I'm a big advocate of the idea of 'Splurge & Save' - splurge on some areas and save on others. For our wedding we splurged on food and items for guests (we had three meals planned - dinner on Friday, reception Saturday, brunch on Sunday). We also spent money on tote bags filled with goodies given to each guest/couple upon arrival and paid for chairs and umbrellas on the beach on Saturday. The other area of splurge was photography where we spent more than originally planned. For all other aspects, I was determined to stick to a limited budget and be creative. This included invitations , my dress & my husband's attire, the cake, and as you will see here - flowers & other decor. Here are our budget friendly options we went with...
Ceremony - When
deciding on flowers for the ceremony my husband pointed out he liked the urns
filled with branches in a particular photo.
We inquired about these and were told they were filled with flowering
branches and each urn would be almost $700 (yikes). My husband indicated he liked them
because the shape reminded him of beach grass. The florist came up with the
idea to fill the urns with various grasses and also thought burying pots of
grasses in the sand around the urns as if the grasses were a natural part of the beach. In the end, this solution
was much more economical and provided a simple beauty to the ceremony site on
the beach. That’s it for flowers at the cermony site – no trellis, no
flowers on every chair going down the aisle, no large floral arrangements on
stands – just those simple grasses as a focal point.
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| Ceremony Flowers |
My Bouquet - Just a simple bouquet of daisies. My grandmother's broach was pinned to the base (something old) :o) We did not get boutonnieres or corsages for my husband or our parents. (My Mom was happy not to have to pin something on her dress.) No need for flowers/boutonnieres for attendants since we didn't have any; we decided to have our closest friends and family just attend the wedding and enjoy themselves. (Budget friendly for them as well since they didn't have to buy special dresses/outfits.)
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| My Bouquet |
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| Grandma's Brooch |
Reception – Simple daisy centerpieces. The rented teal blue tablecloths provided the big impact of color here. Tablecloths were an economical way to bring in beautiful color and provided a beautiful background for white daisies. The hotel put clear glass candle holders on the cocktail tables which had rented pale yellow tablecloths.
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| Reception Centerpieces |
Friday Dinner – We didn’t’ have a rehearsal or a rehearsal dinner. We had every guest attend an outdoor dinner buffet at the hotel. At some point I realized I had no centerpieces for the Friday dinner, and the idea of spending hundreds more on flowers was not what I was looking forward to. I was determined to find a cheaper solution. It was an outdoor dinner buffet on the deck of the hotel and there were seven tables to cover. Solution - lanterns purchased from Big Lots filled with stones and candles (also purchased from Big Lots). Fabric squares in a leafy tropical print placed underneath were sewn by my Mom. Total cost was about $17 per table, and I continue use the lanterns and fabric squares today for holiday décor and parties!
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| Friday Dinner Centerpieces |
Wedding Tip - A budget doesn't mean you have to be boring. Splurge on those areas that are most important to you and save on others. The budget areas of the wedding were in some ways the most fun. It was a challenge to keep the budget down, but these were the areas that brought about the most creativity and fun solutions.
For all of my beach wedding posts see my Beach Wedding page where you will find posts like these:
grt
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