Paper Lanterns {Wedding Details}

Paper lanterns are the perfect whimsical addition to your wedding reception decor. 

Their added glow sets the mood for a fun, festive atmosphere.  They're not only perfect for a beautiful outdoor reception or fabulous tented affair but added them to your indoor event to liven up the space.  While you can purchase paper lanterns online in a wide array of sizes and colors, you'll need to enlist the help of your rental company or wedding planner to set them up day-of.  Check out some of our favorite receptions where brides incorporated lanterns into their decor and you'll see the beautiful ambiance they exuded.

Image via Jen Zahigian

 

Image via Elizabeth Messina and Tara Guerard

Image via Brooke Courtney Photography

Image via Angela Anderson Photography

 

Image via Ruffled

Image via Sasha Souza Events

 

Image via Style Me Pretty

 
Images via Axioo Photography

 

Image via Orange Turtle Photography

  

Image via Axioo Photography and Mia Savvi

Image via Style Me Pretty

Image via Green Wedding Shoes

   
Images via Martha Stewart Weddings and Susan Cohan

Image via The Not Wedding

 

Image via Style Me Pretty

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Use this banner at your wedding reception

I love this idea for a backdrop behind your head table at the reception.  DIY decorations can save you big bucks and why not make your wedding unique by adding your own touch to a few of the details?  Here's a great idea from the Kurtz Corner.

By the way, The Kurtz Corner is listed in our free directory.  Is your blog?

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Candy Bar or Cookie Table?

Quick, you're craving something sweet.  Do you reach for the Mike & Ike's or an Oreo?  I can't decide either but both are a good option for a reception snack.  Both are also cost effective ways to feed your guests and keep them having fun at your party.  Get started with your brainstorming by looking over the ideas below.

Candy Bar
First your basics.  You'll need suckers, mini candy bars, licorice, bubble gum, and chocolate.  For a list of places you can buy candy in bulk, click here.  The cost can add up but if you space out the expenses by buying a little here and a little there, you can probably handle it.  Remember, it's candy so the shelf life is longer and most of it should be fine even if you buy it a few months in advance.  Don't forget some small brown paper bags for guests to take some sweets home.  You can even add stickers for a small price.  Click here to see an example.

Cookie Table
This one might be harder but could also be more personal.  Ask 10 friends/family members to whip up three dozen cookies.  Buy or bake a few dozen yourself.  Spread them out on the table with big silver platters and the same brown bag idea from the candy bar.  This time though, get the recipes from your friend and family bakers and make copies for guests to take with them.  They'll love it, the bakers will love it, and it's an easy and super cheap party favor for your guests.  This by far is your cheaper option.

Another option is to skip the wedding cake all together and pick one of these ideas as your dessert.  Or you could do a small wedding cake that's just for you and your new husband/wife for pictures and the head table, and let the guests stuff themselves with cookies or candy.

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Centerpiece Cents: $2 Candle Holders

Centerpiece Cents is back!  The rule is:  No centerpiece must cost over $5.00 each.  What if you have a lot of tables?  Vases and flowers are your best bet however, individual vases can be pricey, even cheap glass vases bought in bulk can be between $10 and $20 a piece and that's just the vase!  What are you going to fill them with?  Let's get creative.

Check out these pretty candle holders from Momtastic.  Easy easy easy and all of the materials can be found at the dollar store and hardware store.  Click the link below for the quick tutorial.

DIY: $2 Candle Holders | Momtastic

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Reception Idea: Truth or Dare

Part of keeping your guests happy is keeping them entertained.  This is not always an easy task when you're a bride on a budget.  Think of fun activities that keep your guests involved with one another, pass the time until it's time to eat, and aren't too complicated or (of course) expensive.

Try filling jars with family-friendly truth or dare challenges.  Make out the slips of paper and keep them in a jar on each table.  The key here is "family friendly" because even if there aren't kids at your celebration, Aunt Emily doesn't want to chug three beers in five minutes.

Need some examples?  Check out this list:

Truth or Dare

• Try to lick your elbow


• Spin around 10 times and try to walk a straight line


• Keep a straight face as the other guests do their best to make you laugh for one minute


• Sing your favorite song in a funny voice


• Say the alphabet backwards as fast as you can


• Act out a favorite scene from a movie

Get More Ideas At: http://www.queen-of-theme-party-games.com/truth-or-dare-questions.html#ixzz1UTpyRP9v

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Reception on a budget? Let's go to the park!

I'm a big fan of creative thinking when it comes to wedding planning.  You can't do what everyone else is doing and save big money.  Renting a hotel room, the limo, ordering an expensive wedding package, fancy dinner, open bar...  Yikes, you're looking at $25,000 easy (and that's on the low end.)

So, let the author of The $500 Wedding help you out.  What about a city or state park?  Check out the short video below and tell me that this wouldn't be beautiful and affordable. 

Also, notice how with this option you can pick you're own cook (or cook yourself!), you can decorate however you want, have your pictures taken on-site, and there's plenty of space for the adults and kids.  I wish I would have done this!



Click here for other reception ideas, including easy and affordable DIY decorations.

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Open Bar versus Cash Bar: Which one is right for you?

Let's address a common problem for brides and families: Open bar vs. Cash bar.  Nothing can heat up a conversation among family like money can.  I know that many brides I talk to say the subject of "open bar" versus "closed bar" can be especially tough.

It usually comes down to who is paying for it.  For instance, let's say your parents are paying for most of your reception and they don't drink alcohol.  Your parents don't think they should have to pay for other people to drink all night.  You think it's tacky to have people pay for drinks at the party.

Some suggestions:
Depending on your venue, there are a lot of different ways to solve this problem.  I would always, if it's at all possible, pick a venue where you have complete control of the menu and its pricing.  For example, a hotel ballroom is not going to allow you to bring in your own keg of beer or food made by grandma.  However, a local community center might.  A private restaurant is not going to allow you to bring in your own bottles of wine and homemade cookies.  See my post on inexpensive reception sites.

Another option I see a lot is having an open bar cocktail hour, cash bar after dinner.  It's a decent compromise and I think it's been done enough that people understand.  Anyone who has planned or budgeted for a wedding and reception certainly understands.

Even if you're having the venue where you want and you can control the cost, how do you keep things under control?  Here are two easy recipes:

Easy Peasy Punch for 100 (alcohol-free)
9 (6 oz.) cans frozen orange juice
2 (6 oz.) cans frozen lemonade
2 (30 oz.) can pineapple juice
4 qts. water
6 bottles ginger ale
Combine all ingredients except ginger ale and chill.
Just before serving, add ginger ale.

Quick math: One gallon of punch serves approximately 24 persons. (32 3oz drinks w/ice)

CHAMPAGNE PUNCH
From COOKS.COM

1 gallon sauterne wine
4 qt. champagne
2 liters ginger ale
1/2 pt. sherbet
Ice cubes to chill

3 gallons, serves 50-150 people;
5 gallons, serves 50-300 people;
7 gallons, serves 100-500 people.

 
From the Bar Mix Master, here is an easy breakdown for beer and wine at a large party.  So if you choose to serve wine and beer at your party you should have available about these amount of bottles:

	10-25 Guests	26-50 Guests	51-75 Guests	76-100 Guests
White Wine	5	6	7	10
Red Wine	2	3	4	5
Domestic Beer	24	36	48	60
Imported Beer	24	36	48	60

Have an idea? Share it here by posting a comment below. Let's all help each other out.
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The cookbooks came in the mail today! Let's party.

So I ordered a few budget cookbooks and they arrived in the mail this morning. I'm so excited. Food and saving money, two of my favorite things ever. Lots of great recipes for party-planning, especially a wedding reception or bridal shower. The Greek Layer Dip caught my eye this morning but there are many many more I want to try.

Need affordable food ideas for your reception, groom's dinner, bridal shower, etc? Our blog has you covered. Click here for some quick ideas and recipes.

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Kitchen Art

Need something cheap but cute for your kitchen?  Or maybe you can use this as a reception decoration piece.  Either way, I love it.  It's from Kristina Grapes and she offers some good tips on how to paint on metal.  See the post here. 

Kristina is listed in our blog directory, is your blog?  Click here and register, it's free!

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Delicious coconut lime cookies

Found these delicious cookies online from a fellow blog friend and thought I'd share. Not a fan of cake? For your wedding, think about a cookie buffet instead.  This is a great way to incorporate family tradition too by asking friends and family for their favorite recipes.  Bake a few, ask them if they will too, and share on the cookie table.  Make sure to print out recipes for guests to take home after the reception.  Check out this recipe from Will Cook for Smiles, perfect for summertime!

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FREE! Fans for your outdoor wedding

Wedding season has begun and lots of weddings will be outdoors. Be kind to your guests and your budget and print these free fans.

What to do

1. Click on the image below, print the number you need (may need to test one first).  If you can afford a little bit more, use a heavier weight of paper.  You may need to go to a copy store like Office Depot and have them do it.
2. Trim the outside corners a bit, not too close to the image though and DO NOT cut down the middle of the two shapes, you'll need to fold this in the middle like a greeting card.
3. Grab your glue and tape the popsickle stick and glue to the fan.
4. See the pictures below.

Click on the picture for the full size print-out.

Find the jumbo or large sticks.

Trim around the image, NOT the middle.  The pink line is where you fold.

What it should look like on the inside where you've glued your wood stick and the two sides together.

Have an idea? Share it here by posting a comment below. Let's all help each other out.
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How to set the tables at your reception

I saw this on one of my favorite blogs and thought about all of you brides and newlyweds out there trying to put together your reception or first dinner party, and stay on budget. Click here and find out exactly how to make your dinner table look fabulous.

Have an idea? Share it here by posting a comment below. Let's all help each other out. Don't miss our blog party! Every Wednesday with the highlights showcased on Saturday.

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Centerpiece Cents: Yarn and Jars

It's Tuesday's Centerpiece Cents!  The rule is:  No centerpiece must cost over $5.00 each.  What if you have a lot of tables?  Vases and flowers are your best bet however, individual vases can be pricey, even cheap glass vases bought in bulk can be between $10 and $20 a piece and that's just the vase!  What are you going to fill them with?  Let's get creative.

I went outside and grabbed a bunch of medium rocks and some long sticks from my yard.  I decided I'd use these as the anchor for my idea to hang pictures.

Then, I took a spaghetti jar that I'd washed in the dishwasher, my glue gun, put the rocks in the jar and went to work.  I used some dark gray yarn and my trusty glue gun secured the end of the yarn to the jar and I started wrapping the yarn tight around the spaghetti jar.  About half way I squeezed a small horizontal line of glue on the jar just to make sure the yarn stayed in place and then once I got to the top I glued the other end to the jar.  The original idea was to make a vase that would hold branches and those branches would hold some family pictures or table numbers.

Here was my original plan:

I used the jar lid to trace the circles for the family pictures.

It just didn't look great.  I mean, this isn't exactly wedding-reception pretty.
Back to the drawing board.

So I had my jar, the rocks for my base, I needed something that would look pretty instead of spaghetti jar with sticks.  I walked around the house grabbed some flowers out of another vase and added them to this yarn-jar.  It looked much better.

Different shapes and sizes or different colors of yarn would be beautiful too! 
Think of three different sizes of jars wrapped in the same color of yarn arranged together on each table.

Add a tagged number to the flower to mark your tables.

Now the pretty flowers and leaves cover the top of the jar (you could also wrap the yarn all the way to the top) and it looks nice!  Who would know?  Think, if you're on a budget and you have 125 people coming to your wedding and you have 15 tables, how can you afford to buy 15 vases and stay in your budget?  Remember, most of your money should go into the things that people will remember and enjoy.  Like the food, music, your dress, the cake, etc.  Centerpieces should be beautiful of course, but there are ways to get the gorgeous colors and decor you want without spending more than $5.00 per centerpiece.

What you'll need:

1. Yarn
2. Glue gun
3. Clean spaghetti jar
4. Rocks (to stabilize the flowers)
5. Paper (if you plan on using the centerpieces to mark your tables)
6. Silk or real flowers

The price breakdown:
Yarn... $1.50
Spaghetti jar... $1.25 (after you enjoy some awesome spaghetti first)
Silk flowers... $2.00
Rocks... Free
TOTAL:  $4.75

Now, I'm not sure how much you want to count the spaghetti jar against your cost since you're using it after you've had the sauce for a meal plus tell your friends and family to save all of their jars for you.  Different shapes and sizes or different colors of yarn would be beautiful too!  Think of three different sizes of jars wrapped in the same color of yarn arranged together on each table.  If you're getting the jars for free and you buy a couple of extra balls of yarn, a few more flowers, you're still looking at a nearly free centerpiece.

Every Tuesday we feature a cheap, easy, and pretty centerpiece.  Want to share your idea?  Post it in the comment section or email it to me and we'll put it up here next Tuesday with a link to your blog.

Don't miss our Wednesday blog party! Every Wednesday with the best projects showcased on Saturday.

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Centerpiece Cents: Pickle Jar Project

Each Tuesday we feature an affordable centerpiece and keep this strict rule in mind:  Each centerpiece must cost $5.00 or less.  While this may seem too tight of a budget (I've been to many many weddings where the centerpieces alone cost over $50 a piece) you'll see that you can have cute and fun centerpieces without breaking the bank.

What I like about this particular centerpiece is that it's easily under budget and an especially smart project since it's up-cycling things in your home and keeping them out of a landfill.

Quick tip: To remove sticky labels from glass jars or mirrors, try using your hairdryer.  Turn it on high and point it directly at the sticker and around its edges.  This will loosen the glue and should make it easier to peel off after a minute or so of using the hairdryer.

What you'll need for this pickle jar project:

1. Small glass vases (the kind that come free with a flower or you can buy them really cheap at a thrift store)
2. Large and medium sized pickle jars (or spaghetti jars, jam jars, etc.)
3. White spray paint
4. Bonding glue (the really really good stuff)

Here's the finished project above and make sure you check out eighteen25 for the full tutorial.  She has an amazing blog too with other great ideas so be sure to stop by and visit.

Tomorrow we are hosting our Wednesday Blog Party.  Stop by and contribute your best new project!
Have an idea? Share it here by posting a comment below. Let's all help each other out.

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Reception Idea: Family Game Night

Ok, here's an idea.  Centerpieces are not just meant to be beautiful, but have you noticed that now they usually serve a function?  I've seen the centerpiece as a mini-wedding cake, or a bottle of wine with ribbons, flowers your guests take home (a.k.a. party favor), even part of the meal can serve as a centerpiece.  But here's what I'm thinking- what about putting out fancy boxes or baskets full of card and dice games?

This sounds perfect for a Friday night wedding and if you're keeping it small- as you should- then it's really a formal but fun family game night!  Keeps the night moving and the party going and you will likely have some pretty cool memories of your big day where you gathered around tables with those you love and laughed over a good game of Yahtzee.

If you found a good deal on packs of cards, why not let your guests take these home at the end of the night?  Or put a note on the invitations for guests to bring their favorite board game to the reception.

Have you got an easy to make decoration idea?  How about an idea for a centerpiece?  Please share!

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Easy, no mixer needed, banana bread recipe

Made this today and thought it would be great with the Bridal Shower Brunch recipe for crepes I posted earlier. This particular banana bread recipe is good for us because I can't have nuts and my husband hates them anyway.  Also, no need for a mixer which I love!  Makes it a little bit easier to whip up in a hurry.  Easy, cheap, and simple ingredients too!

 Banana Bread

Ingredients

• 3 or 4 ripe bananas, smashed
• 1/3 cup melted butter
• 1 cup sugar (can easily reduce to 3/4 cup)
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• Pinch of salt
• 1 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour

Method

No need for a mixer for this recipe. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). With a wooden spoon, mix butter into the mashed bananas in a large mixing bowl. Mix in the sugar, egg, and vanilla. Sprinkle the baking soda and salt over the mixture and mix in. Add the flour last, mix. Pour mixture into a buttered 4x8 inch loaf pan. Bake for 1 hour. Cool on a rack. Remove from pan and slice to serve.

Makes one loaf. 

Simply Recipes http://simplyrecipes.com

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$4.00 Centerpiece

I needed a quick centerpiece idea for the $500 wedding class I was teaching and as I was shopping at Walmart, thinking about how much I really didn't want to run another errand, I noticed the craft section.  Sticking to my idea that all centerpieces should cost under $5.00, I grabbed a block of Styrofoam and started thinking about how I could pretty it up.  It cost about $2.99 and looking around, I noticed some autumn silk flowers on clearance, and grabbed a few bundles.  It's all coming together, I thought.  I snatched up four bundles at 25 cents each and we after a quick assembly, we had ourselves a centerpiece. 

You'll need the following supplies:
1. Block of Styrofoam  (I used a long block but really you could use any shape, a small block or cone would look just as nice and maybe adding different shapes but using the same flowers would be cute.)
2. Silk/fabric flowers.  I used autumn colors because that was what I found on sale, but pick whatever combination looks best for you.  When in doubt, or if you're not 100% on what your colors are, go with all white.  All white flowers with silverware, a white table cloth, candles, and wine glasses is always beautiful.
3. Sharp craft scissors or wire cutters.  I used basic scissors at first and it was awful and dangerous.  Get something that is safe and efficient to use.
 

I cut the stems about three inches from the flower head.  You can always cut more if you want but you need some length in order to keep them sturdy inside the Styrofoam.

 I arranged the flowers so that the colors were evenly distributed and the shape looked right.  There is room to arrange it so that tea lights can be mixed in with the flowers (I would absolutely use the fake battery-powered tea lights here, those real ones with start this whole thing on fire for sure.  You want a memorable party but that may be a little extreme.)

And that's it!  Don't mind my table setting above.  My family was actually cleaning up Lego's and vacuuming as I was trying to put a quick setting together.  Again, I'd use all white flowers or red rose buds with grass shoots instead of the harvest flowers although if you're doing a fall or Halloween decor, this might be perfect.  Up to you!  That's the fun of it!

Have an idea? Share it here by posting a comment below. Let's all help each other out.

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