Leftover Wedding Supplies Please Many Including Yourself

After our wedding, we found we had a number of wedding supplies-flowers, food, picnic supplies, décor and invitations-left over after the event that we didn't need any longer. We bought two boxes of 100 plastic place settings and forgot them at home. We discovered them missing as the guests were arriving. The solution was to run to the nearest store and buy more. All the lovely flowers delivered to the reception hall were now ours to take home. We forgot about that problem in the planning stages. My husband and I drove home separately from the wedding carrying all the unplanned extras. Since I married late in life, many people were excited to contribute their craft projects as décor. How could I say no? Invitation stationary usually comes in packaged sets that don't necessarily match your guest list exactly. Even with best estimating, we still had extra food. Here's how we solved our problems.

Flowers

Whether or not your service will be held in your church, most churches welcome flowers to enhance the spiritual patina and add some welcome color and change. Donating your flowers to one or more churches makes sense. Our wedding was held in a rental hall so our neighbors received several of the altar bouquets for their church. I was able to cut my cost by using hothouse chrysanthemum plants along the pathway to the altar and then planted them in my new yard. I still have happy yellow mums blooming in my gardens. I also ordered silk flowers for the cake and then used them in a basket to brighten my home.

Picnic Supplies

After selecting a few items for our camping supplies, we donated part of the plastic place settings to our office potluck supplies, to the church and to the Salvation Army. We had a lot of them. The drink cups we put in our picnic supplies because we go through a lot of them on the road for ice water. Most of the plates we donated to the office and used as pet food dishes. Napkins are easy to use to wash windows, at the dinner table, and to wipe up spills.

Food

We didn't have much left to our delight. The day after the wedding we had a potluck for the family who helped us record our gifts. Keeping a good record of who sent what gifts is essential for writing your thank you cards.

Décor

We were so good at donating the many gifts of décor given to our wedding that afterwards we were lucky to have one of some of the items. Miniature bird houses that sat on the tabletops were snapped up by guests who were invited to take them along. Same for the dishes of floating candles, mirror squares to reflect the candlelight, and groom's cake offerings of wrapped soaps and champagne glasses filled with candies. The leftover balloons made a great gift for the nieces and nephews to spend during the summer having water balloon fights. If you don't have many children nearby, the local recreation centers would probably be delighted to receive them as donations. I kept the tablecloths for parties at home. Rather than spend a lot of money, I went to a sewing material store and bought six-foot lengths of lace to cover the tables.

Invitations

Two of the nicest gifts I received was a book created with my invitation pasted inside with a stand to set it on and an anniversary candle with the invitation decorated on the side. If you select a bible reading for your wedding and have a piece of it printed on the inside page, it can provide a lovely Christmas package name tag to decorate your gifts.

Remembering to think of others even on your special day will enhance your pleasure, convince people that you want to be part of the community supporting your marriage and make a memorable occasion for many people. Also, be sure to save your top layer of your wedding cake and a memory candle for your first and ensuing wedding anniversaries.