Hola! Today we’re looking at flowers, catering, and decorations.
FIVE:
Flowers.
There are a lot of options here. If you’re only using flowers for your bridal party, including parents, it can be pretty cheap, depending on how creative you get. Use vintage flower brooches for your bouquet and boutonnieres, make them out of doorknobs, use buttons and floral wire. If you’re really strapped for cash, or just want to save, don’t give the parents corsages or boutonnieres or just skimp on the grandparents. Research online flower shops and order a week to two weeks before your wedding to ensure freshness. Buying bulk that way will save you some dough!
TIP* If you’re using silk, go for high quality on things that will be consistently photographed like bouquets and boutonnieres.
In our case, we again scoured Etsy and found the miracle that is Milkpod Studios. All of her flowers are made from fabric scraps that she’s collected over the years. Bonus! They last forever. No worries about dried petals withering away or paying someone to preserve it!
For decorations around the altar, on the tables, or down the aisle, make paper flowers! If you’re willing to get your hands moving there are some great tutorials out there. (YouTube, hello!) If you’re getting married outdoors, there’s really no need to pump it up and take away from nature’s beauty. Use cattail, feathers, long grass, ribbon, paper, anything to save you money. Flowers can get pricey when you’re decorating a big space so get creative and don’t be afraid to DIY some things! Have a party! Woo! DIY doesn’t mean skimping!
SIX:
Foooooood!
This, too, will take a big hunk of your budget. If you’re having a morning wedding or early afternoon don’t serve a big meal. Light hors d’oeuvres and, of course, cake!, will suffice! However, for a wedding after 5 PM guests will expect a meal. This is where it can get pricey! Most catering businesses charge $9-20 a head. Fortunately for us, my mom runs a cake business and is an AMAZING cook and has catered several weddings and events and did it deliciously for us. If you have someone like this in your family, ask politely if they’d be willing to help. Paying them a little something would be sweet, too.
TIP* When asking your family for help, if they’re doing something pretty difficult and substantial, like catering, consider giving them something for compensation. i.e.: gift cards, gas cards if they’re traveling out of town, or cash! It’s a good idea to thank those helping you out of the goodness of their hearts anyway! PS: Martha Stewart’s website has great tips on how to tip those helping with your wedding, like your officiator!
When planning a menu think about what time of year your wedding is. Ours was in the fall so we opted for hearty stews, winter salads, and cheeses. If yours is a spring wedding opt for bright foods with big flavor like fruit kabobs and grilled chicken! Summer wedding? Watermelon, lemonades, and fish tacos.
SEVEN:
Decorations!
My favorite. Again. Tons of options here. Like the flowers and all those before, get creative. If you’re using round tables, think about using patterned tablecloths and conservative centerpieces instead of white tablecloths that can make the table look blank. Using long rectangular tables? Use a light patterned tablecloth, or a white one, with a skinny colored runner all the way down with small flower arrangements down the way.
Our venue offered white or ivory tablecloths with different overlays. We decided on the ivory, to match my dress, and bought burlap coffee bean sacks. We cut the seams down the sides and used them as runners on our round tables. For our centerpieces we took all of our old books and borrowed old frames from my aunt’s antique shop. We laid the frame in the middle of the table and stacked the books in the middle and set our collection of small vases on top. (Our venue provided the greenery and we bought the cotton and wheat stalks in bulk online for cheap!) TIP* Use what you already have. Don’t start collecting tons of vases if you already have a small collection of your own! We had 70% of the books we needed already in the house! (We used about 3 per table.)