The Budget Bride by Marjorie

We have a guest, Marjorie, blogging today with wonderful ideas for your wedding that will help keep you within budget - inexpensive, yet beautiful all the same.

The Budget Bride

Congratulations! You’ve just become engaged and you’re dreaming of a beautiful summer wedding. You find tons of information browsing Internet wedding sites—but then, something takes your breath away. You read on TheKnot.com, a popular wedding website, where newlyweds spent an average of $28,427 on their wedding and related events in 2012. That’s way out of your budget range. Can you have your dream wedding parties for a fraction of that cost?  

Party World (partywedding.com) to the rescue! Yes, you can have an elegant wedding, engagement party, bridal shower, and bachelorette party—on a budget. For 30 years, Party World, a Tacoma-based family business, has helped hundreds of couples select elegant invitations, decorations, centerpieces, tableware, and favors from its huge collection of colors and styles for every budget and taste. 

Bulk Confetti

This Tacoma-based wedding resource is available nationwide, through its website at partywedding.com, where you can browse through wedding themes (such as Western or seashore or butterflies)  and color combinations  (such as black and white, gray and yellow, pink and brown) and get ideas for what is possible on a limited budget. At the click of your mouse, you can order all of your wedding accessories, table decorations, invitations, catering supplies, balloons, confetti, and attendants’ gifts in whatever quantity you need. Shipping is free for orders of $65 or more. 

Corby Howell of partywedding.com is a great resource person if you have questions or need ideas. As a first step, she says, browse the website’s wedding section, and select a decorating theme and coordinating colors. Some of the most popular themes have been Love Birds, Vintage, Luau, Butterfly, Daisy, Beach, Red Wedding, Country Western, and Calla Lily weddings, and ideas are constantly being updated. 

Many couples plan the wedding and parties around a color, the season of the wedding, or the flowers (or snowflakes) appropriate to the season. You can browse through all the color choices in tableware, accessories, and cake tops to get ideas. There are also custom-made pew bows in the color of your choice. 

Corby notes that wedding and party accessories are available in ensembles, which generally include a matching guest book, pen with holder, ring pillow, flower girl basket, and unity candle. There are cake servers and knife sets, toasting glasses, and cake tops that coordinate with the set as well. You will find lovely Burlap, Feathers, Butterfly, Cowboy, Rose, Rustic ensembles, and many more to fit your theme or color scheme.

Bell and Dove Centerpiece

Partywedding.com also has a wonderful selection of solid colors for tableware and napkins to match any theme. One elegant touch is to choose custom-printed napkins. You can find napkin printing on the website, with excellent customer service. There are also coordinating table decorations for the reception and parties with everything you need—table covers, table centerpieces, and confetti, as well as place cards and place card holders. To complete the theme, chose hanging decorations, such as dangling cutouts, streamers, hanging centerpieces, and balloons. Balloon bouquets are very popular, and partywedding.com has a terrific selection. 

Corby says: "Pre-wedding celebrations as well as the wedding and reception create great memories and we enjoy helping to make them all special. Helping customers is a priority and we will do all we can to fulfill their needs." Call for assistance with ordering or for party ideas at 1-800-933-3948.

Thank you, Marjorie, for your encouragement and great ideas!

Rustic and Burlap Wedding Ideas

Rustic Wedding from Hortense

A recent, popular trend is for a rustic or vintage burlap wedding. In exploring ideas in the rustic wedding theme, think natural materials like burlap, twine, woods, bronzes, antique golds. Add to these traditional, even old-fashioned touches such as laces, crocheted shawls, simple leathers. An outdoor wedding fits with this theme, or perhaps a simple chapel setting could inspire your direction.
Picture beginning with a graceful, lacy dress in white or delicate beige. Whether accented with pearls or antiqued ornamentation, this is can be your focus and inspiration for your ceremony accessories and wedding reception decorations.

Burlap and Lace from Lillian Rose

In the ceremony, several vintage and rustic collections include guest book, flower basket, garters and unity candles. Rustic Romance from Hortense is classic with burlap, ruffles, twine, and heart ornament. The Lillian Rose accessories in their Burlap and Lace design, burlap is also featured and adds cotton fabric flower with pearl and rhinestones, crocheted lace and a peacock feather. In addition to the flower basket, guest book, pen, garter and ring pillow, there is a stunning bridal bouquet, boutonniere, hair clip and pin - perfect for keepsakes since they do not require special preservation.
For additional decorations and reception supplies, large burlap runners for walking down the aisle and smaller runners for serving and dining tables are simple yet lovely for the country, old fashioned feeling. Favor bags and silverware holders serve as warm table decorations, too.
All these ideas can give you a good start to your rustic, burlap wedding plans.

Monogram Cake Toppers

Monogram Cake Toppers

Jeweled Cake Tops

For a simple and yet very personal touch to your wedding cake, consider Monogram Cake Toppers. They also are very nice for anniversary and birthday or other special occasion. Letters come in at least two sizes, which work well when you use the large size for the initial of the surname and small ones for the initials of the couple's first names. The toppers can be very fancy with jeweled effects and also simple script. Numbers are also available, which are fun when designating the special year, be it anniversary or birthday. Most cake tops are use picks to be inserted into the cake, so they are very secure and easy to place. Plus, they are often pretty inexpensive. Happy Day! 

Couple Cake Toppers

Bride and Groom
Cake Toppers

When looking for a wedding cake top, the classic bride and groom topper often comes to mind. But a fun new trend is picking couples doing a favorite sport, which will truly reflect their new union.  A wide variety of toppers are now available to reflect the individual tastes. 



Sports Couple Toppers



Consider a bride and groom in their classic white gown and tuxedo, respectively, playing football, skiing or even playing rugby? A bride goes fishing for her groom, or they both can tear off on a motorcycle. Great fun, right? Even think about featuring a bride and a groom on cell phones or a groom plopped in front of a television computer - the couch potato! The bride out shopping or the groom golfing are truly humorous. Mixing and matching will certainly make a unique and memorable wedding cake at the reception.  If not in the traditional garb, a sports couple that is hiking, snowboarding or bike riding is also delightful.  These can also be great anniversary cake tops.

If you prefer the more traditional bride and groom cake topper, you can find them dancing and also ethnically designed. If you are from a rainy climate or have special moments under an umbrella, there is a topper for you. An old fashioned bride and groom boarding a carriage or sneaking a private kiss will add a personalized and yet classic touch to your cake. 

Be sure to see these and browse for more couple cake toppers to find the one perfect for you!

Winter Wedding Decorations

Snowflake Decorations

Is your winter wedding coming up soon? To enhance your celebration and the season, consider adding snowflake decorations to your reception hall.  Floating snowflake balloons or dangling snowflake cutouts from the ceiling add a glittering dimension to emphasize the season.  Sprinkle snowflake confetti on the tables.  Value packs of snowflake plates are an easy and fun addition to serving your cake and other goodies. Plastic snowflake tumblers and paper cups, table covers and centerpieces add the a delightful touch to your reception space. Silver garlands and white streamers also add an inexpensive and unifying effect.
Beautiful winter wedding collections are also available - silver and white, glamorous and glittering including guest books and pen sets for the reception, as well as flower basket, ring pillows and unity candles for the wedding ceremony. Be sure to see more ideas for your winter wedding.

Wedding Reception Supplies

Toasting Glasses

When planning for a wedding reception, there are several areas to consider.  First, think about table decorations: centerpieces, table cloths, plates, napkins, confetti and favors.  If you know your color scheme and theme, decisions can become easier.  Browsing can help solidify the these choices as well.  Simple flowers in vases can make lovely centerpieces, or polished pebbles and colored sand in tube vases can highlight any table.  Economical honeycomb centerpieces in the shapes such as doves and bells are easy to set up and perfect for a memorable celebration. Paper and plastic tableware, plates and napkins, saves time in set up and clean up, as well as adding an elegant thematic touch as you wish.  Napkins imprinted with the bride and groom names and the date are always special and is available in a huge variety of colors of napkins and imprinting ink.

Table Decorations

The wedding cake and serving tables deserve special consideration.  Cake toppers are available now in a wide range of styles, topics, romantic and funny brides and grooms, doves, hearts, dancing couples - a delightful way to express the personality of the special pair.  Serving sets with cake knife and server are practical and distinctive keepsakes - a perfect everyday reminder of the special day.  Again, decorative paper plates make serving easy and clean up a breeze.  Statuettes can be set beside the cake for a striking addition to the serving area.

And speaking of serving, using elegant looking yet practical catering ware is a must.  Crystal looking and silver painted platters, bowls and plates look great but are lightweight for handling food.  Most are dishwasher safe and reusable if your like. 

Wedding Bubbles

No reception is complete without the toasts to the happy couple. 
Toasting glasses and flutes add that touch of elegance to the occasion, whether you are drinking champagne or sparkling cider.  Plus, these make beautiful gifts and keepsakes, to be enjoyed again and again at those special times in their new life together.
For seeing the newlyweds off from the reception, bubbles are delightful and fun. Individual containers are available with romantic doves atop to double as a small wedding favor for your guests. With so much to consider, browse for more ideas and designs for your wedding reception supplies.
Best wishes!