DIY Cacti Wedding Centerpieces

I absolutely love that cacti and succulents are "in" right now. I live in Phoenix so cacti and succulents come a plenty and, the best part, they are so hard to kill! You literally do not water it for weeks and they will thrive. These are pretty much the only plants that I can keep alive I am ashamed to admit.

Since my wedding was in Phoenix, I thought it would be cute to use these in my centerpieces. You have to remember that my wedding was very DIY, so doing the centerpieces was something I was really excited about. I wasn't nervous or scared about doing them because I knew the cacti would be hearty and I could make them weeks ahead of time.

This was my inspiration from Pinterest.

I knew that I wanted it to be a little more vintage than the picture above. My friend (and bridesmaid!) Cindy suggested that we buy princess bowls to make them somewhat consistent from table to table.  I ran all across the valley searching antique and thrift stores buying a huge variety of princess bowls; I think I ended up buying 15 in the end. It's funny, I still catch myself searching for these bowls when I go antique shopping; I can't break the habit!

My mother in law and I went to Lowe's (my favorite!) to buy all of the cacti and succulents. They cut me an awesome deal since I was buying so many; it never hurts to ask!

We tried to buy them so that they would be really packed into the bowls and there would be a good variety of height and color in each centerpiece.  My bridesmaids, mother in law, and I got together and had a "potting" party. We brought food and gloves ready to tackle some prickly cacti!  We lined each princess bowl with a circle of paper and used special cacti soil. We then topped each mini garden with small river rocks.  

I loved that each and every centerpiece was different, but they all tied in together. Haha, I think that was the theme of my wedding; mismatching yet coordinated. I anchored all of the mini gardens with vintage crocheted doilies to add some more color and oooomph (technical term).

The best part is that my guests were able to take them home after the wedding. I reserved two of my favorite bowls (I have a picture of one of them here), but the rest were up for grabs. I hope you all enjoyed my lovelies!