Wedding Show Ups and Downs

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We're getting married near St. Catharines. I actually had a good talk with my venue coordinator and a florist yesterday and I'm feeling way more calm about this. Also with my best friend who said she's never been to a wedding with charger plates. I think I just freaked myself out more than necessary.

It definitely depends on the venue I think. With our venue, all of our linens, dinnerware and chargers are included. Decor and flowers can be super expensive. I had one florist quote me $4500 just for centrepieces, my bouquet, 4 bridesmaids bouquets and a few other arrangements, plus delivery and set up, its crazy! I ended up finding an amazing florist and decorator who is charging me $1300 for all of that plus more, including decor rentals for our ceremony and reception, and delivery to 2 locations and set up of those items. However, I am DIY-ing several items and setting up majority of our decor and items myself, luckily I can get into my venue 2 days before the wedding at no extra cost. I would say definitely do your homework with regards to finding a florist/decorator. Some people upcharge like crazy. Where are you located? I can send you my florist's info if you like!

View quoted message Everything can add up so quickly, especially when you're ordering per person or per table!!

Tables, chairs, linens, charger plates are just always expensive. Prioritize what you care about the most and also see if your venue or caterer includes anything basic free of charge. Our charger plates were $3 per person

My best advice is to do what Lesley did and vary your decor! You can look for runners or overlays that might be cheaper than a full table linen, or use the basic white linens for half of your tables and an upgraded linen for the other half.

For our centerpieces we had 3 different floral centerpieces that we switched up between the tables - a tall expensive arrangement, a low but very full medium priced arrangement, and small arrangements that re-purposed the bridesmaids bouquets into the centerpiece. Even if you're DIYing non-floral decor for centerpieces, vary the size and price of those items to help your budget out

I hired someone to do my flowers & decore ... it's just under $2500. That includes:
Set up/tear down
Centrepieces
Bouquets & boutonniers
Ceremony decore incl. more flowers
Backdrop
All linens & napkins (incl a few sequins linens)
Cake table/guest book table

Anything wedding is expensive.
Depending on your venue you may be able to use their decorations or you can make your own. We made our centerpieces (a wine and beer bottle with lights in them and 2 small potted plants) and it probably cost us about $200.
Flowers are a hard one. If you live in a major city I would suggest trying out in the suburbs or the country. I managed to save money by using a florist that lives 25 minutes outside of the suburb I live in near Ottawa. You could also try buying wholesale flowers online and making your own bouquets and floral decorations.
Most of our rentals will be delivered the day before the wedding so we will set up the chairs and tables etc and then the day of the wedding the caterer just has to set the tables and set himself up. I would talk to your caterer and your venue to figure out who takes of such things.

I've put together my décor for under $200.00. Check my photos posted to see some of it. If you need advice, I'd be happy to help. Our venue is putting most of it out but I have to place the centre pieces and my arch.

It can add up pretty fast. Whats your budget like?

Decor can add up really quickly! You can still do things less expensive. I splurged on full sequin tablecloths for head table, cake table and guestbook table($25 each). Guest tables are just getting a satin runner in the same colour ($8). My centrepieces are mostly diy but I splurged on a small a couple of roses per table. It could have been less but the rest of my decor is a couple hundred. It's well under $1000 probably about the $500 mark.
Check kijiji it places that are small thatRent things to you. Linens and florals are probably the biggest expenses so unless they're super important to you, I would reduce those.

Like the girls have said, it depends on the venue. Our venue has some basic decorations and centerpieces such as oil lanterns and fairy lights but we can also bring in our own stuff if we want. They also provide the napkins and linen and such so we don't have to fuss too much about decor. If you're up to it I would definitely recommend making your own DIY decor to save a bit of money

It really depends on the venue and the service provider. Our venue includes basic white linens in our price so we didn't have to consider that.

Some decorators will set up your stuff for you if you're renting some things from them and paying them for the service and others are much less flexible. You really just have to take some time to speak to a variety of vendors to determine what your're willing to pay and what services they include. Research is key!

I think it depends on your venue. I know one venue we looked at told us we just bring everything, tell them where to put it and they do it all. I also find that when it comes to weddings everything seems over priced.