How to Make Homemade Wedding Decorations
With the average price tag of today's wedding fluctuating between $15,000 and $22,000, brides, grooms and beleaguered parents are getting creative when they plan for one-of-a-kind nuptials. Among the most popular trends are asking photography students to handle the pictures, having friends whip up a lavish feast, calling on Aunt Dorothy to harvest her gorgeous garden for centerpieces and bouquets and, if you've got a cousin in the liquor business, you're golden. Discount bridal gowns, handmade attendants' ensembles and made-to-order wedding cakes from the local culinary college not withstanding, most planners come to a crashing halt when called upon to decorate a ceremony or reception venue. This article offers five fun themes that won't require you to chase around finding materials; everything can be found at craft shops and dollar stores. Turn the crafting of these decorative projects into a party by gathering friends and their glue guns. A crafting party, like an old-fashioned quilting bee, gathers the people you most care about to help decorate your venue while you gather memories that are simply irreplaceable.
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Garden Glory. It's always spring and summer somewhere in the world, so don't let the fact that your wedding is being held in the winter keep you from a blooming affair. Garlands of silk flowers draped artfully around table skirts, the cake and hors d'oeuvres tables and wall sconces sets the tone. Bouquets of flowers (silk or fresh) tucked into vases from the dollar store adds color to the table, but if you can arrange those blooms into a child's plastic wheelbarrow, you'll draw applause. Make favors by filling inexpensive terra-cotta flowerpots with candy. Glue coffee stirrers to packets of seeds, add a small card lettered with the names of the bride and groom plus the wedding date and tuck the end of the stirrer into the candy-filled pot.
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Awesome Aviary. Troll the Internet for warehouse-priced birdcages. Purchase one for each table and several for the cake, hors d'oeuvres and the head tables. Fill the cages with silk flowers and tie balloons to the top of the cage as depicted in this photo. Make individual favors by lettering small name cards with the bride and groom's names and wedding date, then tie them to spread-wing doves with ribbons matching attendant colors. Spray the birds with glitter so they sparkle. An example of this favor is shown at the beginning of this article. Finish the statement with a dove cake topper.
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Beautiful Bubbles. Purchase huge brandy snifters from a craft store and enough live goldfish to put two each into every snifter. Scatter small seashells (purchase large bags at crafters) in the center of the table and sprinkle with glitter. Place one snifter in the center of each guest table, fill with water and add the fish. Tape a number under one seat at the table. That person gets to take home the fish. Keep the bubbles going by using gold linens on each table and wrap individual bottles of champagne tagged with the newlywed's names and date on the bag. If your desktop design skills are good, make a label using the bride and groom's photo and paste it over original label.
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Fanciful Fortunes. Purchase large, clear glass bowls from discounters. These need not match to look wonderful. Order fortune cookies by the case and fill each bowl with fortune cookies. Scatter shredded red paper over the top of the bowl for a touch of luck. Fill white Chinese take-out containers with more shredded red paper and fill with candy or bamboo plants. Place cards detailing each Chinese zodiac sign and the characteristics of people born under each at each place. Use sand in small take-out containers to anchor votive candles sprinkled among the tables.
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Wild, Wild Wedding. You don't have to live in Texas or Kansas to inject down-home style into your ceremony or reception. Hold the event in a barn--preferably a historic, rural landmark rather than one that houses livestock--hire a square dance caller and the stage is set. Decorate walls with garlands of horseshoes to bestow all the good luck you could wish for and use large cowboy boot vases filled with wildflowers for centerpieces. Bandanna kerchiefs make ideal napkins. Give everyone a cowboy hat as a favor and pour wedding punch from a homemade moonshine still rather than a traditional punchbowl.
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