Decorating with Food - The Hungry Bride

by Sarah De Heer, Posted Sep 10th 2009 @ 4:00PM

Dad's Root Beer Crate. Photo: eBay.

Several weeks ago, I covered my co-worker's wedding in Louisville, Ky., and raved about how she doubled her wedding cakes as centerpieces. It got me thinking: Everyone attending our wedding knows that both Jon and I are serious foodies. I want to incorporate food into our decor too, but I don't want to overdo it (and believe me, that wouldn't be hard!).

With the cost of food eternally increasing, I need to come up with other ways to incorporate our passion into our cocktail hour and reception. With the help of eBay and Amazon, I think I'll be able to pull it off. I have a vision of filling up old crates with bright, white hydrangeas and placing them by the bars.

Taking that idea one step further, I started a search on eBay for wine crates and stumbled across an antique Dad's Root Beer crate, which just so happens to be one of Jon and my father's favorite root beers. Five days of bidding and this puppy was mine!

Check out more of my finds after the jump!

The best thing about these crates is that once the wedding is over, the pieces can double as decor for our home. It's hard putting money toward the flowers (even though they're gorgeous) because they will inevitably die within the next few days. When I find things that I can make last, it puts a smile on my face.

Coca-Cola Crate. Photo: eBay

Boylan's Seltzer. Photo:Amazon

While I'm not a big soda fan, I couldn't help but fall for the simplicity of this crate. Holding several mason jars, milk and soda bottles filled with single buds and tea lights, this Coke box will be placed on top of a table dispensing iced tea and lemonade for our guests during the ceremony. I think the whimsical nature of this piece in conjunction with those classic and refreshing drinks was a match made in heaven.

I do love the way a single bud looks in a vase, the focus remains on the flower -- it's a very clean look, but I still want to have some fun with the vases.

Enter Boylan's Lemon Seltzer. These bottles not only have a vintage look to them, they also come in the perfect shade of my wedding color: green. While I probably won't use these again after the wedding, Jon and I sure did enjoy drinking the 12-pack!

Have more ideas for me? I have four weeks left so please share them in the comments section.

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Filed Under: The Hungry Bride
Tags: amazon, BoylansLemonSeltzer, coca cola, CocaCola, dads root beer, DadsRootBeer, ebay, reception, the hungry bride, TheHungryBride

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Reader comments (Page 1 of 1)

9-10-2009 @4:33PM Sarah-Jane Sanders said... You might not have time for this, but I recently bought a wick to turn an old wine bottle into an oil lamp. It looks something like this: http://bit.ly/1azgU8

Full size seen here: http://bit.ly/4tq40X

I love this idea and may use it for my own wedding, because unlike candles it doesn't leave a bunch of waste (tons of wax candles you may never use again) you can reuse the lamp oil and recycle the bottles when the night is over.

Another idea is to do a fun at-the-table quiz for your guests to do on what you and Jon like to eat. What was your favorite food as a kid?
What's one food item you both couldn't live without?
What did you eat on your first date?
and so on.

Make it multiple choice and print the answers upside down on the bottom.

Finally, in with your flowers in the bud vases include sprigs of different herbs. This is especially easy if you or someone you know has an herb garden. It'll look great and smell even better.

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9-10-2009 @5:51PM Tara said... GREAT idea! I've seen a few ideas like this come to life on a few wedding blogs - check these out:
http://josevillablog.com
http://cheninboutwell.com/chitchat/my-turn-to-partyplan-jessica-c.html
http://weddingchicks.com/

Anthropologie has some crazy cute ideas for rustic type themes.

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9-10-2009 @5:20PM Tara said... Also check out
http://justinmarantz.com - they do a lot of weddings with great details!

Here is a nice one:
http://josevillablog.com/2009/07/laura-and-daniel-san-luis-obispo/

May not be completely your style but the mention of those great crates reminded me of these weddings...

All the best!
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9-11-2009 @8:55AM Collette said... Although we're not getting married anytime soon, I find these posts and your really neat way of writing fun. It's inspired me to go digging in yard sales and tag sales and ebay again as we are moving to a new place in a year and a half, who knows maybe by then I will have found my whole house furnishings - gorgeous, unique and less expensive than the BIG BOX stores...Thanks for the posts, always fun!

Collette

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1-25-2011 @10:49PM Trish said... Just out of curiousity, how much did you pay for the Dad's rootbeer crate? I recently bought one at a garage sale and have no idea what it's worth. Sorry that is off the subject! A reply would be appreciated, thanks!!!
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