I am getting married for my 3rd time, yes I know, 3. But when my first husband and I got married we were 18 and realized immediately we were better off friends. The 2nd lasted 10 years and was ended due to extreme drug and alcohol abuse on his part, as well as mental and physical abuse.
That being said, I have been dating someone for 3 years and we are planning on getting married on July 11th 2009. Both of my previous marriages were at the courthouse, no party or dressing up of any kind. We want to do this right, he was married once. We are having an at home wedding and reception, but it seems overwhelming. My only attendants are my 2 daughters and stepdaughter from marriage number 2.
I feel odd asking anyone to help since it is my 3rd marriage. Seeing as we don't have a lot of money, do you have any suggestions on how to cut costs, yet make it special? I ordered our dresses off the internet, and have been trying to think of cheap decorating ideas for the backyard, our colors are orange.
Thank you.
By Jessica from New York
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Go to orientaltradingcompany.com they have lots of inexpensive decorations for all occasions. Also for flowers, in SD the WalMart stores have bushes of silk flowers for right around a dollar each and there is usually 4-6, maybe eight flowers on a bush. With these you might have a hard time finding the right colors, depending on the season, but then you can always go with white flowers. I haven't had any need to use any of these bushes for quite some time so I don't know exactly what is out there. Where I live I find the craft stores to be quite expensive.
Many dollar stores have cheap wedding decorations, so make sure to check there before you go to an expensive craft store. I also often find wonderful ribbons and other decorations at thrift stores. If you have any good thrift stores in your town, start browsing them every other day for what you need.
A friend on mine is i a situation like yours. She decided to buy a few, magnificent fake flowers from a craft store. She then bought some cheap ribbon and made each single flower it's own little decoration. It's a sparse look, but still lovely and wedding-esque. Each flower is tied with a long bow and set in a vase or taped to the fence. She used the spare little flowers from the stems to decorate a plain wedding cake. Again, sparse but lovely.
Do you have a flower u-pick place within driving distance? Flowers are nice, usually 10/20 cents a stem.Could use any container for flowers, and cover with tissue paper gathered with a ribbon [dollar store/craft store]. Of course no candles nearby, right? White flower will dye orange if you put them in water with orange food coloring[go to custom cake store and get food coloring gel for $2.50], put orange color in a pot /bucket of water, cut the stems a little and stick in water for a day or two; just have a fresh cut.
Ask someone who knows how (or you) mix a CD of music for the reception and another for the wedding. You can pick out the music and a friend could be responsible for changing the discs if they need to be changed during the reception.
For food, Google for catering a wedding or look on Recipezaar for finger foods or reception ideas and get ideas for easy, inexpensive finger food or whatever you want to make...the guests are coming for you not for the food (except for...), but you can find esy inexpensive food that will be tasty, fill-em-up, and not break your wallet. Have a wonderful life.
If you know many people, ask them all if any have any decorations, and tell them your wedding colors. In the olden days of my youth, they used to cover the couple's car with tissue paper flowers, white. You could make orange tissue paper flowers for the tables inexpensively (directions can be found online to make them). Have a wonderful marriage!
For my daughters upcoming wedding I made the centerpieces, we only need 4 since the wedding is rather small. I bought 4 metal buckets (approx 6 inches deep, for 1 dollar each, 4 rolls of 1/2 wide ribbon (her color is tangerine), 4 terra cotta pots and 4 fat pillar candles. The flowers are artificial Gerbera daisies. They cost about $1 each. I used 8 per bucket.
Glue a length of ribbon around the middle of each bucket, glue to secure. Make a bow and glue it on as well. Not sure how much ribbon was needed so I bought 1 roll for each bucket to be safe. Turn the terracotta pot upside down and glue in place inside the bucket. Unwrap the candle leaving a small amount of the plastic covering on the bottom, glue the candle to the upside down pot, next trim the flowers stems to desired lengths and glue them into place around the candle. Return any unopened ribbon or place in your craft box for future use.
My daughter is getting married this Saturday and we can not afford a big affair. So we are decorating the outside with paper lanterns. They are inexpensive and come in many shapes and sizes. The dollar store also carries them. You can get them with battery operated lights or just plain. I wish you the best of luck on your special day. The saying goes the third time is the charm!
The most beautiful wedding I've ever attended was in the back yard during the summer. Make sure your yard is clean and manicured. Pick your focal point for the ceremony and decorate that. Ask your local church to borrow folding chairs, local green house to borrow ferns (assign the teens the job of returning), white netting is very cheap. This stuff comes in bolts at the fabric store. It can be cut into strips and made into bows and streamers. Some churches even have an archway you might could borrow. Remember to pick some bold color flowers they will show up best in your pictures. Magnolia tress are free greenery as ivy is also. Take some pruners and cut a truck load from a friends yard.
If you have friends that have bought their wedding decor, see if you can take a look and borrow pieces from them. I borrowed a few centerpieces and iron trellis and iron lamps. I wish you all the best. Congratulations
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Instead of hiring a decorator for your wedding, go to a craft store/ and or party store (also make sure to hit the dollar stores just in case) to buy your decorations then ask some friends to help you decorate in lieu of buying you a wedding gift. I recommend sitting down and mapping out how much of each item you'll need. Then also sit down with your friends in a semi-formal meeting and explain what decorations you'll have, and how you want it to look.
By Margaret from Wilmington, NC
