BUY LESS CRAP!

Or specifically, crap you can’t find a home for after the wedding. Before you buy something, assess where the item will go after the honeymoon. The landfills and dumpsters don’t need my wedding decorations, they’re already full, thank you.

All the photos in this post (unless otherwise noted) were taken by the talented and gifted photographers Chris Hinkle and Anthony French of Mira Weddings.

Our cowboy bunny, cowboy hats and dollar store plastic cowboy dudes who invaded every surface of the room and filled our ball jar centerpieces were handed off to a children’s cowboy birthday party.

The awesome cat painting and cowboy room decorations adorn the walls of our house, as well as the cardboard JUBBY letters (Julia + Bobby= Jubby)

The six flag banners I lovingly sewed over my furlough last year were bought by our venue, the Hotel Congress.

The tissue paper balls were reused at a craft fair in December, then destroyed (also lovingly) by toddlers at our Indiana reception. Put to good use, indeed. (Toddler photos by Amy Wilson)

We sold some platters, gave some to friends, donated some to my hair salon (they use them to display hair product) and brought a few back to Goodwill.

If your wedding is truly a reflection of you as a couple, it is easy to get away with cheap options and just shop within your current belongings. The toys for our seating card table were from our house or borrowed from family. The squirrel is mine, it’s a long story.

Buttons appeared everywhere, as our seating cards (each table was a different cowboy and the buttons told guests where to sit), as extra goodies in our welcome bags, as presents in our invitations, not because we saw them used in another wedding, but because we already had the equipment and supplies. Look around your house and find things before you buy new machines, gadgets and materials. It will be greener and less expensive.

When something doesn’t work out, but you have the supplies already, just use them. NO ONE will know your original plan! We were going to have a DIY photobooth, but realized the logistics were a headache. My mom had already purchased mustaches, so instead of tossing them, we had a friend pass them out. No one realized their original purpose and they were a huge hit.

A lot of times, I wanted to buy something I thought would be good for our aesthetics. From dance floor decals to vintage table decorations to photo printers, if I didn’t have a home for it after the wedding, it wasn’t worth it, which saved our budget in the end. Even if something’s on sale, is it really worth tossing it in the trash?

All photos unless noted otherwise are by the overwhelmingly talented  Chris Hinkle and Anthony French of  Mira Weddings.

I took these vintage gun charms I bought from seller artpassiondesign ($3.25 for 12) and used them for finishing touches on our polymer clay boutonnieres and our ball jar filled with cowboys centerpieces. (centerpiece photo by Sabrina Kordys)

These popcorn bags (scored for 16 cents each) from HeyYoYo enabled us to stick with our theme (50s kiddie cowboy) for welcome bags for just a little pocket change.

The beauty of ordering cupcake liners from HeyYoYo was not only the price ($8 for 125 liners) but with a custom listing, I didn’t have to buy in quantities of 50 or 100. I could have asked for 63 with a brief etsy convo if I wanted! It’s great to save money and not have wasteful leftovers! (photo by Amanda Willis)

Decorations for a reception can be so overwhelming. Too little, and your space overwhelms. Too much and your budget breaks. By periodically searching “vintage cowboy” on etsy every few days I came up with a few gems like this vintage room decoration for $12.50 from bittypiggies. The cowboy held one side of a string of twine connected to the horse between two pillars where we hung response cards from clothespins. It was a way to decorate for cheap but most importantly include all of our guests as a part of the room, even the ones who couldn’t make the trip.

I wanted our wedding to not just “feel” vintage, but parts of it to actually BE vintage. I purchased old greeting cards from InstantLiving and timepassages for around $4 each and incorporated them in different ways. I used the cowboy and cowgirl father’s day card for art for our menu and part of our welcome package.

And a cute kitty playing guitar birthday card turned into a GIANT framed art piece. (The frame was from ikea and spraypainted. That good lookin’ cowboy is now hanging in our house)

Our ceremony space (a rock club!) had very limited seating, and we used vintage-inspired cowboy handkerchiefs ($1.37 each) from neemerone to reserve seats for our immediate family. I embroidered names on each kerchief, too.

Perhaps my greatest find wasn’t anything related to our theme at all… I knew we wanted to do our own version of pages like the guestbook store and would need markers or colored pencils. For $3.50 I was able to buy over 100 pencils through a destash listing from bethjt. Those pencils got a second use, I saved tons of money, and they later went to my mom’s school for further coloring action. Yay for CHEAP and reused! (photos by Sabrina Kordys and Liz Tyning)

Of course I also bought plenty of things from etsy with more straightforward uses. With all of the individual sellers I used from September 2008 to our wedding in November 2009, I only encountered marvelous customer service, friendly and talented sellers and an all-around painless and wonderful shopping experience.

Mouse over the pictures for a description, price and seller.

My Toss Bouquet

Lollipop Necklaces for my Honorary Bridesmaids

My Wedding Ring

Flower Brooch

Our Cowboy Hat Bucket

Our Guestbook Page Cowboy and Card Box

2nd disclosure: I have no emotional attachment to flowers. I can see that they’re pretty, and I can appreciate a beautiful bouquet or arrangement. And I REALIZE that I want to be an event designer and will have to work with flowers as part of the deal. But I was never one of those people who are like “OMG I HAVE TO TOTALLY HAVE ORCHIDS AT MY WEDDING OR ELSE.” There’s nothing wrong with it, it was just never my style!

Candy though? well… sign me UP.

We used candy in so many places in our wedding, I don’t even know where to start. I might as well hit ya in the face with the awesomeness that was my bouquet. (All photos unless otherwise noted are from our amazing photographers Chris Hinkle and Anthony French of Mira Weddings) Hold on to your seats:

Oh what’s that? you’re still seated?

BAM

That’s several pounds of hand-spun, Hammond’s lollipops goodness. Emphasis on the several pounds (it was heaaaavvvyyy!) That pink one is 1lb on its own! With the help of my wonderful and patient groom Bobby, we rubber banded, electrical taped and ribboned the tar outta those lollis so they’d stay perfect all day.

Lollipops were one of the major recurrent images of our wedding. The 1 oz. Hammond’s lollipop sat at everyone’s seat in the reception.

The colorful delicious discs served as our favors, with this label (printed from our inkjet onto label paper) on the back.

With the extras from the favors (the lollipops were purchased, stickered and packed away before the final guest count) and the bouquet, we created lollipop arrangements in soda bottles recycled from the Ice Cream shower.

At the end of the reception, guests either enjoyed their treat, took them home or put them with the leftovers to hand out to guests at the Hotel Congress. It was great because I didn’t feel guilty about flowers dying and being thrown away, and total strangers joined in on the sugary fun. (photo by Amy Richardson)

Our lollipop links didn’t stop there, I made the boutonnieres out of polymer clay for the special dudes in our wedding.

And Bobby and I made 150+ mini lollipops to put on the cupcakes.

A sign designated which cupcakes corresponded to which flavors.

In other candy cameos, we had a table set up with candy cigarettes that matched the OTHER major theme, 50s kiddie cowboy.

I didn’t buy enough for the entire guest list, just a suitable amount to display so if guests wanted some, they could take them, but at the same time, it wouldn’t break our budget. They were snatched up FAST.

Candy even took a starring role in our welcome bag, which included Bacon Brittle and Sea Salt Caramels from Sweet Republic (I did some graphic design work for them, so they were essentially free! Never be afraid to barter!!), Lemonheads and Atomic Fireballs from Smeeks and cowboy-shaped candies from Oriental Trading Company. (Photo by Amanda Willis)

But candy wasn’t just a cosmetic addition to our wedding. Instead of a unity candle lighting or sand ceremony, we adapted a ritual that uses food to symbolize the different aspects of the couple’s future. The different flavors are usually expressed with vinegar, lemon, etc., but well…. it was actually just another excuse to eat some candy! Our officiant helped us create a unique ritual with candy and explained the meaning behind each flavor.

“Julia and Bobby have decided to incorporate a symbolic ritual into this ceremony called the “five flavors of marriage.”

The ritual is adapted from a Yoruba tradition; the bride and groom will taste five candy flavors that represent the five elements, and in turn five different emotions within a relationship. The five flavors
used are pungent, salty, sour, bitter, and sweet.

Pungent, symbolized by ginger candy, represents metal, a shield protecting them,
Salty, symbolized by salted licorice, represents fear, water, washing them clean and keeping their marriage flowing;
Sour, symbolized by sour patch kids, represents anger, wood, allowing them both to grow;
Bitter, symbolized by bitter chocolate, represents happiness, fire, cleansing them through joy; and
Sweet, symbolized by pixie sticks, represents meditative thinking, earth, keeping them grounded.

These five tastes represent the many different “flavors” of marriage brought into balance. By tasting each of the flavors, Julia and Bobby have demonstrated that they will be able to get through the hard times in life, and, in the end, enjoy the sweetness of marriage.”

How cool is it that our wedding photos include me downing a pixie stick?

So where did we get all the candy? Most of the lollipops were either purchased through Hammond’s, we searched ethnic grocery stores for the more unusual flavors like pungent and salty, and the pixie sticks, candy cigarettes and sour patch kids were also from Smeeks, the coolest candy store EVER (ahem, I am biased, I also work there! )