When a friend asks you to be their witness at their elopement and have an amazing weekend adventure, you say HELL YES! After the party and elopement there was a family dinner and I wanted to help out by creating a fall centerpiece. I decided since this moment was so special, flowers wouldn’t work, I wanted something affordable with a little more meaning. I saw this large white pumpkin and the ideas started flowing. I decided to use succulents on top of the pumpkin as the pumpkin and succulents would last longer than flowers and everyone could take a pumpkin home to plant their succulents. The idea was that we were all part of this union, here to support, nurture and grow the love, and our succulents would be a nice reminder of this.
Not only were these centerpieces affordable, looked beautiful but they would continue to live.
Let’s look at the simple step by step so you can create this at home!
STEP 1: Find your materials
* White pumpkin(s)
* Moss (you can get this at any craft store)
* Craft Bond Spray (craft store)
* Glue Gun
* Scissors
* Succulents (I had various sizes and styles)
* Dried Flowers (I bought a few from my florist, forage for a couple flowers and the pine cones)
STEP 2: Break off the pumpkin stem.
STEP 3: Spray the top of the pumpkin with adhesive spray.
Let it sit outside until the top is a little sticky and also that will allow the vapors from the spray to also lessen.
STEP 4: Attach the moss.
Once the top of the pumpkin has become tacky, then apply the moss. I used gloves as I have heard moss can sometimes have fungus. Better safe than sorry! After you attached moss, trim around the edges.
STEP 5: Separate the succulents from their dirt.
Succulents are like air plants and will only require a spray once a week. I completed these centerpieces a week prior to the elopement and sprayed once in that time, the succulents held up really well.
STEP 6: Start attaching the succulents
You may wonder why I used a hot glue gun, but I can assure you I looked it up and this type of glue was ok to use. I also thought the hot glue would be easier to remove later on but adhere really well to the moss.
Start with the larger succulents and work out from there. After I had added all of the succulents I wanted to I then filled in the holes with the dried flowers.
Since I had extra succulents and flowers I decided to keep going! I had a few white pumpkins outside so made mini versions of the large one, which worked out perfectly with everyone taking a pumpkin home to love.
TOTAL COST: $46
Large Pumpkin: $4
Mini Pumpkins: $6
Succulents: $20
Moss: $3
Adhesive Spray: $8
Dried Flowers: $5
Pinecones and other flowers: Free
Glue Gun and Glue: Already had on had
This works out to be $6.50 per pumpkin. If you used all mini pumpkins it would be even cheaper since the succulents would go further.
I would suggest using a local florist as I found their succulent prices were cheaper and the dried flowers were next to nothing. Foraging in your neighborhood or yard is also a great way to find flowers or pine cones!
All words and phots by Tijana Popovic of A Plentiful Life
