Monday, June 14, 2010

Planning Your Wedding on a Shoestring Budget - Decorative Flowers For The Ceremony

As far as flowers and plants as decorations are concerned, this can be a great enhancement to your ceremony.  Many churches already have floral adornments on their altars.  If you get married around the time of a church celebration, you may be able to buy a few flowers and take advantage of those that are already there.

For example, around Easter, lilies are the flower of choice in most churches.  Many people will buy Easter lilies in remembrance of their loved ones.  Offer to buy a couple of Easter lilies to add to the existing ones, and you have a beautiful decoration on the altar.

The same applies around Christmas.  Poinsettias are the flower of choice at this time of year.  Offer up a few poinsettia plants to add to those already there and you’ll have some beautiful altar decorations.

Large arrangements on an altar will only be seen from far away. Use inexpensive flowers such as carnations, or large filling flowers such as snowball mums.

If you are getting married in a church, almost all have some type of floral/tree decorations that they have all the time.  All you need to do in this situation is to add a few personal touches and you’ll have a beautiful backdrop for your ceremony. 

If you are getting married outside, take advantage of nature.  Cultivate what Mother Nature has to offer. 

Talk to your venues and see if any other brides have booked for the same day. If the two of you can coordinate flowers and split the cost, you’ll save a lot of money.  I would imagine both of you wouldn’t turn your nose up at saving a ton of money on church decorations and flowers!
Some party rental places will rent large potted plants such as tropical palms or fichus. They visually fill a lot of space, and will help frame your ceremony site or warm up your reception. Best of all, renting a potted plant is far cheaper than buying large flower arrangements. Also, you may consider purchasing these large plants and using them in your home afterwards to get more use out of them.
Don’t be afraid to call some friends who already own an artificial fichus tree to see if you can borrow them for your big day.  Most will be more than happy to offer up their trees and you can use them to decorate the reception hall.  More on that later!

Don’t try to move your ceremony flowers to the reception hall.  Many churches require you leave them anyway, but moving large arrangements can be tedious and simply not worth the time or effort.  The last thing you want is to have your reception held up waiting for flowers!

Decorating the place where you will take your vows is just as important as how you decorate your reception.  Let’s look at how to make your ceremony picture perfect!

Our next article will be about decorating the Sanctuary.

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