For me, the most fun part of planning my wedding was deciding how to decorate the ceremony and reception. I had a limited budget, but with some inspiration and creativity I was able to transform my vision into my gorgeous dream wedding!
I said it before on
Day 1 of Wedding Week, and I'll say it again: personalize! I cannot stress enough how much the little touches make the biggest difference in your wedding. It doesn't matter how much your dress cost, how many tiers are on your cake, or how fancy of food you serve... what matters is the little things that make your guests feel extra special. And they don't have to cost a ton of money! Here's some of the decorations and personal touches we did for our wedding:
I wanted our guests to feel pampered as soon as they arrived to town for the weekend. We had many out-of-town guests that stayed at the hotel I recommended on our
wedding invitations, so I created a welcome bag that was handed to each guest as they checked into the hotel. I had brown kraft paper bags that I decorated with stamps and filled them with snacks, candy, and water bottles. I also included a welcome message thanking them for coming and giving some information about the hotel's restaurant and our hospitality room. These door knob hangers I made were a fun addition to the bag:
We got married at a golf coarse that had a beautiful, large banquet hall. One whole wall was lined with windows, which gave us a gorgeous view of the golf coarse. The only down side to having all those windows and getting married in the summer, was how late it stayed light in the room. I wanted so badly to line the tables with a million flickering candles to create a romantic ambiance, but it would have made for a very boring tablescape until night fell.
So I chose to do flower centerpieces instead. To save money on my flower bill, I did them myself! I purchased wooden candlestick holders from Hobby Lobby and spray painted them blue. I found white silk flowers, trimmed the stems short, and arranged them in a small floral foam ball. Once I got to the reception hall I glued the foam ball to the top of the candlestick holder. I arranged the centerpieces on the tables and draped long strands of pearls around the base. Easy and budget-friendly!
(Please excuse the construction going on behind the tables. Somehow one of the huge windows shattered the day before my wedding rehearsal, so they were in the process of fixing it!)
I had a table set up at the entrance of the reception for my guest book, cake pop favors, and a tribute to our 5 grandparents that passed before our wedding day. I printed a poem honoring them on vellum paper, wrapped it around a glass vase, and decorated it with adhesive pearls. I also wrapped my favorite blue floral scrapbook paper
(read about it here) around two smaller vases and laced up the sides with ribbon by using a hole punch on the edges of the paper.
For our guest book, I didn't want to buy a generic, boring book that only had a place for guest signatures. Who really looks back through those years after the wedding? I wanted something more personal where guests could write a message to us. So I got a mini scrapbook album from Hobby Lobby (they have a variety of colors, and it was only $3.59 after using a 40% off coupon!) and a lined message stamp. I stamped the pages of the book and added a poem or saying about love on each page. Jeremy and I love looking back and reading the sweet messages our guests left for us!
I wanted our guests to have lots to look at and keep them entertained. So my husband and I created these "He" and "She" signs using Microsoft Word. Each of us wrote all the things we love about each other and set them out for guests to read on the gift table. Some of it was romantic and sweet and some of it was funny and silly, but my husband definitely showed me up... He made his whole sign a rhyming poem!
I also created a card box for the gift table using cardboard hat boxes that I spray painted blue and flowers from our centerpieces. Here's my awesome sister getting it set up... Sorry I don't have a better picture of it!
We had an excellent, large bar area that was in desperate need of some decorating. I picked up a couple oversized martini glasses from Wal-Mart and floated a white flower-shaped candle in some blue water. The night before we decorated I filled milk jugs with water and added blue food coloring until it was the right color. I typed up a bar menu and created a signature drink, "Love for Eternitini".
(Looking back, I could have chose a less corny drink name! What can I say, I was drunk with love!)
I also created a simple dinner menu that was tucked into each guest's napkin.
Along a wall diving the dance floor and bar area, I floated candles in curved vases I got from Dollar Tree.
I picked up 2 baskets from the Dollar Store and filled them with travel size bathroom products, one for the women's bathroom and one for the men's. I attached a little note to the baskets that read:
"So happy you're here to share in our special day,
but should something happen to go astray,
Please help yourself to the contents within,
Wet wipe, hand lotion, and even asprin,
Use only what you need and leave the rest,
It may be useful to another guest,
So repair the damage that may have been done,
Then hurry back and join in the fun!"I hope you've enjoyed seeing some of the ways we made our wedding extra special (and on a budget!) I know there's a lot of projects and ideas here, so if you have any questions please feel free to ask! Make sure to stop by my co-host,
Kelley at The Grant Life, and check out her wedding too! And I hope to see you all link up your weddings at our Wedding Week Link Party on Sunday! If you missed any of Wedding Week so far, here's:
Stay tuned for Wedding Week Day 4!
A HUGE thanks and shout-out to my fab sponsors:
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