Wedding Decorations - Marriage, Reception, Table.

Author Aisling Mackey

Unless you have a complete wedding package with your hotel or reception venue, most couples are required to add any decoration beyond plain tablecloths, chairs and settings themselves.  The same is true for table centrepieces and decorations, and of the marriage ceremony venue - any floral or other decorations are done by the couple themselves. How can you cut costs and stretch your budget and still have a stunning effect on the day? Here are a few ideas:

Marriage Decorations

• A great place to start for decorating your church or marriage venue is to not buy expensive floral posies for the pews, but instead add some pew bows (or have an usher do it) on the day.  At less than  €1 for each bow, you can decorate every other pew in the church, or even the top 5/10 pews for less than €20 or €30!  Guests still notice the church is decorated for the wedding, but rarely would anyone pay much attention to the pew decorations.

• Most churches don't allow any confetti which isn't bio-degradable to be thrown.  They will usually allow candles (simple tea-lights can fill a room with sparkle), and you can throw dried petals too.  Another great alternative to confetti is wedding bubbles for the guests to blow at the bride and groom as they leave the church.

Reception Decorations

For reception decorations, here's a few ideas:

• At a recent Wedding Show, we were really impressed with the stall of the suit hire people opposite us.  The backdrop for their walls was a gorgeous empire design and really striking.  When we asked where they purchased their stand, they said they bought one roll of striking wallpaper, and stuck it up with blu-tack!  We were amazed.  If you've any exposed walls in your venue, it's a fantastic and easy idea, and presents a really striking backdrop for your day.

• For decorating chairs and table centrepieces, pay a visit to your local haberdashery (Hickey's or similar), or try shopping online for some tulle, organza or similar to use as drapes for walls or windows, or to tie around the back of chairs.  It's simple, it's inexpensive, and it looks fantastic. With the £Sterling rate very much in our favour just now, it's worth checking out some UK sites such as www.cheapfabrics.co.uk.  A great selection and pricing too.

• For scattering on the table, instead of using expensive freeze dried petals, try the much cheaper paper variety instead.  At less than €5 a pack, and with 100 petals in each pack, you can decorate an average wedding with just 2 or 3 packs.  Or try using table confetti for some glitter on the table - it comes in a huge variety of shapes and sizes from wedding vendors with prices just over €2 for a pack that would sprinkle lightly over 3-4 tables. Much cheaper than using crystals or similar for much the same effect.

Also - don't forget your cars on the day!!  If a friend or relative has a nice car, why not ask can you borrow it for the day and decorate yourself with car ribbon. 

Did you decorate your own tables on a budget?  Have you photos to share? Send them to us - we'd love to hear!

Author Aisling Mackey is the owner of DIYWedding.ie, a website specialising in helping couples on a budget make the most of their money.  The site features over 100 customisable wedding stationery DIY kits and other DIY products like Car Ribbon, Pew Bows, Disposable Wedding Cameras, DIY Wedding Favours and more.  Aisling also owns Cara Craft Supplies - a site for card makers and scrapbookers, and a UK arm of the wedding business - WeddingDIY.co.uk.