Wedding decorations can totally transform a plain room into an elegant, beautiful wedding venue. You don’t need to spend a fortune, although if you have your heart absolutely set on a certain style, some things don’t come cheap! The trick is to be versatile while not compromising too much on your wedding theme and vision.

You can hire almost every kind of decoration & centerpiece these days, although to be honest sometimes it will be better value to buy your decorations. Alot of the time they are only a fraction more expensive, but you have the added benefit of being able to sell them onto to another lucky bride after you’ve finished using them. Alot of wedding forums have a trading area for other brides looking to off load or exchange cheap wedding decorations.

Some classic popular decorations include; Topiaries, fairy lights, paper lanterns, balloons, draping and flower arrangements.

A great way to save money on wedding table decorations is to use the bridal party flower bouquets to decorate the bridal table, this will save a fair amount of money on flower costs and look just as beautiful as a dedicated table floral arrangement. For the guests tables you can use cheap candles and buy glass vases from a discount warehouse then after the wedding you can re-sell them to make some of your money back. You can also use your church wedding decorations once the ceremony is over, ask a trusted friend or relative to pack up any candles, ribbons and flowers etc that you used at the church and bring them back to your reception venue while the bridal party is away getting their photos.

Origami is another great, cost effective diy wedding decoration option. Click here to learn how to make origami for your original wedding decorations.

Wedding decorations should be consistent with your theme and work with your venue to create an overall effect. If you’re after a truly personalised look, select a venue with minimal existing decoration so it’s a blank canvas for you (or your wedding planner) to dress up. But if you’d rather work with the existing furnishings, make sure they fit the style of wedding you’re planning.

Questions to ask the wedding venue:

• What decorations will already be in place, and can some be removed if you wish?
• Will the venue allow you to add your own decorations if you want to?
• Is there any permit (eg. Open-flame candles)?
• At what time can suppliers have access to the site on the day?
• When do decorations need to be picked up after the wedding?
• Is there any remodelling planned between now and your wedding?

If you need outdoor wedding decorations you can try using topiary trees with fairy lights wrapped around the trunk, or hanging paper lanterns from trees. For cheap beach wedding decorations why not collect shells and driftwood in the weeks leading up to the wedding and arrange them in a “beach aisle” for the bridal party to walk down.