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I'm a very cheap and picky BRIDE!!! Need Help!

anminicaanminica
First Comment
in Wedding Vows & Ceremony Discussions
I am getting married in August and it is going to be a very small wedding. We are only having a maid of honor and best man. My little girl is going to be the flower girl. We are getting married in a church and my future father-inlaw will be doing the ceremony. My colors are brown and differant colors of pink!!!!
This is my issue!!!!!
I need ideas on how to decorate the church. I don't want to spend alot of money but I still want it to be pretty.
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Re: I'm a very cheap and picky BRIDE!!! Need Help!

  • steffydollysteffydolly member
    100 Comments
    Ask people in the church if they have decorations that they use for various holidays (Easter, Christmas, etc.).  Generally churches have items in storage.
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  • melissamc2melissamc2 member
    1000 Comments
    Tissue paper pomanders can be absolutely gorgeous (you can even trim the edges to make fancier versions) and work with any kind of style of wedding - and any color.  http://www.marthastewartweddings.com/article/pom-poms-and-luminarias

    Aside from that, your time of year makes parasols very pretty, as can paper lanterns.

    I did a quick Google on your colors, and found this site:  http://www.pinkfrosting.com.au/shop/category/wedding-shop-home-wedding-themes-chocolate-and-strawberry-wedding-theme

    Fans for your guests would be fantastic!

    Good luck planning and congratulations.




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  • mbcdefgmbcdefg member
    10000 Comments 5 Love Its Combo Breaker
    Just do one big floral arrangement on the altar, or two small ones on either side of the altar. Maybe some subtle floral decorations on the first few pews, or every other pew.
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  • goheels05goheels05
    2500 Comments
    The best cheap solution is to not decorate the church at all.  We didn't decorate our church and our pictures were lovely.

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  • Catwoman708Catwoman708 member
    Sixth Anniversary 1000 Comments 5 Love Its

    A church that is pretty on it's own does't need additional decoration.  A church that is a hodge-podge or unattractive will only look pathetic if you try to dress it up, no matter how much effort and expense you go to. 

    A plain or moderately attractive church could probably benefit from some simple decorations.  I'd stick with altar flowers, candles, and maybe a few DIY pew decorations.  You don't need to do every aisle.  You can do six, for front, middle, and back pews, or every 2nd or 3rd pew. 

    Ditto on the tissue pomanders, they are very cute and inexpensive. Skip one-use items, like aisle runners, unity candles or sand cermony, and candles won't show up well for a daytime wedding.  You can even use inexpensive seasonal potted plants, like tulips, daisies, mums, poinsettias, etc...

    For altar flowers, you will get more visual impact if you make them as large as space will permit, but with simple, "showy" flowers.  Add more greenery to make the flowers go further. 

    Always check with the church first, to see if they have any restrictions on placement or type of decorations.  Sometimes they have decorations you can use, like candelabra, plant pedestals, plants, garland, candles, cloths, etc...

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  • dawnmarie0627dawnmarie0627
    1000 Comments
    With the exception of maybe a few flowers in the front, we are doing nothing to decorate the church. Most churches are beautiful and they don't need any decorations.
    September 2011 November Siggy Challenge: First Dance Photo (I still haven't uploaded all of my wedding pictures, so here's a picture of what happens when you mix me, my bridesmaids, a man who hates to dance, and an open bar). imageimage

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  • kimberlyleekimberlylee member
    10 Comments

    I like the idea of spray painting long branches... I'm planning to do it in white... and add some local pink flowers that I'm going to pick the morning of the ceremony.

    Imagine this very sooft, ethereal feel in a place that you can only do it in... Church.  You can also add a german type glass gliter which is cheap.... you'd need about 2lbs. which would cost you about $7.00 and you could pick the branches . this is what it looks like
     

    .www.save-on-crafts.com/icedbranches.html  you could find the german glass glitter... easy project big difference.

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  • prncszprncsz member
    1000 Comments Combo Breaker
    You could do like four large or medium sized Ferns or just Ferns in general to make it look pretty. My friend's sister had four columns for her and groom to stand under they had sheer white drapery starting at the top of the first two tall columns with a dip and then the ends of the drapery hanging on the smaller columns and ferns placed on the columns to hold the drapery. Very simple.
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  • trix1223trix1223 member
    5000 Comments 25 Love Its Combo Breaker
    You'e looking at an empty church when you see it now.

     Now picture it with a MOH in a lovely dress and holding flowers; a best man dressed in a suit/tux; a precious little girl in an adorable little dress; an officiant in a suit or robes.  Now add in a beaming groom, looking handsome in a suit or tux.  And a radiant bride in a beautiful dress.  Voila.  The front of the church is now decorated beautifully.

    Add, if you must, a pretty basket arrangement of flowers, and you're done.  And it cost you very, very little.
    "Trix, it's what they/our parents wanted. Why so judgemental? And why is your wedding date over a year and a half ago? And why do you not have a groom's name? And why have you posted over 12,000 posts? And why do you always say mean things to brides?" palegirl146
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  • AubreyMoAubreyMo member
    10 Comments
    Use fake flowers instead of real for certain things (like if you want flowers on your isle). Look for places you can rent or borrow decorations - like fake trees. And in the end, don't stress. Everyone will have their eyes on you anyway!
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  • colbysuzannecolbysuzanne member
    First Comment
    Hydrangeas are great because they are big and you only need a few to make a statement.  You could get those in pink and get some brown tulle (very cheap by the yard) and just do some simple aisle decorations. 

    Also check out Martha Stewart Weddings in the DIY section, she has tons of simple ideas to make yourself that should all be realtively inexpensive. 

    And like others have said above, if it is a nice church keep the decorations minimal or none at all.

    Good luck! 
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  • mquiettmquiett member
    First Comment
    See if there is a ceremony happening the day before or after yours and contact them to see if you can use their decorations. Or if they would split the cost of the decorations with you. My mom got married on a friday night so she coordinated with the bride that was getting married Saturday afternoon and saved themselves both alot of money.
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  • candyr99candyr99 member
    10 Comments
    For my first wedding which was in a church, I just had 2 floral arrangements on either side of the altar. After the ceremony the flowers were taken to be used on the buffet table at the reception along with my bouquet and the brides maids bouquet. If you are doing a unity candle, that will add to the decoration as well.

    I didn't use anything on the pews, I don't think it is really necessary. Someone said it before, usually the church is beautiful enough on it's own.
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  • CCWashburnCCWashburn member
    First Comment
    edited June 2010
    Have you checked out
     http://www.orientaltrading.com/party-themes-and-events/wedding-a1-388560+98-1-0.fltr

    I have found almost all of my wedding items there inexpensively.
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  • sclayton1sclayton1
    First Comment
    I just attended a wedding done in brown and pinks.  They had a simple arch with greenery and different color pink gerber daisies.  It was very simple but so pretty.  You wouldn't have to use gerber daisies, you could use any flower really.  Also, you could possibly use this as decoration for the reception as well to cut down on costs.  If you get flowers you really like, you could always keep them as an arrangment for yourself after the wedding.
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  • shellye3shellye3 member
    First Comment

    My niece got married in August of last year and all she did to the church was put white tulle bows, with a small white silk flower in the middle, on the ends of the pews. She bought heart-shaped bowls and put lit white floating candles in them for table centerpieces. Inexpensive colored table cloths. Probably the most expensive thing she did was bought white paper lanterns to hang everywhere. It was very simple, but very pretty nontheless.

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  • Allison&AnthonyAllison&Anthony
    10 Comments
    I agree with a previous poster about the front of the church. You, your man, and your wedding party will be enough decoration. If you go to a craft store or Walmart, you can find some fake flowers if you want to make your own bouquets. I saw some the other day at my local craft store that looked very real. I'm a cheap bride too and so I used eBay to find rose petals to sprinkle down the isle. I'm also decorating my table number holders with ribbons and just using those as my centerpieces. Our venue provides candles, so we'll have 5 of those on each table as well as a handfull of rose petals.
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  • mwitter80mwitter80
    500 Comments
    Candles everywhere! I bought a ton of candles and glass holders from dollartree.com. Not using flowers or anything in ceremony space. I have lots of decorations for a little money.
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  • sbenoit1sbenoit1
    10 Comments

    Check your friends to see if any one has english Ivy in the yard and if they would mind if you use clippings for the ceremony/recption.
    Use the english ivy clippings for the greenery for the alter, pew and table centerpieces.
    Also, check with the ladies of the church to see if they will "sponsor" a few boston ferns for alter deco. They can take them home after the ceremony.

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  • kaelmnopkaelmnop member
    10 Comments
    You may also consider renting some decorations to save money.
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  • Mrs.HofeldtMrs.Hofeldt member
    First Comment
    I was having the same issues for my upcoming wedding!!  I decided to forego the use of flowers for decor and centerpieces so I actually purchased a dozen lanterns from IKEA (less than $10 each!!) and we are using them to decorate for the ceremony and then using them again as centerpieces for the reception.  This means having fewer decor pieces to purchase and it ties together the looks of the ceremony and reception!

    I would also suggest going to IKEA (if there is not one around, you can buy online) if you want to buy candles.  I found that these had the best prices of anyone and they have a decent selection as far as size and shape.

    Michaels also has some really interesting decoration kits/ideas/materials.  The trick is to use the 40% or 50% coupon that they release in their weekly ad and just purchase everything one piece at a time.  One of my bridesmaids saved them for me each week and we would go together and I got everything half off that way!  You just have to plan ahead since it will take longer to purchase everything.  By doing this, I was able to purchase some really amazing favor boxes and fake flowers to use for decorations!
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  • dlkelly2011dlkelly2011
    10 Comments
    I agree with a previous posting about the wedding party being the best decoration there is.  We are also on a tight budget, but would still like to make it look very beautiful and elegant.  We really aren't doing any decorating at the church, just some memorial flower arrangements placed around the alter for friends and family that have passed.  We are going to try and get as many of them in our wedding colors as possible, but we are mainly going to be getting the favorite flowers of our loved ones, and then presenting the bouquets to the surviving spouse later in the day for them to take home and hopefully replant in their gardens.  We felt this way we weren't going to just let these bouquets die while we will be gone on our honeymoon, and it would be a nice gift to our grandparents.
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  • penelope204penelope204 member
    First Comment
    Tulles are cheap and offer a lot. you can get them in many colors and you can use the tulle for diffrent decorations. for the wall,chairs and tables. I'm using tulle as a bow for the seats. you can find them at joanns or walmart.
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  • RoBenHeadRoBenHead
    First Comment
    Word on the tissue paper pommanders!!! My bridesmaids made them to decorate for my lingerie shower and it was so sweet and pretty!
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  • lblaseylblasey
    10 Comments
    There are really cute ideas on Martha Stewart - I'm using her tissue paper puffs to decorate my ceremony and they will be the centerpieces at my reception (I wanted cakes as centerpieces but we're 57 days out and there just isn't time/money to make that work) I bought tissue paper at the dollar store and folded it myself. My wedding is tiny too - same size wedding party - My friend offered to oversee decorating and she will take the folded tissue paper and poof it for me and put everything where it needs to go. My aunts and cousins will be there to help her and I'll be able to relax and get ready with my mom and sister (moh)...


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  • tropicanagrl8tropicanagrl8
    10 Comments

    Tulle isn't too expensive, you can drape it from pew to pew on the first 10 rows or so. The dollar store is great too, maybe find some cyllinder floating candle holders to light down the sides of the center isle.  Afterwards you can use them to decorate the hall as centerpieces or for the head table. Another idea would be to buy large pink gift bows and drape some brown ribbon from behind them for the pews.  As for the altar, I'd do candles from the dollar store again.  They really give things an intimate romantic look.

    Good Luck!

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  • kleingartner-ericksonkleingartner-erickson member
    First Comment
    Make sure you can decorate! All our church allows is 2 vases at the front of the church and nothing on the pews...besides our florist even said it is a waste of money to decorate the church....noone will remember what the church looks like anyway except you....
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  • juliecderedjuliecdered member
    10 Comments
    cheap and PICKY shouldn't go in the same sentence...sorry
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  • Bride who loves vintageBride who loves vintage
    First Comment

    Who looks at floral arrangements anyway? everyone's eyes are on the bridal party. Put a tissue paper flower (as described above in several posts) on the end of each pew if you can as if these are all along the aisle this will be effective and seen. At a church you honestly don't need anything else – it is over so quickly. The reception, if you are having one, is where you want to spend a bit more time and effort. - paper flower on each table with a few cheap candles = voilà!

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  • corinneferrycorinneferry
    First Comment
    Etsy.com is amazing. There are all sorts of gorgeous decorations and weddings things on there for reasonable prices. I feel like my entire wedding is going to be born out of Etsy.com! You'll love it!
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