Money Saving Wedding Ideas with Floral Decor for Double Decorating Duty

Many items you purchase for your wedding are only used for a few minutes or the guests barely get to see them. But since these elements of your wedding are so important to you, why not make a point to put your bridal budget to work and get some double duty out of some big purchases that many guests don't get to really see at the ceremony itself.

A big one I like to see reused is the bridal bouquet. When a bride walks down the aisle, all eyes are likely on her face, and maybe her gown, and for much of the ceremony itself, the back of her gown. You barely notice the bridal bouquet, but they are often so expensive, they should get more play time than a brief notice! Display the bridal bouquet on the cake table or other prominent spot where guests can see it and enjoy it. Think of other expensive items this way - what gets used at the relatively brief ceremony and is not enjoyed at the longer reception? Try to take these items and incorporated them into the reception to double up on your decorating impact and reduce your overall wedding budget.

One of my favorite tools for this is to invest in Bridal Flower Clamp Holders - these are sold in the back of bridal magazines and are on eBay for less than $10. They clamp on to the bridal head table to make a vase display clamp facing the guests so that you can take your bridal bouquet and bridesmaids bouquets and insert them into these clamps to decorate the head table or even the cake table or guest book table instead of paying for a head table centerpiece, you use the flowers you already have. Have the clamps hooked on in advance of the reception, (it is very easy to do, just screw them on, you don't need fancy tools) and when you arrive and are done using your bouquets in your photos, just insert the flowers into the clamps so that your bouquets do double duty by providing decoration at the ceremony and reception. The photos generally show that they can be used to gather up fabric on a table with a hook as well, or string fairy lights (those tiny Christmas lights) between the hooks on the head table, or you can pair these with a decorative swag of coordinated fabric for a polished look with either tulle or color coordinated fabric. They are reusable to give to a friend for another wedding or use at events such as showers, parties, and holidays or to re-sell and re-coup your costs? If you have several bridesmaids, consider doing the brides bouquet in the center of the table, especially if it is a cascading bouquet, have a few bridesmaids' bouquets placed a few feet away on either side of the brides' bouquet, and perhaps doing a few bouquets at high photo sites such as something on the cake table as well. Don't forget to put the flower girls bouquet to double duty as well by putting the flower girls' basket of rose petals or flower ball by the guest book or place card table. If it has sentimental value, she can always take it back after people have signed in and are sitting down. This way you have decorated your head table, the focal point of many photos and where people will look at you the most, for the cost of these clamp holders.

Have one main focal arrangement of flowers where you have your wedding ceremony. After guests clear out of the ceremony site, have a friend bring that same arrangement from the ceremony to the reception site and have it placed in front of the bridal table on the floor, or on the guest book signing table or where the place card assignment cards are or some other prominent site, such as at an entrance way or where photos might be taken. This will allow you to spend the most money on one or two main arrangements that you will use the entire time, both ceremony and reception. If you decide to have two main arrangements, this makes a nice backdrop for photos as well.

If you have pew flowers or smaller wreaths or other arrangements at the ceremony, see if any of these can be taken from the ceremony to the reception hall and displayed wherever possible, such as on a buffet or hors doerves table, or even presented to guests if you wish to give them away. Pew flower decorations can be gathered and wrapped with a ribbon and placed on the cake table for example or placed in the ladies' room, or maybe even be fashioned with a ribbon into a bouquet for the bridal toss so you can save your own bouquet and not spend money on a throw away one? Are there enough flowers from these pew arrangements that a crafty friend can fashion a small bouquet or even place a single flower at each place settings before guests arrive at the reception? Any décor you had at the ceremony that you paid for you might as well see if someone can move, or at least give to a guest to keep as a memento. A wreath used as a pew decoration can go around a votive candle in a tiny glass holder at the reception as a decoration, or be hung with one of the clamp holders or over a door with a wreath hanger.

What I like best about reusing these flowers in this manner is it does not look cheap to do so, to most people it just looks like you had more of the same or similar arrangement commissioned, which frequently happens at weddings, (if they actually really noticed the first arrangement at the ceremony site well enough to remember details, it will likely just seem like a duplicate or similar arrangement at the reception). There is not much point to having bridesmaids' bouquets just sitting on the table and have a head table centerpiece just blocking the view of other flowers like your bouquets. If you relocate ceremony flowers to your reception and find ways to reuse them, then you maximize your decorating budget.