my daughter is getting married in January and wants a "winter wonderland" theme. My husband has been a wonderful sport and trudged through many stores and spent many hours helping me find bargains. He took me to the local Dollar Tree store where she had found candle holders that kind of look like wine glasses andhave lamp style shades that go on them-- t hey hold votive size candles. Since we found out the wedding date shortly before last Christmas, we took advantage of the after holiday mark downs and were able to buy a lot of the Martha Stewert ice crystal garland at our local k mart store real cheap ( we bought about 200-300 dollars worth of decorations for around 80 dollars. One of the things we bought several small ice crystal garland wreaths. I cut one so i could stretch it t to one long string and because it is wired int he middle of the string, I was able to tightly wrap it around and up the stem of the candle holders. I took spray adhesive (less than $2 at walmart) and sprayed the shade, then sprinkled white powdered glitter (irridescent) all over the shade to give ti a "frosted look". For the center piece we bought mirror tiles 9again at walmart) 6 in a box for $10 instead o buying the mirrors in the craft section--theya re only 9 inches and these tiles are 12. I glued wired irridescent beading aroudnt he edge of the mirror and we placed two of the candles on top in opposing corners. we bought white plastic swans (6 in a pack for $1 at the Dollar Tree) and put two in each corner with their heads touching like the were kissing . they are actually little favor baskets and we wrapped butter mints in light blue tulle and put them in the swans wi ththe tulle sticking up over the wings. Sprinkle a little of the glitter on the mirror and voila a very elegant expensive looking center piece for $10 or less. We borrowed an arch form a friend who got marriedlast year and draped light blue sparkly tulle allaround it in a billowy roman shade kind of way with white srkle tulle donw the corners and tied with light blue velevet and irridecent ribons that we let dangle-- we bought irridecent sheap icicle garland that we strung across the top--the whole thing looks like a beautiful ice sculpture almost. we are doing all white table cloths and she is getting her bouqet and bridesmaid done at Michaels our of silks. theya re getting married at his church and they are letting us set upt he sanctuary like a restaraunt--with the tables and chairs alls et up and guests will sit at the tables for the ceremony and they will imedietly go into the reception with a short time of mingling and while the receiving line is happening the food will be put out on the buffet table.
that will be covered in white a well with a large rectangular mirror with two large pillar candle holders int he same basic shape as the smaller tables wi th large white pillar candles in them. We are creating an isle for her to walk downby rneting silver stantions from a local civic arena (65 dollrs for 8 of them) and yard of the tulle. After the ceremenoy the stanchions will be adjsuted to create a dance floor space. A friend of her fiance does catring on te side ad is doing the buffetfor the cost of the food. The ceremony is at 11 am so the buffet is a luncheon with chicken and roast beef, baked potatoes and vegetables, with coffee, tea, punch and hot chocolate available. A memeber of the chruch has offered theuse of her punch fountain as well ! whch we may put in the middle of a large mirror. WE bought 10 glasses at walmart (actually sveral walmarts) becasue the church didn't have real glasses and after the wedding we are donating themt o the church. They were only 1.48 for a set of 4-- that was our big splurge-- bt we figured we'd rather do it that way then rent them for .96 each and give them back after. Oriental Trading has also become our friend, as well as a mail order catalog called shin digs--- they sell things like you woud use to decorate for a prom etc --everything from lights to paper that looks like stone walkways or brick fireplaces and even faux fireplaces. WE made the invits ourselves on thecomputer and made psotcards ofr the rsvp cards to save on postage. for favors at the wedding they have chosed 15 of their favorite love songs and we are burning cds ( one cd per invitation) I am makeing the labels fo rthe cds with a rogram on my computer and we bought vellum cd jackets on clearance at walmart for about $9 for 60. I am printing a picture from the invite on the cd label and the protector card will ahve the song list on it. My daughter bougth a signature frame on sale for 1/2 price and we are draping my son's art easel wi th tulle and fabric for a back drop for it next to te gift/card table. the good thing about the inter wonderlnd theme is that anything white, light blue or silver or that is irridecent and shiny works well with the theme-- oh yeah we are hanign lots of snowflaks with fishline form the chandelier style lights ! two of the sound techs from the church are acting as the djs and the pastor is doing the announcing. His parents hired a photogrpaher that will give them a cd or cds of the photos with no copyright so they can put the pics on walmarts web site and people can get the prints they want ( the photogrpaher will also give them an album with 200 of the best prints which will also b on the cd as well as a cd slide show) she is wel known for her special effects and the photos will be done like that as well on the cds. She bought her dress off the rack at a local bridal shoppe-- original price almost 1000 she got it for 350. All in all we are getting out of the wedding for about 2000 all together.
