I am having an Autumn themed wedding in 10/2010. My idea for table centerpieces is hollowed out pumpkins (or maybe even those funkins ~ so I don't have to worry about rotting) and an array of Autumn flowers. At first I was thinking I could use sunflowers (which is the main flower for the wedding), maybe a few orange roses, some stalks of wheat, berry stems and cat nine tails. To cut down on costs, I will be assembling these arrangements myself. We're having a small wedding and so far, we'll probably only need 7-8 tables plus the bridal table ~ so it's not like I'll have to make a ton of centerpieces. Anyways, I was thinking there are 3 possible ways I can go about doing this. #1 - I could purchase the flowers directly from the florist (which is probably the most expensive). #2 - I can make the arrangements out of sunflowers alone and use all the different colored ones such as deep orange, white, red and the traditional yellow. But, I could grow them myself ~ which I've done a few year ago and they came out pretty good. I just didn't realize that I needed wooden rods to tie to the stems so they wouldn't fall over. This way would save me a lot of money, but do you think it's too risky? Of course I would do a couple of test runs this year and next year before deciding to take that on. #3 - I could make the arrangments out of silk sunflowers. Which is probably cheaper than buying directly from the florist but still not as cheap as growing then myself. And, I'm affraid going that route is pretty ghetto. Even though they would last forever, especially if I use the funkins instead of real pumpkins, and I could give them away to certain people after the wedding. I just don't know what I should do I'd really like to just order them from the florist, but at this point I don't know if our budget will allow that. What does everyone think?