Fabric & Crafts

Stacking two of these babies would be perfect AND stick to the theme. Sunday on my latest visit to my dad, I scooped up the books (3 boxes of 12--more than enough for our 15 tables) and brought them into The Wedding Zone. We're working on painting them now (hence the ALMOST done comment); one blue & one green for each table, with gold pages & maybe some gold embellishment on the spines, I'll have to look into that. Here's the demo, from the front & side, with some glasses to give an accurate depiction:

Centerpiece Trial-front

Centerpiece Trial-side