Rocket Science Weddings and Events

Ah, the inspiration for my Cylinder Thursdays, the cranberry cylinder. I saw this in Martha Stewart Weddings so many years ago I can't remember, and I thought to myself, "what a creative use of a glass cylinder!"

I love the simple and unexpected elegance of the cranberries in the cylinder. Two things about this cylinder that I think everyone should know:

1. It takes more cranberries than you think AND cranberries aren't cheap anymore. (my 16 oz bag was $3.49 and the bag would do 1.5 seven inch cylinders completely full like in the the picture below)

2. After awhile the cranberries bleed and turn the water red. So, don't fill them up too early! The water stays clear for a couple hours. This cylinder works really well for a fall or winter event, it will be clear through the daylight hours (as long as your event is in the evening) and as it gets dark or you dim the lights in the room for dancing, you can barely see the red tinted water. I would imagine most guests wouldn't see a change. Of course, if you fill the cylinder completely full, the red water isn't noticeable at all.

Here we have the 10.5" cylinder with some cranberries, not completely full. Cranberries float (duh!) and I like the look of the water and the cranberries, I think it has a cool texture and if you have a linen with some visual interest it doesn't take away from that.

Ooh, fancified!

This is one 16 oz. bag of cranberries in 7" and 10.5" cylinders. I wanted to show just cranberries plain in a cylinder too... I like the non-candle look for a more casual event. You can pair it with cylinders with other fruits, or maybe red rose petals.

Completely full with cranberries. You have to use the candle to keep the cranberries down, so the large 3" floating candle works best (as seen here).

I realized that I don't show a lot of different heights in my cylinders, so I wanted to do that here. This look is really cool too. And would work well if you didn't have a lot of cranberries (but you have to have a long lighter!).