Posted by Allison O'Grady on April 30, 2010 11:35 a.m.
You’ve figured out the decor you want for your wedding day, and it is now time to purchase everything. You may realize that buying 15 vases for your centerpieces is not only expensive, it is also quite a waste since you will have no use for them after the wedding. You could try to sell them, but even still, you will lose a lot of the money you paid. Consider planning a wedding with most or all reusable décor. It takes a tad more creativity, but in the end, it will be totally worth it!
Finding alternative ways to use your wedding décor is easy. Think about what items would be good wedding décor, but could be used in your house afterward. One great example is mason jars – use them as centerpiece vases, then use them in your house as a vase by your bed, on the kitchen table, or in the living room.
Get some throw pillows to use for the lounge area of your wedding ceremony and/or reception, then, add them to your couch at home. This makes a $20 purchase twice as useful, and changing up throw pillows at home will quickly spruce up the living room.
Think of alternatives to the guestbook – try a picture frame or a book filled with engagement pictures. After the wedding, you can hang the picture at home with all the sign-in wishes from the guests at the wedding, or use the guestbook as a coffee table book. The book will have great pictures from the engagement shoot plus nice notes from all your wedding attendees; any guest of your home would have a ball looking through it!
Reuse your wine bottles. Bottles offer a really quick décor transformation in any room of your home. They can hold flowers, sit on wall shelves, or be used to serve your homemade lemonade. All of these décor ideas can also be additions to your wedding décor, or you could plan to take home all the empty wine bottles from the night to use for your home later.
Functional items definitely work for your wedding, and give the event a little more personalization and creativity. After the fact, these items continue being functional in your day-to-day married life! The amount of money you spend is the same, but being smarter by purchasing reusable items just gives you more bang for your buck and is a great approach for your wedding.
Finding reusable décor for your wedding is also a totally green approach. Weddings can leave quite the carbon footprint, but this way you are still being eco-friendly. Not to mention, you get to spruce up your house a little bit just after the wedding! When wedding shopping, think about how you will able to use the items your purchase for decorating after your wedding, and how you’ll be able to save some money, get a home makeover, and reduce your carbon footprint on this earth. The reasons couldn’t be any better!