All paper flowers (no real ones)

Is this a bad idea? We are desperately trying to save money (already cut out all the little personal things we wanted) and I though I could save at least $1k if I made all the centerpieces and bouquets out of paper. There are some beautiful designs/templates I found and I think I could do a good job (I'm a crafty person).

Is that dumb and tacky? Will it look cheap? I'm so stressed about money that I almost called the whole thing off.

Hey Amy-

It could be whimsical and fun. I think it depends how it looks.

I don't know if it will look tacky, but I worry that it will still cost you money that you could use elsewhere.

On four weddings last week, one of the brides had a BoK made entirely out of brooches - I'd contact everyone you know and have them lend you their brooches! It looks like this: http://pdxneatsheet.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/brooch-bridal-bouquet-studiodelfiore-portland1.jpg

Also, you might want to just buy flowers from costco the day before for CPs - you can get vases at the dollar store, have someone fill them with water and put just a few flowers in them - maybe do a few lilies - that would be really easy and im sure not too expensive.

As for BM boKs, you could go with the brooch idea or i've seen girls just do a single sunflower and it looks great. not sure what your colors are.

HTH

also look at pro flowers . com

lose the spaces.

well....i think that it could be a beautiful and whimsical idea but it might be time consuming i say look into it

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Posted by AmyElizabeth

Is this a bad idea? We are desperately trying to save money (already cut out all the little personal things we wanted) and I though I could save at least $1k if I made all the centerpieces and bouquets out of paper. There are some beautiful designs/templates I found and I think I could do a good job (I'm a crafty person).

Is that dumb and tacky? Will it look cheap? I'm so stressed about money that I almost called the whole thing off.

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Really dont like the idea... I dont even care for fake flowers.... Why not try a candle cp instead? with rose petals scattered around?

ETA: My cp's werent flowers... They were actually birdhouses with lanterns, fake palm leaves and shells... And I spent about 1/2 the price of what i would have spent on real flowers... So dont be afraid to be diff... I just dont think the paper will look so good...

ETA:

Thanks for all the ideas so far. You girls are great.

My colors are likely dark purple/blue. We had to move the wedding into November, so am making the colors a little darker to go with the 'fall' aspect. I'm sad I lose my hydrangeas , which are relatively inexpensive but look full (and my favorite!) - they are pretty much gone by November.

My goal is like, $200 for all centerpieces/boKs.

I stayed in bed yesterday all day, in my pjs, because I was so stressed about money

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Posted by AmyElizabeth

Thanks for all the ideas so far. You girls are great.

My colors are likely dark purple/blue. We had to move the wedding into November, so am making the colors a little darker to go with the 'fall' aspect. I'm sad I lose my hydrangeas , which are relatively inexpensive but look full (and my favorite!) - they are pretty much gone by November.

My goal is like, $200 for all centerpieces/boKs.

I stayed in bed yesterday all day, in my pjs, because I was so stressed about money

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Aww don't stress... Did you ever consider doing a simple candle center piece? I recently went to check out a venue that had a plastic cylinder filled with gems on the bottom and a simple thick white candle on the inside... even though it was inexpensive you could tell that in the dim lights and with the candle lit it would still look great :)

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Posted by AmyElizabeth

Thanks for all the ideas so far. You girls are great.

My colors are likely dark purple/blue. We had to move the wedding into November, so am making the colors a little darker to go with the 'fall' aspect. I'm sad I lose my hydrangeas , which are relatively inexpensive but look full (and my favorite!) - they are pretty much gone by November.

My goal is like, $200 for all centerpieces/boKs.

I stayed in bed yesterday all day, in my pjs, because I was so stressed about money

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A single flower may look better than paper ones. It also depends on your venue. If you are doing something at the beach fro example that is more casual then paper flowers might be ok but at atypical RH I think something else would look better.

As to hydrangeas, I believe you can get them year round - - they ship them in from elsewhere. But I don't know the cost. The big deep blue Dutch hydrangea from Holland are expensive but others might be less. I hear that roses are reasonable. Several girls have mentioned that Burton's charges the same price for any flowers they carry - - how they do that I don't know but you might check them.

BTW, how many centerpeices will you need for the $200 to cover?

Well here are some ideas -- I have a hydrangea plant in my backyard. FH and I are tearing it out -- we were going to give it to my aunt, but for the sake of a wedding, if you want it, it's yours. You'd have to keep it alive until your wedding, but that's something you'll have to look into.

As far as centerpieces go -- I had jars filled with blue beads with branches coming out for my eparty. We got rid of most of the jars, but you can get some at the dollar store. Then, I'd suggest getting some branches, silver grass (which I have), blue sparkly 'branches' (which I also have) or anything with height. If you want the beads to go in them, the leftover jars I have or any of the silver or blue stuff, let me know. I'll gladly give them to you. If you're interested, I'll take a pic of the stuff I have left.

you could prob save a lot of money by doing something like this as well.....using very few flowers, also not sure if you've picked a venue yet, but having your wedding during off seasons will save tons of money too, or on certain holidays!


http://mustardandsage.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/flushdesigns-flowers.jpg

I am not a super huge fan of paper flowers only because I think they will never look as good as they look in the Martha Stewart Magazine and you will drive your self crazy trying to make them look good that you will prob end up spending more money then you want. (I have to tell my self this same thing every time I see a cute DIY that looks a little out there..)

You may want to look at saveoncrafts.com. They have a lot of odds and ends that could turn into something beautiful.

Also, have you considered any true to fall flowers..like the pic below. I know this wont go great in a bo-k but might look pretty on the table. (oops sorry pic too big)

Also, there is always candles or even fruit. I know what you are going through bc this was a huge prob for FH and I. He wanted to save a lot of money here and I really wanted flowers.

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Posted by leesah85

I don't know if it will look tacky, but I worry that it will still cost you money that you could use elsewhere.

On four weddings last week, one of the brides had a BoK made entirely out of brooches - I'd contact everyone you know and have them lend you their brooches! It looks like this: http://pdxneatsheet.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/brooch-bridal-bouquet-studiodelfiore-portland1.jpg

Also, you might want to just buy flowers from costco the day before for CPs - you can get vases at the dollar store, have someone fill them with water and put just a few flowers in them - maybe do a few lilies - that would be really easy and im sure not too expensive.

As for BM boKs, you could go with the brooch idea or i've seen girls just do a single sunflower and it looks great. not sure what your colors are.

HTH

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I LOVE the brooch idea, it looks really neat. I'm going to try to put one together to see how it looks.

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Posted by iHeartMoogle

Well here are some ideas -- I have a hydrangea plant in my backyard. FH and I are tearing it out -- we were going to give it to my aunt, but for the sake of a wedding, if you want it, it's yours. You'd have to keep it alive until your wedding, but that's something you'll have to look into.

As far as centerpieces go -- I had jars filled with blue beads with branches coming out for my eparty. We got rid of most of the jars, but you can get some at the dollar store. Then, I'd suggest getting some branches, silver grass (which I have), blue sparkly 'branches' (which I also have) or anything with height. If you want the beads to go in them, the leftover jars I have or any of the silver or blue stuff, let me know. I'll gladly give them to you. If you're interested, I'll take a pic of the stuff I have left.

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You are so sweet! I'll let you know

A main reason I hadn't considered candles is because it's an afternoon wedding, so the room might not be very dark. Ha, and we might even be moving the date up to October! Oh lord I need a drink.