Minimalist, Trader Joe's floral budget & construction advice?

I love number one and two. Question for you. are you renting a chuppah or making one? I need one and have been trying to decide on what to do.

We're making one! One of FI's friends offered to knit the canopy for us, so we're using that, and our officiating rabbi has offered a tallit of hers as backup should that fall through, like craft projects sometimes do.

APW has a tutorial for making a pretty simple & cheap one with pretty cheap, nice-looking bases. Our rabbi also said that the kinds of bases venues often use for those big outdoor umbrellas generally work pretty well, and some venues will just have some they'll let you use. There's a link to one source for birch poles on that page, but you should also check out Wilson Evergreens and Amazon for a wider selection of heights and probably better prices.

I'm leaning towards 2

Are you leaning towards real or artificial flowers? Oh and for the wedding party, I found something on pinterest that you might be interested. I found a picture where they had floral necklaces instead. I've also saw pictures where they carry lanterns, books, wallets, really anything.

Are you leaning towards real or artificial flowers? Oh and for the wedding party, I found something on pinterest that you might be interested. I found a picture where they had floral necklaces instead. I've also saw pictures where they carry lanterns, books, wallets, really anything.

It's fine to not have floral bouquets, but keep in mind that if you have a bridal party they may be fidgety, awkward, or need to do something with their hands. I was in a wedding without flowers for the bridesmaids once, and if we hadn't been seated after walking in I wouldn't have known what to do with my hands! You don't really understand how awkward it is until you are standing in front of a room full of people. Or maybe I am just super awkward.

I am DIYing centerpieces for 15 tables and simple aisle decorations and expect to spend about $400 or less on flowers from Sam's Club. We are getting bouquets from a florist, but even if we didn't I think we would have enough to do them also.

I'm leaning toward whatever's cheaper, lol! It seems like afloral.com and Trader Joe's are probably about even with each other as far as cost when you're looking at comparable-quality stuff, so I'm inclined to just go to Trader Joe's one or two days before the wedding and pick whatever looks good.

We don't have a traditional bridal party. We'll be having chuppah bearers (more ceremonial than functional -- once the chuppah is where it needs to be they can just slot the poles into the bases and go sit down if they need to) and people reading the seven blessings, which already give you something to do with your hands, so I'm not too worried. Worst comes to worst, FI and I can pocket our tangle toys for awkward emergencies *g*

If you are going for real flowers, definitely talk to a florist to see which flowers hold up the best especially for picking them a day or two before. I use artificial flowers I wasn't super concerned with quality, but I pick a lot of them up from Dollar Tree, Walmart, and Hobby Lobby. I have probably spent $150 on flowers but that's for my bouquet, nine centerpieces, eight pew markers, and flowers for the arch. For what your looking at you could probably spend about $25 dollars at Hobby Lobby. My theme color is blue so artificial was the only option for me. If you do shop at Hobby Lobby try not to buy things when they aren't on sale because they rotate items about every four days and the bushels are the cheapest and best quality. They are also super easy to take apart. I managed to get rose petals from a florist for $5 for a bag of five roses, if you are looking for something extra for the aisle. They said they offer them based on seasons, so for fall they do leaves. Hope this helps

@Deborah, holy thread necromancy Batman! The wedding was nearly three years ago now, but there are some photos of our chuppah in the BAM: https://www.weddingwire.com/wedding-forums/bam/19c5d80ec59a7b3c.html