Decorations on a Budget!!!

So I’m doing a beachside picnic elopement and I didn’t want to worry about real florals being transported and wilted so I’m planning on ordering silk floral rentals. Here are places you can check out:
https://www.weddingflowersforrent.com/
https://somethingborrowedblooms.com/
https://bloomsurent.com/
https://www.bluegrassbloomsbythebox.com/

Hi Alexandra! I took old bath and body works candles, cleaned them out and put white floating candles in them. Turned out beautiful!! A family member of ours is doing the same so I sent her all of mine and she is doing white candles down the tables. ❤️

You can hit 2nd hand stores ( goodwill, St Vincent’s, etc) for vases, glass pebbles etc. For my daughter’s wedding, we went on Amazon & bought a 12 pack of fairy lights for $13 & artificial garland for $11 to decorate the arch where she got married. It came out beautifully !

I went back and forth between real and faux flowers. Thinking faux would be cheaper. But in the end I just love real flowers and decided to go with bud vases and fresh flowers I am getting whole sale. And I think I am coming away with spending less than faux flowers (of course couldn't get the peonies I loved because they were 9.25 a stem).

There are cheaper ways for centerpieces and I love Katie's idea. But if you want flowers this could be the way to go.

Look at the reduced items aisles in target, Michaels etc. I got cute chalkboard table name signs at target highly reduced. Sign up for cashback websites and keep up to date with coupons to buy items at a discount.

Candles!! I wanted flowers but knew they’d be expensive so I went with mason jars and candles

I spent almost nothing on our tables— I saved glass bottles, washed the labels off, spray painted, and then stuck single flowers in each. It was time consuming and labor intensive but cost only the cost of spray paint and a couple dozen flower stems . Nothing wrong with simple. Decor is not what guests care about


Also, second hand is great! I used some seaglass bought at something like the dollar store , and my SIL had a wedding 6 weeks after mine and asked if I wouldn’t mind sharing the leftovers. And of course I was happy to— I certainly don’t need bags of seaglass sitting around— once the wedding was over I had no use for it

It can definitely be done, but it depends on your vision. Do you want greenery, flowers, petals, or candles? If you want flowers, are you going to go with real or fake? Will you be hiring a florist or will you do it yourself? Also if you do want flowers it is cheaper to go with ones in season as they are easier to get. These are the questions you need to ask yourself.

So I don't care too much about my decor lol. I chose a venue that was modern with a pretty view of the city and skyline specifically so I didn't have to decorate much. We also chose to have stations vs a sit down dinner so that we didn't have to do much with centerpieces.

With that being said, I still want to make it look pretty.

My plan is to do candles rather than floral arrangements. Looks more modern and chic anyway. I've been buying lots of candle vases from Letgo and Facebook Marketplace at a fraction of the price that new ones would be. So instead of spending $230 on the vases, I ended up spending $115. I'm also going to get fresh eucalyptus to add to the candle centerpiece. I think a 25 ft strand of eucalyptus is 200. More than enough for what I need.

When you can buy used - do it. So many people make their own centerpieces. There's a lot of hidden gems on facebook marketplace!

I'm hitting up my local freecycle, craigslist, and Buy Nothing groups. So far I've scored a few vases and candle holders and lights. NBD for things to match for us.

Should be cool, hopefully I can pass it on to the next couple.

Also got a great deal on dried florals on FB marketplace- usually would have been $300+, I got for $50. Can set those up around venue couple days before which will leave me with less to do closer to date (*probably* going to be cooking)

I got a pack of faux eucalyptus garlands at Amazon. I'm going to cut each in half and attach the ends so it makes a wreath. I'll just use that as a centerpiece and put a put table number in the middle with some faux tea lights. It came out to $8-10 per table. This was my inspo:

As for other decor, check out Facebook market place a lot!

I went to Goodwill and got my centerpieces for 50 cent and added bling to them. I also DIY my own cake stand!!! PInterest and YouTube are my bestfriends right now! I also go to dollar tree and shop on fb market!!!! Saving tons!!!

View Quoted Comment Thank you so much everyone I'm definitely taking notes of everything

Ladies, I love your ideas about saving money, I didn't think of none of things such as second hand stores, Michaels. However, I did do the dollar store (Dollar Tree) for candle holders and I bought little floating candles to fit into from vasemarket.com (48 in a pack for $23). I bought 2 packs. I looked for things on sale. I researched to see where I can get the best deals. I am doing petals also and I find it was cheaper for me to buy in bulk instead of individual packs. I realized that after I started buying petals and prize depends on where you get them from.

I always think that grouped pillar candles of different heights is the best inexpensive idea because it looks classy, while maintaining a high quality appearance. I say that because some DIY decor flat out looks like a cheap kindergarten craft project. To me, the key with DIY is to keep it from very obviously looking like DIY. So, know your true skill level before going that route. Don’t let your wedding be the time you experiment with crafting. Also, before you do any shopping, have a clear vision of what you want all of your decor to be and make a detailed list of everything single you’ll need (faux flowers, hot glue, vases, ribbon, glass gems, etc). That way, when you’re looking at the various places that the brides above suggested, you’re making focused decisions. Otherwise you’ll purchase all sorts of unnecessary items and end up realizing that it’s not what you really wanted. Therefore, wasting money and defeating your purpose of saving.

We skipped flower centerpieces because they didn’t fit our pirate theme anyway. Candles are crazy romantic and don’t have to be expensive. We bought 3 candelabras for about $24 on eBay. The cool wine cave venue really set the cool mood. We only rented a few specialty items like a gold glass charger and gold flatware, for an elevated look. Here are pics:

Rent from your florist and local party rental businesses. Also Etsy (filter for US shops only).

Pinterest has alot of inspiration and DIY info to keep the price down

View Quoted Comment I love this!!!!

View Quoted Comment Thank you!!! 🏴‍☠️ 🖤 You’ll need to check with your venue if they allow open flames, of if you’ll need to use candles in vases or flameless candles. 🕯