With wedding season coming into full swing I've spent a lot of time reminicing about my own wedding day. Can I just say, that was the best day of my life?! I wish I could go relive that day over and over and over and over and over again. The temple, the sealing, the pictures, hair and makeup, the receiving line, cake, dancing, the honeymoon...ahhhh don't get me started. With that being said, there were so many things that made August 1st so memorable.
So...I just wanted to share a few tips and tricks that we used to decorate, reuse, and recycle! Hopefully they will help you prepare or give you some ideas for your big day...
Decorate
There really is so much you can do yourself these days! DIY is a great way to save money! There are so many tutorials and resources available out there. But we definitely couldn't have done it without everyone's hard work and long hours!
1. Crates: We used a lot of crates at our reception to create a rustic elegant look. Instead of buying them on Esty ($35-$50 a piece) we made them ourselves. Taylor's dad built them out of scrape wood and then stained them. They looked unreal! (Photo Credit: Fauset Photography)
2. My dad made our cake stand and photo booth instead of having to buy or rent something. (Photo Credit: Fauset Photography)
3. My uncles made the lemonade stand for our family wedding shower a month earlier out of scrap wood. We just used it again for the Italian Soda at the reception. (Photo Credit: Fauset Photography)
4. We made about 15 of these books for part of the table center pieces. The books were bought at D.I. for about 50 cents-$1 a piece. We ripped off the covers and then tied 3 different sizes together. Cheap and gorgeous!
5. We also made these barn wood frames ($5 total!!!) to clip guest advice to!
Reuse
1. One thing that I absolutely loved about our reception was all the gorgeous flowers. Live flowers and greenery really keep things fresh and lively! As the florist put the arrangements together before the reception, my mom and I went over to all the flowers to take it all in. The aroma in the air was indescribable.
With so many fresh flowers, used only for one day, one problem many run into is what to do with them afterwords. Giving them out as thank you's to family, guest and friends is one way to reuse them. As we were on our honeymoon our cute cousins helped us do a little something else with them. They took them to the nearest Assisted Living Center and gave them to the elderly women living there. Talking with them later about the experience, they said that these ladies were in tears that someone would think of them.
2. For some reason we had ordered WAY to many strawberries for our reception. So as the night began to a close, we realized that something needed to be done! So again, while we were on our honeymoon, the family got together and made DeHart strawberry jam! Everyone who helped took some jam and when we got back from our honeymoon we got some delicious cans too. I am sad to say we only have one can left. (I could seriously drink it from the can!)
3. Another great idea is to use your decor from your wedding as decor for your first apartment! Please excuse the Christmas photo, but this picture was the only one I could find of our entertainment center. Yes, our entertainment center is made out of crates from our wedding! We find great pride in our cute little entertainment center. ha.
Recycle
1. With so many vintage items made and purchased for the wedding, we decided to do a little rental business to get our money back. We did it for about a year renting out trunks, flower carts, crates, books, vintage windows and doors and much much more from our wedding. If you have a lot of left over supplies from your wedding, I suggest renting or reselling your decor!
At weddings so much goes wasted- so if you can think of ways to decorate cheap, reuse and recycle, you can save a lot more and get your moneys worth. Hopefully a few of these ideas will spark your imagination!
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