Centerpieces

Centerpieces are the focal point of your reception tables. They should tie in with your theme and the mood you want to send. The more creative you get the better. There is absolutely no reason you can't do a nice centerpiece for little money if you put effort into it.

A lot of people choose to use flowers. This can be pricey if you use real ones. You also have to pay for the florist to create the bouquet or centerpiece. This is beyond the price of the actual flowers. I would recommend picking a simple centerpiece that can be assembled easily by you or relatives and doesn't cost a fortune.

Before you choose your centerpiece, review the facility's guidelines. Our facility did not allow candles unless they were enclosed in glass or a vase that exceeded the flame. Check any guidelines on what you buy as well. The bowls we used were not intended for floating candles. We took a risk by using them for that purpose, but at least had the thought in the back of our mind that something could happen. One of the bowls did end up cracking (no water spilled), but that was the worst.

Our theme was bubbles and the color aqua. Since bubbles are somewhat water-like, we decided to have large glass bowls on each table filled with water. We placed several fake water lilies at the bottom along blue stones from the local craft store. Then we placed a floating candle at the top. It was pretty and had a peaceful happy quality to it. It also gave the table decoration without creating an obstacle to conversation.

It was easy to set-up because the flowers could be cut far in advance. In fact that was all the prep work that was needed (aside from maybe taking the stickers off and cleaning the bowls). We lowered our costs by taking advantage of weekly coupons at the craft stores. Both AC Moore and Michael's have weekly coupons that save you up to 40% on one item not on sale. So if we made weekly trips we saved a lot. Some items, like the flowers, were so cheap it wasn't worth the extra trip so we bought those all together. Also if you know someone who works at a craft store or party store, see if they will let you use their discount. My fiance was working at AC
Moore and saved us quite a bit. You might also want to check your local dollar store for affordable vases or candleholders.

It's also worth a shot to check sites like craigslist.com for used wedding pieces. I haven't sold all my centerpiece elements yet, but I intend to. What else am I going to do with them, and why not help someone else out and make a little money back? When it comes to centerpieces the skies the limit. Anything will do, so long as it fits your theme, color
scheme, and is practical.

Flowers

Flowers are normally considered a pivotal decoration at weddings. When I got married I wasn't so sure. Yes, flowers are pretty, but they were also expensive, and well...maybe just a little more girly and frilly than I wanted. If you are using flowers there are basically two ways to go, silk or real. I decided to use real flowers for the bouquets (since the girly part of me grew more vocal) and silk ones for the decorations. For decorations I wanted to keep everything minimal. So instead of flowers everywhere you turn, I used them for key areas. My mother-in-law kind of took helm of the ceremony decorations, which turned about to be quite a blessing. She had a real knack for it and was able to turn the wooden pergola we married under into a dream. We used silk white wisteria to wind around the columns. The wisteria was rented so it came pretty cheap. My friend's mother had a knack for silk flowers so she created two large vase bouquets to stand on the columns beside us and a large spray above our heads. Initially I would have thought this overkill, but it really did look tasteful and elegant. Combined with the other decorations, it was enchanting. In the reception we also used the silk flowers to decorate the cake and to float in bowls of water as centerpieces. It was simple and beautiful. Silk flowers are easier to use for decorations because you can plan what they look like in advance and set up is easier and cleaner.

I quickly learned how expensive real flowers can be after a trip to the florist. I wanted a simple flower with no frills. We decided on dendrobium orchids which are reasonable in price. My heart was set on a cascade bouquet. Turns out these are often cheaper than a full upright bouquet because of the engineering involved. Still my bouquet was quoted at a whopping $130. A little pricey for the girl who shunned flowers. I was honest with the florist and she was able to bring the price down $20 by making it slightly smaller. Did I regret spending a Franklin on my bouquet? Actually, no. It made me feel like such a princess the day of the wedding that I feel it was worth the splurge. And here's some great advice, take the bouquet with you into the lobby
while on your honeymoon. Clearly you're a bride and it's a gentle reminder to the staff to give you those upgrades. It worked at both hotels we stayed at and surprisingly the bouquet lasted the entire honeymoon. Those flowers were tougher than I thought.

I also indulged on real flowers for my bridesmaids and all the usual corsages and boutenierres that are handed out. It felt like an appropriate gift to the people who helped make my day special. The flowers totaled to about $350 which isn't too bad for a wedding. Make sure you ask those wearing the flowers if they have any allergies in advance. Turns out we almost gave my mother a corsage to which she was severely allergic. We had meant for the flowers to be a surprise, but I was very glad I asked. Definitely designate someone to hand out all the corsages before the wedding. It can be quite a task tracking everyone down and figuring out who gets
what. My mom ended up doing a lot of it and I'm sure it didn't help with her stress level. You can also designate that person to pick up the flowers in the morning. Turns out most flowers are pretty hardy and will last most of the day. Check with your florist just to be on the safe side though.

So by starting out "quite contrary" to the flower idea, I ended up having a "garden" of flowers at the wedding. My best advice for you budget-wise is to follow your heart and then compromise with your florist to bring that dream to a more reasonable level.

Hello! Welcome to Real Bridal Advice. Having just gotten married and gone through much learning (and some suffering) planning the wedding, I wanted to share all I've learned with other brides. It can be an intimidating thing planning your wedding without the help of a wedding planner. I did have lots of help from family and friends (thank goodness for them!) and now I get to share their ideas and advice with you as well. Each week I plan to discuss a new topic and let you know what worked (and didn't work).

First I'd like to give you a little background on me and the wedding so you know where I'm coming from. My advice may not apply to you, or it may hit home immediately. I'm 26 and marrying the love of my life after two years of dating. We lived together before he proposed so that changes some of the dynamic of our experiences. Our parents were both in support of the marriage, but my parents were a little skeptical of having a big wedding. My husband still being in school and me only having an entry level job, kept us limited in the kind of wedding we could have. With our parents help we were able to throw a wedding for sixty close friends and family for about $4000-5000 (give or take). Not a bad price compared to some of the books I'd read. Some of the stresses I dealt with were designing and helping my mother make my dress from scratch, finding a vegan caterer and baker, and trying to estimate how many RSVPs to expect from my large extended family who live far away.

I'll go into more detail on all this later. I really look forward to sharing my thoughts and ideas with everybody. Please don't hesitate to share your ideas and advice as well! Hopefully some bride out there will find a pearl of wisdom in my blog and find their wedding planning goes smoother. If I share nothing else with all you brides out there, let me express, "Congrats! and Good Luck"!