non-flammable, non-floral centerpieces?

So we're having part of our reception at a polo club because my fiance and I both play. The problem is we cannot have candles or flowers. Not only do centerpieces have to be portable but because basically everything around horses is flammable and flowers are hard to cart into the club...Also glass can cause big trouble should a vase break for the horses... I just see them grazing and accidentally getting a shard...

Any ideas for non-flammable, non-floral centerpieces and decorations?

I don't know what I would do if I couldn't use you all as a sounding-board!

How about "tablescapes" rather than centerpieces? Battery operated christmas lights are available right now (they even have them with white stings, green stings, or even gold!) which would work for the illumination factor...(I have a friend who used them for her outdoor, evening reception that restricted candles and it worked beautifully)...since you cannot use florals...how about some fabric? Some tulle or open weave fabric (I used burlap on our tables as runners and it worked beautifully) with the lights woven in beneath?



I just checked your bio and it looks like you're drawn to a rustic look...

wheat or barley along the table:





I did one wedding with potted gardenias as the centerpieces...they were in galvanized buckets and smelled heavenly. We ordered them from a garden supply in advance and placed them in a warm room for a few days before the wedding to encourage the buds to open up.

This photo from Martha Stewart weddings:



What is your wedding date? Is it day or night? Formal, semi-formal? Let me know and I will run with some ideas and post some pics for you.

For now, here are MORE ideas...of the top of my head.

7 and 8 inch polyresin urns (unbreakable under normal circumstances), you could fill with fruit topiaries or feathers...peacock and ostrich would be oh so glamorous! Tres chic!



And they have this version too in 7 and 12 inches:



Or spray paint them white or gold or silver or bronze or whatever color you like and insert a branch with little lights wrapped on it. You can also paint the branch (I did this in gold (sans lights) for a 50th wedding anniversary) or leave it natural....mazanita branches are gorgeous for this! Use foam and plaster of paris to set the branches and then cover with sheet moss. Instant centerpieces!





This birch centerpiece is also a great idea (you can use battery operated votives or string lights instead of the candles)

Here's the how-to for the Birch Centerpiece.

There also lots of options for metal containers. Here's a small sampling:









These are called Naked Wire L.E.D. Lights and the are battery operated and come in a myriad of colors.

Here's another container option...long, wooden planters...can be painted, stained or left as is...filled with nonfloral elements like fruit and veggies, moss covered foam or...if you can get away with it...tall grasses.



You can also consider "edible" centerpieces...my BFF had mini-wedding cakes on each table at her outdoor, rustic wedding. Along with those she had "Martha Stewart Tissue Flowers" anchored on the tables with ballon bouquet weights that she got from the party store:



I also attended a great wedding where all of the food was served "family-style" from the center of the table...it was AWESOME! They used levels in the middle of the table (I think just various pedestals and also small boxes under fabric) to place the food on. It was similar to something like this:



I also have made edible topiaries with a cabbage and strawberries. You take a straight branch, make the top into a point, clean it up, anchor it in a container (like the urns above) with foam and plaster of paris...take a small cabbage and spear it onto the pointed top of the branch (think like a pig, thick toothpick), attach strawberries all over the cabbage with toothpicks in the stem area of the strawberry and then poked into the cabbage. It' SUPER cute, unexpected and edible. Here's a similar idea without the stick:



You could do this with small citrus fruit (lemons, limes, mandarin oranges, etc. I would say pick one fruit for each topiary for maximum impact. I have also seen these made on foam ball forms with nuts such as walnuts.

These are made with faux fruit and you can order them HERE.



This pretty too and super easy to DIY.





And of course you can do cupcake trees on each table as the centerpiece.





See how it was all pulled together HERE.



Here's another cute idea from Martha Stewart Weddings...centerpieces that feature little wrapped favors displayed on a pedestal...practical and great looking!



Finally, you can use colored linens on the tables to spice them up and add some color.

Wow Lori, you've really outdone yourself! Amazing!

You could have a bowl (non glass) full of fruit, those decorative balls (even DIY with styrafoam), or the favor stand. You could maybe even do the mini cakes as centerpieces. This is a little far out, but if you're arsty, what about doing some handcrafted sculpture or mobile that represents you as a couple. If you do a mobile type thing, they have these at cb2 http://www.cb2.com/family.aspx?c=581&f=4188&viewall=1

what about a crystal tree? They come in different sizes and you can customize them =o)

Maybe you could do something with fruit or candy. Lori had some nice fruit topiaries and I was thinking maybe you could make topiaries out of rock candy. Rock Candy is very pretty and comes is a ton of colors, it would very easy to make yourself, all you need is
Large styrofoam balls (wallmart sells them pretty cheap) Rock Candy in the color(s) of your choice Something for the trunk (white birtch would be nice) A clay or decorative pot sand or rocks (to put in the bottom of the pot) to weight it down. This will keep it from being top heavy and tipping over. a piece of florist foam (glue it in place with a hot glue gun to make sure it doesn't move around. More rock candy to cover the top of the pot (small green rock candy would resemble grass if you stuck them in foam and stood them up. If you have any questions about this idea, or if you decide to do it and run into some trouble I'll be glad to help.
Here are some more ideas
I like Lori's idea of using wheat. You could replace the flowers with wheat all together. Use any container you like and have tall wheat arrangements. You can buy this arrangement from http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.thomashobbsflorist.com/images/Silk_Drieds/FS_02.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.thomashobbsflorist.com/index.cfm%3Ffuseaction%3Dgallery%26categoryid%3D6&h=335&w=222&sz=77&hl=en&start=5&um=1&tbnid=v8ZKfBdkJSHG_M:&tbnh=119&tbnw=79&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dwheat%2Barrangement%26 svnum%3D10%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26hs%3DLpz%26sa%3DN

This one below is from http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.makebe-leaves.com/herbs_images/Three_Wheat_Sq_175.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.makebe-leaves.com/wild_herbs.html&h=200&w=179&sz=7&hl=en&start=51&um=1&tbnid=cE9oDw5XpL-zqM:&tbnh=104&tbnw=93&prev=/images%3 Fq%3Dwheat%2Barrangement%26start%3D40%26ndsp%3D20%26svnum%3D10%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26sa%3DN

This one below, is and arrangment made of leafs.
The one above is an arrangement made out of berries

You can get these White Birch tubes from http://www.smallstump.com/ They come in sets of 5 for $28, however they are just hallow tubes, they would look great filled with wheat or leafs, or even a mix of red maple leafs an wheat... maybe herbs like lavender....just make sure to cut the steams accordingly. You don't want the long steams in the short tube =o)
some of these have flowers, but I thought the containers were interesting. The flowers I have on here are pretty simple, they might be easier to carry in...

You guys are AMAZING! I was thinking about urns, I like the garden look. I also thought about topiaries but didn't know how other than to grow them. You gave me so many ideas! And that Jamali garden site is so great! I had looked at urns before and garden centers were quoting $45-100 ea, which is why I originally dismissed the idea just because I saw it getting to be quite expensive. Jamali is really reasonable, thank you so much! I also really liked the birch, they reminded me of trees on my grandparent's estate I used to play around as a kid.

And here I was running to the bookstore looking through entertaining books and yet I was still stumped! You guys are really amazing!