Did you know that the average American wedding involves spending over a thousand dollars on decorations for the ceremony and party venues? It’s not difficult to figure out where the cash goes, with flowers, name cards, and so on being pretty standard at most celebrations.
If you can’t afford to, or simply hate the thought of spending so much on items which are used for such a short time, the logical response is to fix the décor yourself.
This has two huge advantages over the standard approach: as well as giving you control of the budget, you also win by creating a unique look which reflects your personalities much more than generic offerings ever could.
Lighting
Forget expensive lanterns or buying miles of twinkle lights, plain squat candles in a cheap but pretty holder are a great way to add mood lighting and atmosphere without spending a fortune. They can be given away at the end of the wedding breakfast too, so your cut price décor could even make you look uber generous!
Filling High Ceiling Space
If rigging up a tented ceiling to fill the space is beyond your projected budget, ditch that idea and go for some huge balloons. They can be left to float or secured – and again are easy to give away at the end.
Buy in Bulk
You can buy everything from dried flowers to cute artificial animal decorations from a wholesale floral supplies store, even if you are not in the business. This is a great way to get a dozen or more of an item at a discounted price, and add even more of your own personalities and tastes into the design of your wedding venue decor.
Interesting Wall Displays
If you or your friends and family have origami skills, it’s easy to create charming strand of various paper shapes threaded on invisible wire. This unusual idea is both eye catching and pretty unique. Another idea is to have some of your favorite photographs enlarged to poster size and placed around the room.
Forget About Formal Seating
An easy way to cut décor and accessory costs is to scrap seating plans (and the name cards they involve) in favor of more small tables scattered around the room. This only works with a buffet style eating plan, of course, but by placing the food on a few tables dressed with some pretty but cheap linen throughout the space, you can cut down on the need for every table to look the same. Even the cheapest white cloth can look a million dollars with an attractive runner in the center.