Centerpieces

Jessica knew right away what she wanted for her centerpieces, cylindrical vases with flowers in water and a candle floating on top. We planned to do three sizes of vases at each table and were looking to do eighteen tables. These vases would then be surrounded by smaller votive candles and similar marbles sprinkled on the tables. Luckily we were able to find the small and medium vases at our local Dollar Tree. We started out buying the large vases with coupons at Michael's but eventually they went on sale and we were able to purchase the rest in one trip. I purchased the floating candles on-line. The on-line price beat out the prices in town even with coupons. Again, using coupons, we purchased the pre-filled votives from Michael's using their weekly coupons. The flowers were another story . . . as I've said before you don't realize how many various shades of purple there are until you're trying match one. We weren't having much luck at any of our local stores and decided to take a trip to Asheboro (about an hour away) to the Hobby Lobby store. We SCORED! Not only did we find all the flowers we needed but the glass marbles were on sale too. They also had a sale in the bridal section and we were able to pick up the guest book, ring bearer's pillow, and flower girl's basket for half price. As great as that trip went, it ended with a bang! Within an hour after arriving home and driving like a bat out of hell to beat the storm we knew was headed in our direction, a montrous tornado tore through Raleigh and just missed the Vaughan's house. While it had windows blown out and other damage, it was nothing compared to the house just two doors down and across the street that was completely picked up and moved off it's foundation. Many homes were destroyed that day and lives changed forever. It was a very scary day. Anyway, I digress. I hope this gives you some ideas for inexpensive but elegant centerpieces. It pays to shop around, both on-line and to look at maybe taking a day trip to a shop outside your local area.

The Flowers

The next thing we started working on, though it makes no logical sense, was the flowers. We decided to try our hand at making silk arrangements. Because she had already chosen her dress and her bridesmaids dresses, we had a swatch of fabric to try and match. We were flabergasted and frustrated by the many shades of purple! In the end, we used many different shades and think they turned out perfect. Again, thinking about the budget, we visited our local craft stores always carrying coupons and watching for sales. We gathered the flowers together, arranging and rearranging until we had a bouquet we liked. Using a rubber band to hold it tightly together at the top of the stems we then wrapped the stems with floral tape and cut the stems to length. It really helped having two people. Once we were sure that we were satisfied, we chose complementing ribbon and wrapped the stems. The result was beautiful. One caution, be sure that your wedding party is set. We ended up several months later adding to the bridesmaids and couldn't find the same flowers for the bouquet. We settled by changing up the boquet for the maid of honor which was a nice touch. I purchased rubbermaid totes to store the flowers in until the big day.

Save the Date

First things first, we needed to let everyone know to "Save the Date". Having already decided on her colors, black and white with purple accents, she set out to design her template. Once the template was designed, we printed the cards on photo paper. We purchased sheets of magnetic paper at one of the area craft stores. This particular paper had a peel away side to expose a sticky surface. We adhered the cards and trimmed to fit. Voila! Our save the dates were complete. Word of caution. Due to the size of her design, we did have to put extra postage on the envelopes. Consider the size of your envelopes as well when designing your cards.

About This Blog

When my daughter set her wedding date over a year ago I immediately started seeing dollar signs, lol! Our income is modest but she is my only daughter so we wanted her wedding to be everything she dreamed of. I'm putting together this blog in hopes that it will give others inspiration to do it yourself and in the end save a few dollars. Hope you enjoy!