Centerpiece Ideas at a low cost?

Question

looking for centerpiece ideas for my wedding. I'm getting married November 22, 2008. So I guess you can say I'm having an autumn wedding. My girls dresses are plum color. I would like something that's not expensive! ANY IDEAS?

Answer 1

Setting a budget for a wedding can save you a lot of disagreement and heartache if discussed early, openly and honestly.

   1. Set aside some time to review your own opinion on how you should split the wedding expenses - then discuss that with your fiancee. Do you want to go traditional (parents of bride pay & bride)? Do you want to be more modern (pay for it yourself)? Do you want to be progressive (and share the wedding expenses with your fiancee)? Keep in mind that the tradition of having the bride's family pay for the wedding was established in days when a father would effectively pay a family to take his daughter off of his hands, as she wasn't seen as contributing to the family economy. Consider whether that's a tradition you wish to be a part of.

   2. Since today is not the 1950s and most brides are working full time and plan to continue working full-time,advise asking your fiancee to share the expenses of the wedding. Traditionally the groom's family only pays for the rehearsal dinner, and possibly part of the honeymoon. The bulk of the expense is really the wedding (the flowers, the cake, the gown, the food, the music, etc.).

   3. Research the vendors and get price quotes before setting the budget. This is really critical. You may think flowers would cost $500, but really they can cost $2,400 easily. Many vendors have minimums - get this information up front.

   4. Write a detailed list with vendor name and projected cost and tally everything up. It may be good to use software like Excel to easily update this and make cost comparisons between different vendors for the same thing (like different flower shops).

   5. Once you have an idea of what your wedding may cost in your area (with vendors that you like), discuss the finances with your fiancee. How? Asking questions about his views would be a good place to start. Sharing the list of potential costs with him would be wise. Better yet, look into venues and costs together - reviewing purchases and setting budgets based on one another's needs is something you'll be doing for the rest of your lives!

   6. At this stage, start formulating a guest list, because many budget items are proportional to the size of the wedding you host. Keep in mind that if your families are paying for all or part of the wedding that they may feel entitled to add to this guest list. Be up front with them about this.

   7. Come to agreement with your fiancee about how you would like to pay for the wedding. Will you pay for it yourself or ask your parents for assistance? Do you both feel right even asking your parents for financial assistance?

   8. Meet with your respective parents to speak honestly and openly how much they are willing to contribute to the "wedding fund." Special note: money from family has strings attached, so be careful about setting expectations that this is YOUR wedding and that you appreciate their financial contributions.

   9. Create a spreadsheet using Excel or OpenOffice to write down and track your budget. The top line should have the total amount you are willing to spend and the end of the sheet should have a running total of projected and actual wedding related expenses.

  10. Try to enjoy the busy and stressful wedding planning process, knowing that you have made one of the first and important financial decisions with your fiancee!

    * OpenOffice and StarOffice are low cost alternatives to Microsoft's excel and let you calculate your budget easily. Pen and paper also work fine.

    * Ask your close friends who are married for suggestions on how to budget for your wedding.

    * Ask local married friends suggestions on low cost but quality vendors.

    * Be sure to start the planning process as early as possible. The more time you have the better chance you have in getting what you want.

    * Think about purchasing wedding insurance to protect your big investment. Don't forget to read the fine print!

    * Build some flexibility into your budget - plan for things to end up costing about 10% more than you estimated.

    * Make your budget as detailed as possible to avoid surprise costs. There are lots of wedding planning/expense lists out there on the internet - look at a few to see what you might be forgetting about.

    * Work with your fiance to prioritize your spending - you may be able to reduce or eliminate some costs in order to get the dress/flowers/band etc. that you really want. Just because *everyone else* has a certain something at their wedding doesn't mean you have to!

    * Keep in mind that some of your wedding choices - the rings, the photographs, the video, will be with you long after the guest have gone home. If your budget is tight, consider prioritizing these items.

    * Think about you and your fiance's long term financial goals, and make sure that your wedding budget is not interfering with them. If you need to use credit to pay for your wedding, consider carefu

Answer 2

i went to the dollar store and got hart shaped dishes with candle's and glass rocks that where the color of my wedding to fill them with and under that was a small sheet of glass to set it on so the light would reflect off them also and i put confetti on the glass

Answer 3

I went to Home Depot and found large potted flowers for just $7 each.  You can pick up a nice piece of cloth at an arts and crafts store to tie around the bottom and hide the pot for decoration.  Then you can use that as a nice looking centerpiece for each of the tables.

Answer 4

I love the idea of a small mirror with a candle on top. You could even put a few different fall scented ones on the mirror. It provides great lighting for your guests too.  

Answer 5

A good idea is to use something other than flowers, and for a fall wedding berries and silk leaves are the perfect replacements. Get a vase and some strands of berries from the craft store and play with it until you are happy with the way it looks. You can add other fall filler as well. Surround the vase with small votive candles and you're done.

Another idea is to get a large fall colored candle and set inside a fall wreath that has leaves or berries on it.

I like this picture, it's just a candle on a stand surrounded by berries and fall leaves:

http://seasonalreflections.com/holiday_d...

http://www.homedecorexchange.com/Decorat...  

Answer 6

I would buy some fake fall leaves and make it into a circle.  Place a glass candle holder and candle inside of the leaves.  Each center piece would cost less then 3 dollars if you go to the dollar store.  You could also replace the candle holder with a glass bowl and put some floating candles inside the bowl.

Answer 7

I kind am going with the previous poter idea, althoug I think turkeys sound a bit silly, I do think the idea of cornucopias (sp?) with flowers, instead of fruits, in the deep purple colors with a splash of fall colors. . (you shoul be able to find this at you local dollar or walmart stores in the next month or so)

For my wedding I found these little metal buckets about 4 inches wide and 3-4 inches high, I placed a taper candle in the center with the colors of my wedding party and found fake flowers to decorate & fill the rest of the bucket (I think each of them ranges in price if $5.00 per bucket with candle and flowers)

I also had glass bowls with floater candles.  sitting on top of a mirror.

My sister had large champange glasses with beta fish. and had the guests take them home.  (You can find the fish between $2-$4 each and packages of 4-6 glasses for about $5-8)

Hope I could give you some ideas.  

Answer 8

Search around. Being that it is fall use a simple vase with branches spray painted silver. You could also attach some crystals. Ebay has some good deals or even stores like hobby lobby. Afloral.com and saveoncrafts.com has some affordable flower and accessories! Good Luck  

Answer 9

a few different sized candles with some fall leaves, maybe little pumpkins and pinecones spread around them

Answer 10

Since you are getting Married  close to thanksgiving  how about  Turkey centerpieces ! besides everyone want to bring home the centerpiece decoration from a wedding and  Thanksgiving lands on Nov 27th, or you could try to find a pilgrim couple  for the centerpieces   or both .....lots of autumn colors -

you could also buy a lot of multi color candles in autumn colors for each table and arrange them in clusters on  small mirrors - lit of couse

Best wishes !!    

Answer 11

for my wedding, i bought vases from the dollar store, and bought fake flowers to put in them. it was seriously only about $3 per centerpiece and i think it looked nice.

http://i.ehow.com/images/GlobalPhoto/Art...

Answer 12

You could always do floating candles. That looks nice on the tables. Maybe you could do something like this:

http://www.surroundings.com/286silverpur...

It wouldn't be to hard to recreate that at a reasonable price. You could go to save-on-crafts.com and get all of your supplies there. They have great prices on all of their wedding stuff.

Another option would be to use the floralytes. They come in all different colors. Maybe you could do something like this:

http://www.rainbowfloristsupplies.co.uk/...

Branch centerpieces seem to be in now a days and can be fairly cheap to make yourself.

http://www.brides.com/images/editorial/2...

http://www.liweddings.com/chat/p/5332492...

Answer 13

Wherever you are having the reception should have table decor available. Sometimes it is free to use and other times it is rented cheaply. If you aren't getting married until November, I would search Craigslist and garage sales that list wedding items. My cousin bought 100 vases, mirror tiles, and glass beads for inside the vases at a garage sale for next to nothing. She bought a few fresh flowers for each vase and used some tealight candles on the tiles. It was beautiful. Be creative. If you have a Hobby Lobby go in there and ask some questions. Lots of crafty people work and hang around there.

Answer 14

candy dish centerpieces! M&M does personalized candies that let you pick 2 colors, so you can do fall colors, and you can put your names on the back of them. you can buy a bulk box of them, and then try dollar stores or somewhere to buy cheap little jars in bulk