I’ve been thinking more and more about the centerpieces for the tables. I just don’t know what I’d put in these vases. I was going through my wedding files on my computer this morning and ran across a picture I’d saved a while ago. I’ve probably posted it already but who know when and in what context. Me thinks I might be able to use it though.

What if we did a large 36″ ivory balloon at every table, along with a bud vase with one or two inexpensive flowers, and the information cards like these I plan to hijack, which include the menu, afterparty plans and the table number?

What do you think? Could I pull it off?

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Technorati Tags: After Party, Balloon, Bud Vase, Decor, Flowers, latex balloons, menu, wedding reception

Just saw this wheat grass centerpiece expample over at Weddingbee PRO.

I love the little flowers for a softer touch.

Source: Angel Swanson at Weddingbee PRO

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If you missed the first 75, you can find them here:

101 Ways to Save on Your Wedding: 1-25

101 Ways to Save on Your Wedding: 26-50

101 Ways to Save on Your Wedding: 51-75

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76.    Use silk flowers in your real bouquet to replace those blooms that you really want but are too expensive or difficult to get
77.    If you have a bar, nix the iced tea/punch offered by the caterer. Your guests can soft drinks from the bar instead
78.    Before you purchase anything online, use a site like retailmenot.com to find discount codes and promotional coupons
79.    Use Ball canning jars as vases. You can usually find a case of 12 for less than $10.
80.    Grow your own wheat grass to use for centerpieces or to hold the escort cards
81.    Use chalkboard paint and chalk to transform a piece of plywood into a seating chart
82.    For the groom and the groomsmen, most places will provide a free tux for the groom with 5 or 6 paid rentals.
83.    Use carnations. One of the most expensive flowers, carns look gorgeous when bunched together instead of just being added as an afterthought
84.    Use branches from your own yard to serve as the tree to hold escort cards
85.    Use a clothesline with clothespins to display your escort cards, especially if you’re planning an outdoor wedding
86.    Check sites like travelzoo.com for hotel deals to block rooms for your out of town guests
87.    For the cake, skip the intricate adornment work and instead opt for a plain cake with simple details that can be dressed
88.    Have your rehearsal dinner at a local eatery that’s special to you as a couple. It doesn’t need to be formal, so choose a limited menu within your price range
89.    Add your wedding and engagement rings to your current homeowners or renters insurance policy and get a multiple-policy discount
90.    Skip the videographer. Instead, have a family member document your day. It’ll be a lot less expensive (hopefully, free!) and a lot more meaningful
91.     Sew your own ring bearer pillow. Of course you can add your own style to it, but simple directions can be found at http://www.ehow.com/how_17555_make-pillow-ring.html
92.    If you absolutely must use a credit card to pay for your wedding, which I highly discourage, find a card with 0% interest or a cash back feature: http://moneycentral.msn.com/banking/services/creditcard.asp
93.    If you’re interested in using a live musician during the wedding ceremony, contact the Music School at your local University and offer the gig to a talented student
94.    Instead of providing a full open bar for your guests, choose a few signature drinks that will be available throughout the night. This will cut down on the variety and amount of liquor that the bartender will need to stock
95.    Skip the champagne toast. Instead, guests will naturally just toast with whatever they have in their glass at the time.
96.    Host wedding parties (bridal shower, bachelorette party etc.) at someone’s house rather than renting a separate space
97.    Have your wedding in a park or other natural space, where little to no extra décor is needed
98.    Use your bouquets or pew arrangements as reception décor, either a the cake table or head table.
99.    If you’re completely overwhelmed and have no idea where to start, hire a wedding planner. If you really research and find a good one, they will actually save you more money than you think with all their industry connections and insight.
100.    Find your flowers at local farmer’s markets. In Detroit, for instance, the Eastern Market is a great resource for a wide variety of inexpensive flowers
101.    Look for contests online to find giveaways on everything from dresses and shoes to airfare and spa services

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Technorati Tags: Bar, Decor, Flowers, Free Stuff, Discounts, Contests, list, rings, Wedding Party, Wheat Grass

If you missed the first 50, you can find them here:

101 Ways to Save on Your Wedding: 1-25

101 Ways to Save on Your Wedding: 26-50

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51.    Search the internet for DIY videos done by other people. You can find them for everything from bouquet arrangements to cake baking. DIYnetwork.com is a good place to start
52.    Grow your own flowers for your wedding. If you start early enough, and grow flowers native to your region, you should have plenty to use in bouquets or centerpieces
53.    Use fruit as centerpieces. Apples, Oranges, Pears and Lemons have good color and are far less expensive than flowers. Plus, what your guests don’t take with them, you can donate to a local food bank
54.    Search etsy.com for handmade goods that are unique and customizable. Some items are just as expensive as mass made goods, but if you do a little digging you can find some good values
55.    Watch wedding related forums and message boards, especially those local to your area. People will often post about their good experiences with little-known vendors who offer a really good deal. Theknot.com and partypop.com are good places for this
56.    Stay on top of your budget. Keep all your contracts in one place so you know exactly where they are if you need to refer to them. Question every line item to be sure it’s something you should be paying for
57.    Keep a spreadsheet or use software to manage your budget. Know exactly how much you owe each vendor and exactly when that amount is due
58.    Sew your own garter
59.    Rather than pay someone you don’t know to officiate your wedding, ask someone close to you to become ordained. You can do so online without much trouble.
60.    Instead of hiring a and or a dj, enlist the help of a friend and use your iPod to keep the crowd entertained. Create your playlists beforehand and have your friend keep an eye on it.
61.    Plan your wedding yourself. Wedding planners are nice when you can afford them, but if you’re working with a tight budget, you can take on the role yourself.
62.    Be willing to compromise on the food you serve your guests. Lunch is always cheaper than dinner and buffets are generally cheaper than plated meals. Work with your caterer to find the best balance between your ideal situation and your budget
63.    Everyone wants whiter teeth for all the pictures they’ll be taking on their wedding day, but instead of splurging for zoom whitening, use a drugstore kit. It may take a little more effort, but the results should be comparable
64.    Find non-bridesmaid dresses for your bridesmaids. Just because they’re not labeled as such, doesn’t mean they can’t be worn as bridesmaid dresses. Shop department store websites, where they’ll usually have a decent amount of stock and in many different colors. And chances are if it doesn’t have the bridesmaid dress label, your girls will be more likely to wear it again.
65.    Ask only your closest friends to be your attendants. The more attendants you have, the more you’d spend should you choose to give them gifts.
66.    If your ceremony or reception venue are already very ornate or make a statement by themselves, go light on the décor. Years from now, no one will hardly remember what your centerpieces looked like
67.    Use address numbers from the hardware store for your table numbers
68.    Use saveoncrafts.com for DIY supplies
69.    Keep all your receipts for everything you buy. You may not use something and need to take it back. You’ll want to get back every penny you can for it.
70.    Shop Black Friday sales the day after Thanksgiving in brick and mortar stores for deals on things like craft supplies, dresses and shoes.
71.    Shop Cyber Monday the Monday after Thanksgiving online to find deals similar to those on Black Friday
72.    Take advantage of free shipping for anything you order online, even if it means you have to wait a little longer for it. Patience is a virtue
73.    If you have a vintage feel to your wedding, visit antique stores and flea markets to find deals on décor. As a bonus, you can use the pieces in your home after the wedding.
74.    Use a site like bagborroworsteal.com to find jewelry and other accessories for your wedding day that you might not be able to afford otherwise.
75.    Use a wholesale club like Sam’s Club or Costco to purchase flowers for your DIY bouquets and centerpieces

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Technorati Tags: Bridal, Candleholders, Candles, Detroit, Florist, Flowers, fonts, Hair, hairpiece, Headpiece, Invitations, letterpress, Makeup, postcard, Save the Dates, Shoes, veil, vendors, Wedding

If you missed the first 25, you can find them here:

101 Ways to Save on Your Wedding: 1-25

——————————————————

26.    Sew your own veil with tulle from the fabric store
27.    Create your own hairpiece from silk flowers and feathers from the craft store
28.    Send postcards as Save the Dates and save on postage and paper costs
29.    Avoid letterpress printing for your invitations. Although it might be one of the nicest printing methods, it’s also one of the priciest.
30.    Use construction paper as one element of your DIY invitations. It will add lots of texture, with only a little expense
31.    Avoid hiring a calligrapher and use a computerized script font instead
32.    Limit the number of pieces in your invitation suite and save on postage, since it’s based on weight
33.    Use flowers that are locally grown and in-season and avoid the cost of flying them in during the off-season
34.    Use a storage or organization box or basket for your card box that you can re-use in your home after the wedding for storage
35.    Befriend someone in the event planning industry. They often have access to discounts to wholesalers and rental vendors
36.    Do your own makeup, hair and/or nails
37.    Have your hair, makeup and nails done at a cosmetology school like Aveda. The cost is lower and the results are usually just as good
38.    Design your invitations yourself and have them printed by a company like gotprint.com. Once you get them, add a little interest yourself either with embossing or a similar technique
39.    Serve cupcakes instead of cake. Cupcakes are often cheaper and can help you avoid a cake cutting fee that most caterers will charge
40.    Depending on your décor, you may be able to find some things at a site like Oriental Trading Company. While most of the items aren’t necessarily for a wedding, you might find a diamond in the rough
41.    Watch sites like craigslist.com and freecycle.org for free and inexpensive items that people are just looking to get rid of.
42.    Repurpose mason jars as candleholders
43.    Shop the brick and mortar outlet versions of your favorite stores like Crate and Barrel, Pier 1, and Pottery Barn
44.    Get your wedding shoes from the clearance section. This is easiest to do when they’re off-season, but make sure you check the clearance area often as the selection often dwindles quickly
45.    Support local business. They are often more flexible and willing to work with you to achieve your goals
46.    Barter services. If you happen to be a talented computer progammer, offer to create or update a website for a vendor in return for their services
47.    Let vendors know when you’re dissatisfied. They’re often willing to accommodate you and knockdown the cost, rather than risk a bad review or unhappy client
48.    Look for your honeymoon travel on sites like priceline.com, cheapcaribbean.com, travelzoo.com, and farecast.com
49.    Travel during the offseason for your honeymoon, even if it’s months after your wedding. Rates will be cheaper on airfare and your hotel
50.    Dafont.com and 1001freefonts.com offer a range of free fonts that you can use for your invitations and any other paper projects

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Technorati Tags: Bridal, Candleholders, Candles, Detroit, Florist, Flowers, fonts, Hair, hairpiece, Headpiece, Invitations, letterpress, Makeup, postcard, Save the Dates, Shoes, veil, vendors, Wedding

So, if you haven’t already noticed, here’s a little tidbit about me: I have champagne tastes on a beer budget. And I don’t even mean to, but it seems like it always happens that way.

That means when it comes to my bouquet flowers, of course everything I seem to like is super-exclusive, out of season, or just plain expensive. It doesn’t help that we live in Michigan. For flowers to really thrive and grow in this crazy weather, they have to be pretty resilient and few make the cut.

Sure, I could order flowers from across the country and have them flown in, but in the grand scheme of things, it just feels a little silly. The flowers will be way overpriced and will undoubtedly die the next day anyway. And while I’m not the greenest girl out there, I do know that’s a lot of unnecessary stress on the environment in transportation just for some flowers.

So, what if I mixed in some not-so-real flowers with my real in-season, readily available flowers?

[side note: If I were witty enough, this would be the point where I make a hilarious analogy regarding those chicken cutlet booby things everyone seems to like so much and how its essentially the same thing because you're mixing the real ones with the fake ones. That's if I were witty enough.]

My real flowers could be:

• dahlias
• poppy
• zinnia

I could mix in fake stems of:

• peonies
• anemone
• tulips
• gardenia

Anemone. Source: fleurs nyc

Gardenia. Source: The Knot

Peonies. Source: Vogue Flowers and Gifts

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Technorati Tags: Bouquets, DIY, Flowers

You might remember my first bouquet trial. That one was mixed and was red, yellow and orange.

This time around, I did a trial with all white carnations. I’m leaning toward the idea of having an all white bouquet for myself and the mixed color bouquet for my girls. The carnations were pretty cheap. I got 2 dozen for $18 from a wholesale flower distributor. I took basically the same steps as with the first bouquet:

• Strip all the leaves
• Bunch the stems together and secure with floral tape
• I didn’t use a cardboard wrapper around the stems this time, but I should have
• Wrap the handle in ribbon and secure it with pins

The good thing about the carnations is that they’re very durable and very forgiving even at the mercy of my novice ability. I felt like they looked pretty good. My main concern is probably the fact that the stems are jointed so they snap pretty easily at the different joints in the stem. Other than that the were pretty easy to work with. If I do decide to do this, I might add one more dozen to make it a little fuller.

I’ll try and post some better pictures over the next few days, but I think you get the idea.

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Technorati Tags: Bouquet, Bridal, Carnations, Cheap, DIY, Florist, Flowers, store

I talked before about using baby’s breath for your flowers because their inexpensive and look nice in bunches. But I really like these carnations too. They always seem to get treated like the bad apple of of the bunch, but really they’re not bad. Just like baby’s breath, if used in deliberate ways instead of just afterthoughts, carnations can look just as nice as any other flower. And since they come in a bunch of different colors, they’re way more versatile than the baby’s breath.

Watch and observe:

Source: Weddingbee.com

Source: Jupiter Images

Source: Weddingbee.com

Source: IntimateWeddings.com

Source: Weddingbee.com

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Technorati Tags: Bouquet, Budget, Carnations, Cheap, Flowers, Inexpensive

I saw this idea over at We Met in A Bar. It’s just a plain glass jar, dressed up with some really nice ribbon in a color of your choice. A quick Google search yielded these Ball canning jars. Depending on the size, you could get a 12 pack for as little as $6.99.

That means you could go from here…

To here…

For pretty cheap. Especially if you grow and cut your own flowers. (Yeah, we can talk about that later)

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Ms. Avocado at Weddingbee fashioned her centerpieces out of sticks, feathers and crystals. Left to my own devices, I don’t think I could be this creative, but she pulled it off and it definitely looks like they were professionally done.

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Technorati Tags: Centerpiece, Centerpieces, DIY, feathers, Flowers, moss, Reception, tables