Monday, November 29, 2010

The Creative Bride on a Budget!

They say that “necessity is the mother of invention” and perhaps it’s all the more true when you apply that to wedding planning!

Sometimes, this happens because of budget restrictions, unpredictable reactions from your bridal party or disappointments from wedding vendors; all of which conspire to force couples to get more creative with their wedding planning choices.

Here are some of my favourite ideas that won’t bust your budget and are easily implementable too!

1. Instead of having shrugs or boleros made for the bridesmaids, give each bridesmaid the gift of a pashmina (shawl) to add in a splash of your wedding colour. Think about how striking your bridesmaids would look in red dresses with black pashminas or rose-pink dresses with sage green pashminas!

2. Don’t want to pay for exquisite and expensive handcrafted sugar and gum paste flowers on your cake? Buy a gorgeous selection of crystal and pearl brooches or even strings of crystals and faux pearls and have your cake designer affix them onto your cake at strategic spots!

3. Use your engagement or courtship photos in another way during your wedding -  colour photocopy and paste them onto hard board and hand-number each one to match the table number you would like.

4. Cure wedding guests’ boredom during lulls in your ceremony or reception with a “get to know the couple” crossword puzzle that you have designed yourself and have had placed within the wedding programmes. You can even have prizes for the first few guests who complete them accurately!

5. Use different types and sizes of mirrors on your guest tables in order to add glamour. Pair with pillar candles ( at varying heights!) and glass pebbles.

6. To save dollars on printed escort cards ( these are given to guests as they enter the reception, so they will know where to sit), you can do-it-yourself by making origami escort cards – in the shape of diamonds, cranes, fish or anything that goes with your wedding’s theme.

7. If your wedding will be in the rainy season – a fun wedding favour might be to have “hot cocoa mix” in tiny bottles or packets for your guests; or for bridesmaid gifts you can do home-made bath salts by using 3 cups epsom salt (or coarse sea salt) , 1 cup of almond, canola or olive oil and essential oils for fragrance. Package the bath salts in glass bottles with pretty tags and voila! you have a low-cost, spa product!

8. Feel you don’t have an artistic bone in your body? Think about home-made oriented items such as giving gift baskets, getting fabric items monogrammed, or making a photo scrapbook for members of your bridal party

Do It Yourself (DIY) wedding projects add a really personal touch to your ceremony and reception. They're also a wonderful way to spend some time relaxing before your big day. The best thing about them is that you can tailor them to suit your colour scheme, theme, budget and style

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