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Wood Slab Centerpieces – UPDATE

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Oh hey, remember several months ago when I posted about finding that chopped up wood to use as centerpieces?  And how I had no idea how we were going to slice it up into usable pieces?

Well, a lot has changed since then.

When we left off, I was driving around with a giant piece of tree trunk in my car.  I made a few attempts at calling in a favor from friends and relatives, but I couldn’t find anyone who owned a chainsaw.  I called around to a few hardware stores and no one could help me.  Finally, one hardware store referred me to a firewood shop in Pasadena.  I called and explained my project, and they said they would make the cuts for $20.  SCORE.  I dropped it off on my way to work and picked up my wood slabs about a week later.

SLAAAAAABS!


Here’s the thing about the wood I found – it was really heavy. REALLY heavy.  The firewood guy told me I should be using birch wood for my centerpieces because it was much lighter.  He had a piece of birch he could sell me for $20 and slice up for me for another $20.  So much for my “budget” project.  I asked him to put it aside for me and I would let him know soon.

I brought my original wood slabs home for sanding and staining.  Even after putting all that work into them, I found myself admitting that the birch would be better.  Better for transporting, better for setting up and tearing down, and better aesthetically.

Original wood slabs dwarfed my poor topiary

I called the fireplace guy and picked up my birch slabs.

 

Much better.

 

 

So in the end, I probably paid around the same amount as if I had ordered them off Etsy.  And put way too much effort into it.  Oh, and now we have six slabs for seven tables.  Not sure how I’m going to handle that one (yep, we already trashed the original wood).  BFT’s hindsight advice – buy your wood slabs from an expert and never throw anything away until after the wedding.

About Mindy

Mindy Marzec is a life-long Disney fan who grew up in Los Angeles. She started This Fairy Tale Life to share Disneyland travel tips for adults. When not at Disneyland, you can find Mindy at home snuggling with her cats and re-watching Thor: Ragnarok for the billionth time.