Family Made Wedding Decorations for Weddings on a Budget - Budget Living 101

Are you on a tight budget but want a beautiful wedding? Have your family pitch in on making the wedding decorations and you can save money and have a beautiful event without the high cost.

When Eric and I had our wedding we had almost no money at all, but we wanted to have a great day. We got our family and friends to pitch in on the decorating. Family made wedding decorations can be just as good as store bought, and can help you get your special day done on a tight budget.

Is anyone in your family good at origami, or able to learn? Origami can be a great technique for making beautiful decorations. You can either get paper designed for origami, or just cut perfect squares out of inexpensive wrapping paper. A friend of ours made lovely origami flowers and cranes that we used to decorate for our wedding. There are plenty of sites on the internet that have origami patters, so you can choose from lots of different flowers, animals and even candy boxes.

Does anyone crochet or knit? My mother-in-law and I crocheted my bouquet and boutonnieres for the men out of scrap crochet cotton. They were beautiful, and since they weren't real, we still have them as souvenirs to this day. You can also crochet or knit doilies for the tables, decorative flowers, gloves for the bride and a variety of other items.

I have an article on How to Make Animal Friendly Wedding Sachets, which is another great thing for your family to help make for your wedding. These are an excellent alternative to throwing rice, and they can be made for less than most store-bought items of a similar nature.

Streamers and other hanging paper decorations can also be family made to help you keep your wedding on budget. Most of us made paper snowflakes as kids, and you can do the same thing to make wedding decorations. Cut flowers, bells and other wedding-related shapes. You can probably find patterns online for a variety of designs.

If you have someone in your family that is good at sewing, you can have them make tablecloths, chair drapes and other fabric decorations. You can usually get the fabric for less than the cost of a finished item, and if you have them made just for you, you can get exactly what you want.

Lighting can be achieved by having the family break out their holiday light strings and swap the bulbs. Just pull out the colors that don't match your theme and replace with bulbs that do. It's time-consuming, but you can get strings of lights that fit the theme of your wedding without buying new lighting.

You can save a huge amount of money by having family or friends make your wedding cake. My mother and younger sister made our wedding cake, and a friend made a decorated cupcake platter for the reception. The cake was beautiful and cost a fraction of having it done by a bridal shop or bakery.

If you think about it, there are actually a lot of ways that your family and friends can help to keep your wedding under budget and still have a wonderful day. Brainstorm with your loved ones and see what items you'd like to have that someone could make. You might be surprised at what they can create, and having all that effort and love put into the wedding decorations can make your day even more special.