Wedding Reception Decorating-Saving Money on Flowers

The wedding reception is a celebration of your marriage, the first party you and your new husband will host, you want it to be special. Although some locations will be easier to decorate than others, no matter where you hold your wedding reception, decorating will add to the festive atmosphere.

Wedding flowers are expensive, some varieties are more expensive than others. Even so, flowers will usually play a part in your decorating for your wedding reception and if you are not careful you can blow your whole wedding budget on flowers alone.

In order to keep your budget under control, when meeting with your florist be especially careful in your selection of flowers by following these simple tips:

• Select and use only flowers that are in season
• Avoid more expensive varieties such as orchids or other exotic flowers
• Use massive amounts of relatively inexpensive greenery such as ferns
• Make sure that the floral arrangements you choose for the ceremony can also be used for the reception

While it’s a huge undertaking, if you are the creative type or have family members that are, you might consider creating your own floral arrangements. You can purchase and download a tutorial that teaches you to create your own flowers from this site.

A simple, elegant and very inexpensive idea for decorating the tables at the reception that doesn’t the use of flowers is the use mirrors and votive candles.

• Start with a white tablecloth then add a table runner or overlay that coordinates with your wedding color scheme. (Have a friend or family member who sews make these table runners to save even more.)
• Top this with a mirror, (you can rent or purchase these, the florist my daughter used allowed her to use their mirrors at no additional cost) and a glass bowl with a votive candle inside.
• Arrange greenery around the bowl and you have a beautiful centerpiece at very little cost.
• If you want you can omit the table runner and add a ribbon bow for color, or sprinkle colored confetti or silk rose petals on the table.

Helium filled balloons if done tastefully can also be used in place of expensive flowers. Choose balloons in coordinating colors or perhaps, gold, silver or white and use ribbon in your wedding colors to create arrangements to use in the corners of the reception location. This will add extra color without costing a fortune.

Be creative, and remember, less really can be more and simple decorations are often more elegant than their more elaborate counterparts.