Jade McIntosh Flowers

Flowers are an integral part of most wedding days, and can often be one of the really costly items in the budget. Depending on your style of wedding and personal taste, you might have a simple bouquet and one or two main floral arrangements at the wedding venue. Or you might want a reception overflowing with beautiful blooms. But no matter what you choose, there are a few ways to keep your florist costs down.

As one of our Hunter Brides on our Facebook page knows, it can be cheaper to buy flowers for a small number of centrepieces from a local florist on the day, instead of ordering them from the florist who is doing your bouquet and other flowers.

Our bride is getting married at Pokolbin in the Hunter Valley, and was looking for a local florist where she could get two roses for each of her centrepieces. She was flooded with great suggestions after she posted her query on November 8.

We love Jade Macintosh Flowers, which not only supplies flowers to weddings in the Hunter Valley region, including Pokolbin, but also hires out vintage medicine bottles, mason jars, versatile glass cubes and timber boxes of all textures and sizes.

If you are going to leave something like your centrepieces for the day of your wedding, it’s a good idea to check the day before if the florist has enough stock of the flowers and colours you want. This gives you time to come up with an alternative plan if you need to! See if you can reserve the flowers, and delegate someone you trust to pick them up on the day.

As well as picking up a few flowers cheaper on the day, you can keep costs down in general by choosing flowers that are in season. Anything exotic or out of season is going to be more difficult to source, and therefore more expensive.

If you or one of your friends or family members is creative, you also have the option to buy your flowers in bulk and create your own centrepieces. It’s important to have a practice before you go down this path though, to make sure you can come up with something that looks good. If you can bring out your creative side, doing your own centrepieces can not only help save you money, it can also add a lovely personal touch to your reception decorations.

Here are a few ideas for easy centrepieces:

Jars and vases

If you’re having a wedding with a rustic theme, consider wide-mouthed mason jars, stuffed with country-style blooms.

If you’re aiming for a more elegant look, vases with one or two tulips or roses can be decorated with a simple ribbon. You can’t really go wrong!

Birdcages

With the current rage for all things Art Deco and 1920s, why not consider birdcage centrepieces? Smaller birdcages look effortless and classy with a full-blown rose bloom inside, or a single larger birdcage overflowing with flowers will look spectacular. Tuck ivy strands among the bars and you’ll have uncomplicated but eye-catching centrepieces.

Fresh fruit

Why not consider foregoing flowers for your centrepieces? Fruit bowls can be easy, inexpensive and very effective centrepieces. Imagine a translucent, pearly white, long-stemmed bowl filled with perfect lemons surrounded by a wreath of glossy dark green leaves. Bowls of limes or oranges will also give your tables a pop of colour, or go tropical with mangoes.

Whatever flowers you have in mind for your wedding day, there are a few different strategies you can use to help rein in your costs, and still have the eye-catching decorations you want on your special day.

Newcastle Beach Wedding

So you’ve researched and hired a photographer to document your wedding day, and now you’re tossing up whether it’s worth the extra expense of hiring a professional wedding videographer. With an abundance of editing options now available at the click of a mouse, video professionals can capture your special day in a creative and polished video that you’ll be proud to show off for years to come. Still not convinced? Here are a few reasons why hiring a professional to video your wedding is a great idea!

Capture the memories

Ask any married couple what they remember about their wedding day, and most will tell you all the months of careful planning and building excitement came together in a day that flew by in a happy blur. A wedding video will provide a record of every detail of your day from the minute you begin preparations until you say good bye at the reception. It’s a permanent reminder of your special day that you can sit down and watch time and time again.

View missing moments

Unfortunately there will be moments of your wedding day that you won’t see in person. For example, you won’t witness your groom’s nervousness as he waits for you to arrive at the wedding venue, and he won’t see the moment you’re buttoned into your bridal gown, glowing and ready to be married. These moments are precious and endearing, and a wedding video is the ideal way for you to experience the moments that you won’t see first hand.

Listen to your wedding day

While photographs are perfect for capturing the sights of your big day, a wedding video also captures the sounds. You can experience again the exchanging of the vows, the thoughtful speeches, the high-spirited laughter and even the beat of the music that played while you danced your first dance with your new husband.

Capture the details

When you hire a professional wedding videographer, you’re hiring more than a person who owns an expensive camera, you’re hiring experience. Years of knowledge mean they know the best approach, the best angles, the best vantage points, and their professional camera is designed to capture the smallest detail in high definition. A professionally created wedding video will document your big day in far greater detail than static photography alone.

Future generations

Your wedding video is a wonderful gift to pass onto your children and grandchildren. Imagine how delighted you might feel if wedding videographers were available in your grandparent’s era, and you now had possession of their wedding video to see exactly how their day came together. At the very least, your wedding video may give future generations a bit of a giggle!

Relieve your guests of the responsibility

Hiring a professional to video your wedding allows your guests to have fun with their own video cameras without the obligation of perfectly filming every detail of your day. This means that your family and friends can relax and enjoy the celebrations with you.

So when you’re working out your wedding budget, remember to include money for a wedding videographer. Your wedding day is one of the most important days of your life, and capturing it on video will enable you to relive the excitement and happiness in the years to come.