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Friday, October 29, 2010

20 Money Saving Tips: Wedding Flowers and Invitations


Every bride is on a budget, with the economy, necessity is turning everyone into a frugal bride. We still want all the bells and whistles, and you can have them with our budget wedding tips.  You can have your dream wedding by simplifying the entire wedding.Instead of gardenias, use budget friendly carnations.   Instead of 4 hours of an open bar, put a bottle of sparkling wine on each table for a champagne toast.  Get the idea?  Substitute less expensive items and you will get the same effect at a price that you can afford.  Weddingzilla is going to do a series of money savers for your wedding that really work, so make sure you come back for tried and true tips from REAL brides!


Flowers:
Use flowers in season.  If you insist on having a specific out of season flower that has to be flown in, use that flower in silk surrounded by less expensive live flowers.
Use more greenery and less flowers.  

Simplify the flowers for your wedding party.  A small hand held bouquet of in season flowers can be as stunning as an elaborate oversized bouquet.

Grow your own flowers in pots and use them for decorations at the ceremony and reception.  Cluster the pots in different heights for maximum impact.

If another wedding is taking place in your church the same day, offer to split the cost of altar flowers.

Rent potted plants from the florist.

Order small potted flowering plants in season from a grocery store or mega discount store florist,  have them wrap them in a pot sleeve in your wedding color and use them as centerpieces.  Buy 3” pots,  cluster them in the center.  Order one per couple so every couple has one to take home as a favor.  We call this a double dipping two-fer,   you get both a centerpiece AND favor.  

Check non traditional floral sources like a farmers market,  flower farm and grocery stores produce department.  There is a wildflower farm in my area that hand ties seasonal wild flowers for a fraction of the cost of traditional flowers…and they are stunning!

Invitations: 

Skip the reception card and have the reception invite printed on the invitation as a footnote.  It will also save on postage because the invitation will be lighter.  

Oversize invitations will cost you more in postage.
Cool invitation add ons like bows, dried flowers, confetti, etc could make your postage cost higher and add to the cost of the invitation.  


Save on awesome invitations here, there’s always a coupon on this site: Wedding Invitations by Wedding Paper Divas

Engraved invitations cost more than thermography printing.  Both are raised print and only a printer can tell the difference.  

Some fonts are more costly than others,  pick a less expensive font.  

Print your own maps and directions on your own printer rather than ordering them with your invitations.

Extra lines on the invitation will cost you additional printing costs.    Cut the fluff and save $$$.

Black ink is less expensive than colored ink and is included in the price. 

Order a few extra invitations in case you need them.  If you have to order an additional 25 invitations, you’ll pay premium price because you are paying the typesetting costs again….its like a new order. 

Don’t pay for an expensive calligrapher.   You can print clear address labels with a fancy font from your own computer, then just stick them on the envelope.  It will give you a similar look.