10 Cost Savings Tips for Wedding Decorations

Decorations help transform an ordinary wedding ceremony or wedding reception into an extraordinary event. To help decorate a wedding space, bride's may recruit wedding decorators, florists, event planners, balloon specialists, or use a wedding planner from a wedding venue. By using a little creativity, a bride or wedding couple can manage to pull together a very stylish and beautiful wedding celebration and save themselves quite a bit of money.

The following are 10 cost saving tips for wedding decorations.

Tip 1 - Incorporate Water Beads into your Wedding Decorations
One of the newest things seen at weddings are water beads especially used for wedding reception table centerpieces. First you start out with glass bowls, glass vases, or glass tower vases. These glass containers are filled water beads, water bead crystals are mixed with water and they form beautiful water beads. Up through the bottom, floralytes may be used to add a beautiful glow to the beads. On top you might add ostrich feathers, flowers, floral bouquets, or some kind of plant. Many brides will use the color beads geared to their color scheme. The water beads very often create a stunning visual and if they are created yourself or by a dear friend, they aren't that expensive to create. You might find these products at flea markets or arts and craft stores. Websites that offer some of these products are as follows: www.waterbeads.net , www.rainbowwaterbeads.com , www.uievents.com , www.koyalwholesale.com , www.codwholesale.com , www.fabulousfeathers.net .

Tip 2 - Use Candles for your Wedding Decorations
You can either make a trip to a candle outlet store of check for candles and candle holders in dollar stores. You have a number of options when it comes to decorating with candles. Candles come in all sorts of sizes, shapes, colors, and fragrances. You can fill a large wine glass, glass bowl, glass vase, or glass container with water and float candles on the water for a dazzling effect. Spread glitter, confetti, or flower petals around the decoration. You also might place a pillar candle inside a vase colored to your wedding scheme. Purchase candles in bulk and many vendors will offer you a bulk discount. Many little candle lights gives your event a fairy-like brightness that creates a mystical atmosphere. You also might think of using votive or tea light candles.

Tip 3 - Use Christmas Lights for Wedding Decorations
Buy many Christmas lights right after Christmas to take advantage of after holiday sales. Buy either white, clear, or color schemed Christmas lights. Use Christmas Lights for wedding center pieces, for poles, for railings, for bushes, or in trees to decorate your wedding space. Christmas Lights help make your space sophisticated, attention gathering, beautiful, and are rather inexpensive.

Tip 4 - Do It Yourself Wedding Decorations
Many wedding decorations you can create them yourself. If you use creativity, you may be really surprised with what you really can come up with. Look in dollar stores, arts and craft stores, and look online, look for vases, bowls, containers, colored stones, colored marbles, mirrors, plastic plants, silk plants, napkin holders, colored ribbons, colored string, and when looking you may come up with other ideas. You might try brainstorming ideas with a store manager. You may gain some ideas on wedding decorations by viewing Youtube videos on your computer, laptop, or IPad. Just go to Youtube and plug in a wedding decoration topic that might interest you and see what ideas you can come up with.

Tip 5 - Buy Colored Fabrics instead of Linens
Very often businesses markup the price of linens. You might save yourself of bundle of money by buying fabrics at an Arts and Supply store or from a Sewing Store. Sometimes, you might even find a fabric that is perfect for your color scheme. Many fabric stores can cut the fabric to the size you need. Consider fabric to create swag to your decor or use fabric to add a little color to your table linens. You might also use fabric to create a hanging effect or use for an eyesore such as an ugly pole.

Tip 6 - Recruit Bridesmaids to Help Prepare Wedding Decorations
Very often bridesmaids get almost excited about the wedding as the bride does and many times are happy to help out in wedding decorations. If there is a need, recruit your bridesmaid to help create your wedding reception table centerpieces, they may help in place cards, wreaths, wall decorations, create flower pieces, wrap wedding favors. You may recruit them for brainstorming and tinkering to come up with a beautiful wedding decorations.

Tip 7 - Collect Greenery and Photos of your Past
The months leading up to the wedding, keep your eyes out for greenery and other nature items. Collect eye appealing greenery, sea shells, sea glass, plants, flowers, or any type of items that may be geared to your wedding theme. Maybe your having a beach wedding, be on the lookout for beach items, look for inexpensive items, that will add to the theme of your wedding day. Just be on the lookout when you go out to places. Also gather pictures of you and your beau of when you were growing up and of the time you met. You might take some wedding theme items and photos and put frames around them.

Tip 8 - Decorate with Balloons
Today, many balloon places have come along way in the world of wedding decorations. It may be worth a trip to your local balloon or party store to investigate what type of decorations can be created for your wedding. Balloons can be created into pillars, some balloons are made into different shapes, and balloons come in many colors. Then there is the balloon drop. Check what your local balloon company can come up with to decorate your wedding, they night come up with a dazzling display and save you significant money.

Tip 9 - Rent Wedding Decorations
Check out rental stores, party stores, event rental businesses, hotels, and florists. Many of these businesses will rent out wedding decorations enabling you to save money. You might rent table centerpieces, linens, decoration pieces for your wedding ceremony, or some type of decorations for your walls, lights, hanging fabrics, or potted plant or floral decorations. Try to pick up a rental brochure to review what items are for rent and their cost. Renting instead of buying can save you sometimes a third of the cost of buying the item.

Tip 10 - Find a Venue with a Clean Palette and Really Decorate
Many couples will see a venue that is quite inexpensive and will think the place will never do. The thing to remember, many vanilla venues, can be elaborately decorated and will still cost much less than a beautiful reception hall. The key is decorate using a color scheme, add hanging fabrics, updraft lighting, colored linens, beautiful flowers, beautiful table settings, and beautiful centerpieces. Some of the most beautiful banquet halls and wedding tents started with a blank palette and transformed into a stunning venue. It all started out on the cheap and with much of the cost savings applied to wedding decorations, a beautiful reception venue was created, by using creativity thinking.


Cost savings can be found other ways too, for instance, a florist might provide a significant discount by bundling floral needs. A bride may get her bouquet, bouquets for the bridesmaids, boutonnieres for the groomsmen, flowers for other bridal members. A couple may get a significant discount for decorating the wedding ceremony and for wedding table centerpieces. Investigate if florists might offer you a discount for decorating your venues. Family members, friends, churches, or community centers might offer you decorating helpers, ideas, or decorating items, so check them out too.

See you on the other side!

10 Cost Saving Tips for Wedding Flowers

Flowers enhance the beauty of your wedding. They add the extraordinary effect of enchanting beauty and the smell of flowers puts a romantic smell in the air. You should try to include flowers in conjunction with a color scheme you have chosen for your wedding.

Wedding bouquets and wedding decorations usually start out with an anchor flower which is a flower with a strong structure that features bolder blossoms which is the primary color to your wedding. Surrounding the anchor should be softer compliant flowers which has a supporting role in the design of the floral arrangement. You should consult with an expert and utilize a color wheel when deciding what flowers to go with. Floral arrangements often include a hint of green with a little decoration of evergreen, ivy, boxwood, camila leaves, magnolia leaves, or many other types of greenery.

You should find a good florist who will educate you about the world of flowers, one who will spend a little time with you offering you ideas and suggestions reviewing a number of brochures and include flowers from decorations they have created themselves. A good florist knows how to mix and match colors and shapes into a thing of beauty, knows what flowers mix well and what flowers don't mix well that would create an arrangement that would look more busy instead of beautiful.

The following are 10 cost saving tips for wedding flowers:

Tip 1 - Buy Flowers that are Local and in Season
If costs are a concern when ordering wedding flowers, try your best on ordering flowers that are grown locally and in season during the time of your wedding. If you see a beautiful bouquet or wedding centerpiece from a brochure but the flowers are being sent from very far, the shipping cost of the flowers adds a lot to the cost of the flowers. Remember that flowers are only fresh for a fairly brief period. Wedding flowers must be prepared a few days before the wedding to look fresh and have an aromatic smell. When working with a florist, ask the florist to try to find flowers to your color scheme of flowers that can be found locally, and this save you significant dollars on your wedding flowers.

Tip 2 - Use the Same Flowers for your Ceremony Site and Wedding Reception 
A good way to save some money, is use the same flowers for your wedding ceremony and arrange to have the same flowers used at your wedding reception. Maybe have a beautiful floral display used at the wedding altar again used as decorations for the head bridal party table. You could also have the bridesmaids bouquets used to decorate the tops of wedding reception table centerpieces. A flower arrangement from a wedding ceremony can be split apart to add decorations to a tower vase. Flower arrangements can be pulled apart and loose pretty flowers can be scattered on wedding reception tables. You must consider how much time is available to redecorate the wedding reception hall.

Tip 3 - Share a Flower Arrangement at the Wedding Ceremony with Another Bride
Work with your church or ceremony site wedding coordinator. Very often there might be a number of weddings the same day or the same weekend as yours. Often the coordinator could put you in contact with other brides that are getting married the same weekend as yours. In some cases the coordinator may make contact for you themselves. An arrangement can be made to keep the wedding flowers at the church for a number of different weddings and instead of paying for the floral arrangement yourself, instead the flowers at the church can be split maybe two or even possibly three or four other wedding providing significant cost savings.

Tip 4 - Avoid Late Minute Orders on Wedding Flowers
Try to avoid last minute orders for wedding flowers. If flower orders must be shipped due to color changes, design changes, or additional orders for additional bridesmaids added at a late hour to the wedding party. Rush fees are expensive and flowers on a different order may end up with a different color hue. Try to have your wedding flower order at a relatively early stage, optimally 6 months before the wedding, avoid late minute orders and this could save you a bit from having high wedding flower costs.

Tip 5 - Watch Those Delivery and Set Up Fees for your Wedding Flowers
Many florists will really get you for delivery and set up. Many florists handle delivery and set up fees differently, labor costs can be really high. Depending on the situation, in some instances the florists costs are reasonable and in other situations the florists have exorbitant fees. If the fees are high, maybe you can find family, friends, ask another florist if they know of young students that can handle floral delivery and set up the flowers for your wedding at a good price. Make sure in the hunt, you find someone who knows a little bit about flowers or get instructions on delivery and set up of your wedding day flowers. Maybe you or a family member can pick up your wedding flowers yourself a day or two before the wedding and make sure they are kept in a comfortable environment so they don't wilt.

Tip 6 - Get Smaller Flowers for your Bridal Party
You don't have to have just as beautiful wedding bouquets for the bridesmaids as the bride. The bridesmaids bouquets can be much smaller or they each can have one single flower instead of a bouquet. Also a stem flower for the groomsmen can be used instead of a boutonniere. The important wedding bouquet is the one used by the bride, the other bouquets and flowers are dependent on the amount of money that is available for wedding flowers, the wedding flowers are not so important if there is a need for cost savings for your wedding budget.

Tip 7 - Use Silk Flowers instead of Wedding Flowers
If the bride or any members of the bridal party is allergic to flowers or looking for savings on wedding flowers. If brides are bothered by pollen or hay fever they may be better off buying silk flowers instead. Many silk flowers, today look like real flowers, gone are the days silk flowers look fake or cheesy. Many silk flowers are made from either silk or plastic. Many of these flowers last a long time and are reusable. Look to use silk flowers if there is not much time to plan your wedding or for much flower savings. Silk flowers never wilt, you can order them far in advance and not have to worry much about wedding day flowers.

Tip 8 - Buy Decorating Wedding Flowers from Grocery Stores and Greenhouses
In this day and age, many of your bigger grocery store has a flower section. You can get substantial savings if you buy your flowers at your local grocery store. If you need flower petals for the flower girl for your wedding aisle, or flowers and plants for your wedding reception centerpieces, you can save substantial money getting flowers from your grocery store and also from greenhouses. Greenhouses are often places where flowers and greens are grown and the middleman savings is passed onto the consumer. Buying flowers from a greenhouse is often a lot cheaper than from buying from a florist.

Tip 9 - Grow Your Own Wedding Flowers
If you have a nice yard for growing flowers, what you could do, is figure out what flowers you need for your wedding and order flower seeds of the flowers you want. You do have to plan ahead and grow them in the proper season, maybe convert them to a greenhouse if the flowers bloom out of season. You do need educate yourself on growing the flowers you need. If you grow your own flowers for your wedding, your wedding guests will be impressed, you will save yourself a lot of money, and the flowers will be extra special because you grew them yourself.

Tip 10 - Take Lessons from a Florist and Create your Own Floral Arrangements
You could save yourself a lot of money by Do It Yourself Wedding Flowers. You could find a florist and take lessons on creating flowers yourself. It's a great time to take lessons if you have the time for you now have the knowledge to create flower arrangements for many years, especially one day if you want to have a flower garden. You will need to get yourself some flower arrangement supplies. You will need things like cellophane, chicken wire, floral foam, florist scissors, a spray bottle for flowers, rubber coated tape, sticky tape, a long knife to cut floral foam and a short knife to scrape stems, pruning shears, and ribbon. Another option is find florists from "Youtube" and learn to make flowers from online lessons.


A little more advice, if you can educate yourself a little about wedding flowers and understand wedding flower basics such as knowing the names of different bouquet arrangements you are less likely to end up with a florist that may overcharge you. The fact is most florists are very good and honest, there are a few that will overcharge you, pretend the flowers are hard to find and state flowers are shipped long distance when in fact the flowers are local. Find a florist you bond to and trust, a florist who spends the time in reviewing flower options. Check out, find flower arrangements they have done themselves and get some referrals from other brides that have used them within the last two years.

See you on the other side!

10 Cost Saving Tips for Wedding Rental Supplies

Your backup for your wedding ceremony and wedding reception is a rental supply store. Most of these rental stores have many things for weddings. They are your backup for almost anything you need for a wedding. They can provide you with any dishes for a place setting, they can provide you with any dishes that can serve your wedding meal and also cooking vessels, linens for your reception tables  and anything that can help you prepare your wedding day meal.

The rental store often has many other things too for your wedding. Many rental companies also can provide you with wedding tents, tables and chairs, wedding decorations, and many other things you might be able to use such as champagne or chocolate fountains or any supplies needed for your wedding ceremony including wedding arches, a wedding guest sign up book, also a cake topper for your wedding cake and a cake serving set, or champagne glasses and many other things you might need for a wedding.

It is highly recommended to scope out local wedding rental services companies before meeting with many of your wedding vendors, you don't need to talk to rental services when you are starting out but your goal is to pick up a brochure or jot down notes on what they do have. Then as you meet up with wedding vendors, if you find things that you are missing, short on having enough wedding supplies, or if the caterer or venue does not have dishes and decorations to the color scheme you want you know your options.

A wedding rental services company comes in really handy if you decide to have an outdoor wedding and can provide you with a wedding tent and can provide you with all the supplies needed for an outdoor wedding. They are also great place to cover your wedding needs for an empty banquet hall or a unique wedding location such an art gallery, museum, or unique building. Anything you might need for a wedding including heaters, air conditioners, misting machines, almost anything you can think of needed for a wedding, the odds are a good rental services company can cover your needs or point you in the direction of where you might find what you are looking for your wedding.

Here are 10 cost saving tips for wedding rentals.

Tip 1 - Use the Word "Party" or "Event" Instead of the Word "Wedding"
Many of your rental service companies are very helpful to help you out for your wedding but in some ways they are a little sneaky too. The key is to be a little careful of what you say, some of these rental services companies have a separate pricing brochure for parties or events, and a higher priced brochure for weddings. When you order supplies, in one brochure the same item may be cheaper in one brochure and be more expensive in the wedding brochure. Keep the word wedding quiet or at least until you have signed a contract. Also when you meet up with a rental service company, if you bring a friend along, also mention to him or her not to use the word wedding in conversation, you just might save a bundle of money.

Tip 2 - Check-in with Caterers, Venues, and Other Brides to Maybe Combine Orders
When you talk with caterers, reception facilities, or other brides that are getting married on the same weekend as yourself, mention you are willing to combine orders with someone else. Just maybe you can combine your order with someone else, you can save money in a number of different ways. The order can be bigger and you get a bigger discount, you might save on one trip to the facility instead of a few, or you can use the same dishes or tables and chairs, one wedding is early in the day, the other is late in the day. Your wedding is on Saturday and the same supplies can be used for a Friday or Sunday wedding. Strike up a conversation, you are willing to combine orders for wedding supplies, you never know you might just get lucky and find yourself saving some money.

Tip 3 - Find Heavy Weight Plastic Plates and Glasses that Look Almost as Good as Fine China
In recent years, some companies have created plastic plates, glasses and silverware that almost looks like fine china. And if you use these type of plates, they can save you a lot of money. But beware, you are at a wedding, the plastic plates and glasses must have that classy look. You must not use paper plates, cheap plastic glasses, or regular cheap plastic silverware. Some reputable companies that sell classy dishes include www.cateringsupplies.com , www.divinedisposables.com , www.grandpartygoods.com , www.partypro.com , www.smartyhadaparty.com , and www.restaurantware.com .

Tip 4 - Inspect Rental Supplies Upon Delivery and Upon Returning
When picking up rental supplies for your wedding, inspect all your rentals. Be sure all rentals are accounted for, you have included all rentals in your contract. You should have a checklist of all the things you are renting and you aren't being short changed. If you have contracted for 300 place setting items, you have counted 300 of all things in your place setting. Inspect all your rentals to be sure nothing you are renting is broken, chipped, or cracked. It does not hurt to ask for an extra discount or some type of extra such as chair covers or extra serving dishes.

Upon returning dishes, make sure all plates, dishes and glasses have been thoroughly cleaned, avoid extra charges for dried food on dishes and for ring glass stain marks on drinking glasses. Inspect all rentals upon picking up and returning, if you don't do inspections, you might end up paying for someone else who did damage to the dishes.

Tip 5 - Check-in with your Local Thrift Shop or Community Center
You never know what your local thrift shop or community center might offer. They may be able to provide dishes and supplies for your wedding at a great big discount and in some cases even free. Check out what these places have before going to a rental supply store. Also check out women's auxiliary groups, some centers help out families by providing dishes that are in storage and some of these centers help out families that are having a tough time covering wedding costs. Also besides dishes, they might be able to help you with kitchen cookware and serving dishes. They may also recruit some volunteers to work your wedding.

Tip 6 - Consider a Coffee Bar instead of Table Service
Over the past decade coffee bars have become popular at weddings. Instead of paying wait staff to serve coffee at all the tables, consider instead of having a coffee bar. You can go either cheap or expensive. If you are going cheap just add a few flavors to your coffee bar. If you are going expensive, provide all sorts of flavors using creams and extracts. Offer all sorts of coffee choices such as coffee made from high class coffee beans, offer espresso, cappucino, latte, or regular and decaffeinated coffee. You also might have goodies along with the coffee bar including dipping chocolate spoons, different types of Italian desserts like cannoli, tiny cream puffs, chocolate eclairs, or fresh baked coffee cake.  Go with the coffee bar you can afford, it could be fancy or simple.

Tip 7 - Consider Using Beer Kegs and Boxed Wine Carafes
A heavy expense at weddings are your liquor costs. If you have an outdoor wedding and the wedding is not too formal the most cost effective liquor you can get for your wedding are beer kegs and boxed wine carafes. These are a lot less expensive that buying bottles of beer and wine or buying cans of beer. Make sure you have plenty of beer drinkers and wine drinkers. If the wedding is formal, make sure you have somebody to operate the keg, for you don't want your wedding guests to get beer suds on their wedding gowns and dresses or beer suds on groomsmen tuxedos.

Some other thoughts on alcohol at your wedding. Unless your two families are dry families, absolutely no one in either side of your families that drink alcohol. Alcohol is expected at weddings. Alcohol adds a lot of cost to weddings. Some ideas to consider. Offer two ticket drinks for all your legal age wedding drinks, offer just a few signature drinks that go with the color scheme of the wedding, if your color is red, have three red drinks, find some good red drinks your heavy drinkers like. Also shut down your wedding bar during the formal dinner part of your wedding.

If the venue allows it bring your own bartender and buy and bring your own liquor and wine. You pay a lot less for your own bartender. You can also buy liquor or wine much cheaper from your local liquor store than what it costs you at the wedding venue, the wedding venue often has a lot of markup on their alcohol. You can save a lot of money by buying really good tasting $5 wine instead of buying the venue's $25 or $50 wine.

Tip 8 - Order a Wedding Tent that Fits to the Amount of Wedding Guests You Have 
Many wedding couples just order a wedding tent and often they order a wedding tent that is too big or too small. You just don't want to pick up any size wedding tent. You want the wedding tent to fit comfortably to the amount of wedding guests you have, get the right sized wedding tent and it makes the occasion very enchanting. If you get the wedding tent too big, you are overpaying for the tent and the event looks like some wedding guests didn't show. A small tent will cause people to be on top of one another and wedding guests looking to escape from the over crowding and the noise.

You want to talk to a tent specialist when ordering your wedding tent. Many wedding tents go with the 10 foot rule. Often round tables cover a 10' x 10' area that seats 8 wedding guests. The head bridal table usually uses long tables which are 80 square feet per 8 bridal party guests having seating room in the back providing a little visual effect in the front of the table. Buffet serving tables also require a 10' x 10' area for each 8' buffet table also allowing room for a buffet line. Also to be considered a stage for the DJ and/or band, an area for a dancing floor, a wedding cake, a wait staff station, and a gift table.


Tent Sizes to Consider for Outdoor Weddings

                          Square Feet                                 3/4 Sections
Weddings For       Needed for Tent                           Needed for Dance Floor
50 People                   20' x 30'                                           9 x 12
100 People           30' x 50'                                        12 x 15
150 People           40' x 60'                                        12 x 18
200 People           40' x 80'                                        15 x 20
300 People           40' x 120'                                         20 x 24


Tip 9 - Comparison Shop with a Number of Different Rental Companies
You might be thinking, let's get this rental thing over with. What you really should be doing, early on in your wedding planning process. You should spend a day or couple of days visiting rental companies in your area. Find out all what supplies each of them has and pick up a brochure or note what the cost of different items are. After you meet with caterers, reception facilities, and ceremony sites, if you find you need rental supplies you now know your options. If a wedding vendor charges you extra for dishes, you can counter I can get them cheaper at a rental supply store and the caterer might then cut their cost for supplies. Also the rental company may have dishes in the color scheme you want. The vendor you are using might not have dishes according to your color scheme. If you know what rental stores offer, when negotiating deals, you are negotiating from a position of strength and will have more bargaining power when dealing with wedding vendors and venues. Make sure you visit rental companies just to know what they have, you don't need to talk in detail with them early in the process, you just need to understand what they have and an idea on costs.

Tip 10 - Checkout Rental Supplies with Hotels, Resorts, and Wedding Bed & Breakfasts
Many hotels, resorts, and wedding bed & breakfasts have wedding supplies in storage for their in-house weddings. Normally these businesses won't advertise their supplies, but if you approach the right person such as the venues wedding coordinator or banquet manager, if their in-house supplies are not needed for an event they may be willing to contract supplies out for your wedding and sometimes you can get the items cheaper than you would from a rental company. Sometimes you can get a particular component, maybe just linens, place settings, particular dishes, wedding decorations, or wedding centerpieces. Sometimes by networking and asking questions, a great deal could fall into your lap. Also check with wedding planners, even if you are not using one, they may have a connection with one of their vendors and help you get supplies a little cheaper saving you some money.


The rental services companies generally have experts to give you advice, make sure you find a sales floor manager that is really helpful that has been with the rental company for awhile at least five years. Find a sales manager that is personable, is knowledgeable, and can provide staff to set your wedding tent up or can set up place settings for your wedding reception or set up chairs for the wedding ceremony. Make sure you review in detail any contract drawn up with a wedding rental company and all needs are addressed.

See you on the other side!