Wedding Reception Containers

A friend's daughter was married in Sri Lanka at Christmas (the bride and groom teach in Bengladesh), so the bride's parents and groom's parents held a reception for them in July. They decided on a SE Asian theme and began collecting statues, stands and carvings while I began planting pots.

We expected to have use of the patio, but the day was about 100 degrees in the shade. Then we expected to have a reception area filled with plants, but due to the heat, the hotel needed that space for the cold food buffet. Arriving at the hotel with pots designed for totally different purposes, we did what we could, making smaller "shrines" wherever we could safely place pots without creating tripping hazzards.

We bought buckets of cut flowers from the local Farmers" Market to make table-top bouquets and add color to the pots by putting the stems into water tubes.

This shot is my friend with all the pots assembled in my driveway waiting to be loaded into the U-Haul van we rented.

Here is one of the "shrines."

This is where we had the largest collection of pots. Unfortunately, it was quite dark here so the flash on my camera over-exposed the foreground.

Another "shrine"

This "shrine" was getting a bit too much sun at the time of the picture. After the sun moved, it looked OK.

The last "shrine." Note the pig peeking from the flowers. That was a tribute to the brides parents and their group of friends called "The Porkers."

Finally, the last of the pots. We had to spread these out because it was in a high-traffic area.

it looks wonderful...you guys did a great job making it look authenically asian looking. Not something most of us could have done as well. I'll bet you had fun learning about their culture!

For those of you who think you might like to do this for a wedding or other reception, here are a few things we learned:

1. Plan for surprises and give yourself enough time to adjust to last minute changes.

2. Bring stands, boxes, empty pots, etc. so you can elevate some of the pots and create a "wall" of foliage.

3. Bring dark drape material - dark green or a color that coordinates with the hotel decor would be good - to cover things you use to elevate the pots so they don't detract from the pots themselves.

4. For this type of display, larger is better. We expected to use the smaller pots for outdoor tables, but when it was too hot to use the patio, we had to find a way to try to make them look like part of a "mass" of foliage.

5. If you plan to add cut flowers with water tubes, do the design in advance so the blooms coordinate with the foliage in the pot.

Hi tigerlily123,

Thank you for the nice comment. Yes, it was fun to try to work in the Asian theme. Fortunately, the parents attended the wedding in Sri Lanka, so they had a good idea and pictures to help us.

We felt really good when one of the hotel employees (who is a Buddist) started taking people by the hand and leading them from shrine to shrine with a huge smile on her face. She would stop in front of each one and say, "Doesn't this make just you feel so peaceful?"

Jeannine

Very creative.

You surely have to have a plan B at weddings. Due to a water disaster in our town 4 days before my sister's wedding many years ago, we had to move the entire reception to a new hall in another town in just 3 days. We had to decorate ourselves and fortunately for us, I was growing a huge number of large yellow and orange marigolds. The orange matched the bridesmaid's gowns exactly and we stripped my garden to make centerpieces for the tables. I think the planters are tremendous! What a great idea!
Martha