Three Ways to Decorate Your Wedding Cheaply

Wedding decorations can really blow your budget, particularly if you're decorating an empty space. Make an impact with these three cheap and cheerful wedding decorations. I've always been a huge fan of DIY pom poms, but if you're not a DIY-bride, then you can pick up these fantastic lacy rosettes, pinwheels and poms via Paper Polaroid. My favs are the rosettes!

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BBD Theme: Because of Bunting

Last week I was all about giant balloons, but now I'm big on bunting. It's characterful and cheap, and comes in every style, shade and substance you can imagine. Whether your theme is vintage-chic or summer-fete, bunting will add a light-hearted feel to your big day. And if you're handy with a sewing machine, you could even make it yourself.

Product Credits (clockwise from top left corner):  Children Furniture Company, Cox & Cox, {Top & Bottom Right}: Not on the High Street, Modern June, Not on the High Street, Bad Baby Quilts

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Just Married - How Will You Say It?

Traditionally the ushers tie tin-cans to the back of the wedding getaway car, but now there's so many other options to say 'Just Married' in a creative way. Brides and grooms often organise for their photographer to snap a pic of them holding a sign saying 'Just Married' as they make great prints for your thank you cards. But if you're going to go for that option, what's the best prop? Two of my friends left on sledges because it was so snowy, and I love the idea of getaway bicycles. Take a look at a few of these pics for more inspiration, and don't miss my picture boards at Pinterest for more fun ideas.

Photo Credits: {top collage} 1. Unknown, please get in touch if you know 2. via I Love SW Mag {bottom collage from top left, clockwise} 1. Unkown, 2. via Ruffled Blog, 3. Unknown, 4. Assassynation Photography 5. Ashley Forrette via Elizabeth Anne Designs

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Location, Location, Location

One huge expense for every wedding is the venue - not least because they usually hike the prices on food and booze. One way to avoid that expense is to hire a marquee for your garden.  Worried about a naff canvas atmosphere and freezing breezes?  Well check out these pictures and think again - with the right accessories and lighting, you can turn your tent into anything you want, from a cosy Kazbah to a boutique boîte, complete with a sparkling starry-sky ceiling.

Photos above thanks to DP Marquees. Check out their website for their fantastic range of stunning marquees and bespoke interiors.  Also, try White Canvas Tents for their exclusive, lined range.

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Amazing Paper Lantern Wedding Decorations

Apart from tissue pom poms, paper lanterns are my TOP tip for cheap and chic wedding decoration. I've always loved looking at them in wedding pictures, and a couple of weeks ago two friends used hundreds of them at their own French wedding. They had white lanterns in the garden, and a combination of peach, orange and yellow in the marquee. Every one had a tiny LED light inside, so as the sun set, they started to glow. It was a truly magical effect. I'll be featuring their wedding any day now, but in the meantime check out Hanging Lanterns to buy your own.

{Product Credit} Print by Lola's Room

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Romantic Laser-Cut Wedding Bunting

If you're a regular reader of Before the Big Day, you might have noticed my obsession with wedding bunting! That's why I'm loving this new range from bespoke wedding stationer, Hummingbird Cards. The pennants are laser cut from textured white card, and come in packs of six, with 2m of ivory organza ribbon to hang them. Definitely a step up from your average white bunting!

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Loving Wedding Typography

Typography is a huge trend in weddings this season. Brides are spelling out all sorts of messages to their guests, and these cardboard letters from RE are a cheap and cheerful way to create a fantastic effect. I was planning to spell out 'All you need is love' at my wedding, but they ran out of L's! New stock is expected in any day now though, so you can write as many words including L as you like. Also loving the cardboard candlesticks they stock. You can leave them looking rustic, or paint them any way you like. They're a great way to add a touch of DIY magic to your big day. Do check out RE, it's my favourite shop in the world, with an amazing range of ribbons, fabrics and vintage paraphernalia.

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Fabulous Wedding Mossy Monograms

Monograms are a HUGE trend for this year's spring/summer weddings, and I can't get enough of them! They've got to be the easiest way to personalise your wedding, and if you're a font-geek like I am, then you could even tie them in with your stationery. Whether you're going for a shabby chic wedding theme, or a vintage wedding theme, or something a little bit more modern, there's a monogram out there for you. Make your own out of an old cardboard box and a craft knife, or buy them from all the creative gurus on Etsy. These mossy monograms are straight out of Philadelphia, from a boutique called Choosing You.

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DIY Wedding Pom Poms - My Wedding

The most successful wedding DIY project we've had so far is the pom poms. They look amazing! And they are so easy to make that even The Boy got into the DIY craze. All you need is this tutorial from Martha Stewart Weddings, lots of tissue paper {I bought it from an ebay shop}, florist wire {super-cheap from ebay again}, a pair of good scissors, and some ribbon to hang them up. We made large white ones for our London wedding and they puffed up beautifully. The tutorial recommends 8 sheets, but we felt 10 was better. They matched the peonies in our wedding flower arrangements exactly. Now we've just got to make hundreds for our French wedding. We figure they'll travel well if they're still folded up, and then we'll get all the bridesmaids to help puff them out! {Photo Credits: Taken by me, badly!}

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Introducing Confetti Wedding Favours

Whether it's a Royal Wedding Street Party or your own fabulous big day, you're going to want to keep your eye on the little details. The wedding favours, the decorations, the table plan, the wedding stationery - it's all those little things that make a wedding stand out from the crowd. So don't miss the Confetti website - it's packed with ideas, and everything's organised by theme {so helpful!}.

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Wedding Drinks Stirrers & Drinks Flags

With less than 10 days to go before my London wedding and a month till my French wedding, I'm in full wedding details mode. Bar one minor meltdown {wedding stress}, I'm feeling very excited about both weddings, lots of butterflies in my tummy! All the big decisions have been made {venue, caterer, wine, DJ}, and now I'm just down to the last decisions on flowers, stationery and the details. I'm planning DIY tissue pom-poms for my London wedding, and DIY drink stirrers for both. I've already bought gorgeous grey striped straws, and now I've just got to decorate them. I'm planning to use a mixture of wasabi tape and ribbon, and maybe a touch of tinsel. Here are my inspiration pictures, look for more on my Pinterest boards.

Photo Credits {clockwise from top left}- 1 & 2. Peach and Pearl, 3. BBond 0520, 4. Go Against the Grain 5. Found via Pinterest.

DIY Bride - How To Make Bunting

Are you signed up to Daily Candy? If not, then you're definitely missing out! They send me an email every day, and they're bursting with ideas for weddings, parties, culture and shopping. I was particularly impressed with yesterday's mail, as it contained a DIY Wedding Bunting tutorial. Bunting is very much the decoration du jour, I've bought meters of it from eBay for my wedding, but if you're the crafty type, then you'll love this lesson. {Picture Credit: by Youngna via Poppytalk}

You will need
Card, Pencil, Ruler, Pinking shears, Fabric (felt or paper), Pins, Needle and thread (or a sewing machine)
Ribbon (wider than 2 cm), Iron

1. Make a triangle template out of card to ensure all your bunting flags are the same size (we recommend 30 cm long).

2. Use the pencil to trace triangles onto your chosen fabric. Mix and match materials or colours for a quirky touch. (Make sure to rotate the template each time you draw another triangle to minimize wasted fabric.)

3. Use pinking shears (they prevent fraying) to cut the fabric triangles. Repeat until you have enough flags to stretch across your space.

4. Cut a piece of ribbon the length of the space you want to hang the bunting. Fold it in half from top to bottom. Iron to keep the fold in place.

5. Space the flags evenly along the ribbon, putting the top edges of the flags inside the fold of the ribbon. Pin in place and then sew using either a machine or secure backstitch. Leave at least 40 cm on either side to hang the bunting. (If you are using paper, simply staple the flags to the ribbon.)

6. Hang indoors or out. And get ready to party.

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Stunning Mason-Jar Wedding Chandelier

This isn't the most weddingy item I've ever featured on Before the Big Day, but I've fallen in love with it. Wouldn't it be perfect hanging from a tree at your reception, or from the centre of a wedding marquee? Then you could reinvent it as a focus in the kitchen in your home, or buy two and hang them on either side of your marital bed. Handmade by Boots N Gus out of recycled mason jars - bespoke options are available, but each jar is lit with a crystal pattern night light.

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Cute Vintage-Style Wedding Accessories

How much do you love these striped, spotty and heart-printed old-fashioned paper straws? They'll add a cute and quirky look to your weding cocktails. If you're planning a vintage wedding you'll love this cheap and chic way to add that little extra detail. Fresh from Sydney-based shop Emerald & Eva, I'm planning to buy the heart ones for my English Cream Tea-themed London wedding.

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Cute Wedding Toppers & Drink Stirrers

Accessorise the beverages at your wedding with these chic drink stirrers! They'll bring a smile to your guests' faces, and make cute photo props for later in the evening. Double-sided and printed on kraft or white card, you can choose any design you like, although personally my favourite is the Love sign. Pick them up from Purple Peony Couture.

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Introducing The Last Detail Wedding Accessories

Wedding ideas start big, with venues and themes and a desire to create a general mood - be it vintage, casual or glamorous. Once you get to three months to go, hopefully you've got the big things out the way, and you're down to the nitty-gritty. That's when you're going to start choosing your wedding favours, place cards and confetti. For all of the above, plus all the table decorations you can imagine, try The Last Detail. They're a fab website with all their products divided into themes and colours, to make them extra-easy to find. There's even a red, white and blue theme for the up-coming Royal Wedding!

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Wedding Theme Idea - Big Balloons

Time for me to come clean - I'm obsessed with balloons. Specifically white, round balloons. There's something so complete about them, and I love the airy feel they give a wedding reception. The best thing about them? They're way cheaper than flowers, which means you can fill your venue without breaking the bank. For wedding inspiration see the pics below, and for stockists, click here, or here or here.

Photo Credits {clockwise from top left} - Martha Stewart, Jen Sedillo, Amy Atlas, Caroline Tran, Once Wed

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Colourful Quirky Wedding Bunting

Bunting at weddings is my current obessesion, and I've actually just bought 200 metres of it for my own wedding via Ebay. I've gone for simple white, but if you were planning a colourful wedding, then you're going to adore these gorgeous handprinted Gocco flags. Created in London by Xtina Lamb at The Shop of Printed Wonders, they're custom-made, so you can pick your ink colour, cloth colour, size, shape, typeface or image. Now that's what I call good service! *Good news! Xtina is offering 10% off bespoke bunting if you mention Before the Big Day!*

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Wedding Present Idea

Add this gorgeous sampler to your wedding list, and you'll have a gorgeous momento of your big day, and a future heirloom for your children. Old-fashioned crafts like sampler-sewing and knitting are making a comeback right now, so you'll also be right on trend. Super-stitcher Debby will personalise your design, and hand-make it within ten days. Check out her store Sew Lovely for more ideas.

Wedding Confetti Alternatives

If you're looking for an alternative to confetti, it doesn't get much better thean being bombarded with tiny pom-poms as you walk back up the aisle as man and wife. Our bubbles, for that matter - there's something about them that just shouts cheerful. Lots of venues don't allow confetti, so double check, and consider a cool alternative. For a winter wedding, a sparkler send-off is super romantic. Images via Ruffled.

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