Martha Stewart — or one of her many clones — popularized tea tin centerpieces ages and ages ago, and people jumped on the idea. By people, of course, I mean bloggers and writers, because the only place I’ve seen ’em is on blogs and in the pages of magazines
I’m not sure I get why. These centerpieces are so easy — loose, unpolished arrangements tend to look better — and you can coordinate without being too matchy-matchy by buying teas that come in tins that compliment your wedding colors. I’ve seen mismatched Mason jar vases and glittery pop bottle vases at actual weddings, but never tins.
Is it the expense? I suppose I’d only recommend tea tin centerpieces to those who drink a lot of tea (otherwise it’s not terribly “green”) or have a lot of time before the wedding to stalk eBay for some good deals on empties. Then again, there are always the Asian discount sites and shops, like Pearl River, where you’ll have particular luck if your wedding colors happen to be red, black, and gold, or some combo of two of the three.
Me? I like Harney & Sons teas, but at about eight dollars per tin, it’s not exactly the most budget-friendly choice. Plus, a tea tin centerpiece looks a lot nicer when there are tins of all shapes and sizes grouped together. Sourcing all your tins from one brand defeats that goal. Well preserved intage tins, whether they housed coffee or tea or perhaps even something else, almost always look great.
Rachel Ray, for example, achieved the same look with a whole different sort of tin.
If you do decided to go the can route, please heed this advice given by the utterly amazing Jamie of I Suwannee: “i’ve found that most of them leak, so i put the flowers into a shot glass, and put the shot glass into the tin.”
Another thing to keep in mind when sourcing tea tins (or whatever sort of tins you’d like) is that you don’t personally have to be the one who used the contents of every single one.
If you’ve got a couple friends you know are big tea drinkers and use brands that come in pretty tins, ask them to pass the tins on to you. Spread the word at work, your book club or the gym. Also, do not shun dollar stores for this project.
I’ve always thought this was a lovely idea for a relatively informal, low-key kind of wedding.
Silly question, but I have to ask: They have tea in tins in dollar stores? At the one around here the closest thing you’ll find is some run-of-the-mill Lipton.
Not often, but you never know when they’ll get something unexpected. My one caveat is that I wouldn’t trust the quality of any you find that way. It probably won’t kill you, but it might not taste very good.
So ditch the tea and keep the tin!
The tea tin idea is really cute. You can order the tins at pearlriver.com for like $3 each.
Thanks for the tip, Donna!