One of the most painful moments in planning a wedding, is when you are sitting in the florist's store picking out your beautiful bouquet and church and table arrangements and then the estimate is handed to you. Don't panic. Keep reading and you'll discover ways to save money.
There are ways to get around that huge expense. And honestly, if there was one place I would cut to a minimum, it would be with the florist. Why? Because there are many ways to make your wedding look beautiful without spending thousands of dollars on something that will die in a few hours.
One idea is to substitute less expensive flowers for the ones that they put in the bouquets. I recently consulted on a wedding and they were under a tight budget. The bride wanted roses and high table arrangements. A very expensive proposition. There is an answer to this. Her bouquet was very important to her, so it was full of red roses, but the rest of the flowers were minimized. The bridesmaids held a single rose and there wasn't a rose to be found in the centerpieces or church bouquets. We had lots of baby's breath filler and found flowers that matched her colors but were very inexpensive for the tables. The baby's breath was gorgeous. For the head table, we added a few roses to match her bouquet.
We had the florist add ribbons hanging off each high centerpiece. To save more money, we alternated a high centerpiece with a low one. And really, it looked even better. It gave the room some dimension. Also, we purchased very inexpensive strings of tiny pearls which we hung next to the ribbons streaming from the high vases and strewn on the table next to the low vases.
Another unique yet stunning idea, is to purchase a beautiful glass centerpiece,which are in most craft or discount stores and are very inexpensive. Fill the medium sized glass bowl with water (possibly with colored stones at the bottom) and float inexpensive flowers. It really is very elegant, and could be taken home by one of your guests on each table. To further accent this centerpiece, you can add small votive candles surrounding the glass bowl. Absolutely gorgeous! And yet another idea is to buy a single flower vase and put one rose with baby's breath in the center of each table. Again, you could surround this with short or tall candles. Very elegant and very beautiful. The candles could have tags with the bride and groom's name on them and they double as a wedding favor. It is very unique and saves a lot of money.
Regarding the church, buy yards of tulle (at a discount fabric store) and drape it along the pews or chairs tying or pinning one to the other on the aisle side. This brings such a elegant and soft touch to the room, and the amount of flowers you need because of this, can be very limited. Also, if you have different sized small tables from your home or from your friend's or family's home, you can drape them with white fabric, puddled at the bottom, and put different sized candles on each table. This is spectacular in the chapel and so inexpensive.
Flowers really are the one area that you can save so much money, yet it will not affect the beauty of your wedding. A little imagination and some time is all that's needed.
Delora O'Brien is an expert in the area of wedding designs and products. She is the resident consultant at Designs to Remember. Designs to Remember is a unique online store that carries designer wedding favors, bridal gifts and accessories. Delora also oversees the extensive line of unique wedding favors, bridesmaid gifts, groomsmen gifts and wedding invitations. Many of the wedding gifts she has purchased for Designs to Remember, have been featured in well known bridal magazines.
