As airline agents, Helen Corral and Chris Peto have multiple opportunities to
speak with other couples planning honeymoon getaways. They’ve found that the
bride’s attention usually was on the details at hand — the dress, the cake, the
processional and, often most pressing, the decorations.
When the couple began discussing decorating concerns with Chris’ mother,
Maryann Peto of Medina, Ohio, the two women clicked and quickly became business
partners who use their artistic skills in beautifying weddings.
Their business, Unique Occasions, has taken off in a way they did not
anticipate. Though the partners can provide everything wedding for a reasonable
price, they were glad to offer pointers to do-it-yourselfers on a shoestring
budget.
Because outdoor summer weddings are so popular, the partners turn their
attention to gilding the lily, so to speak. Pick a beautiful setting, then think
of ways to make special the wedding accoutrements that must populate that
setting.
“The key is to pick a park-like setting or a meticulously kept back yard with
acreage so you can focus on that and frame it,” Helen said. “Then you don’t have
to spend so much making it special.”
Other tips, cost-savers all, include:
Don’t
leave guest chairs undecorated. A simple length of fabric, preferably pastel and
airy, tied around the chair back into a bow transforms mundane seating. “I pride
myself that our sashes are extra wide to accent the chair cover,” Helen added.
Choose
a color theme early and be on the lookout for fabric closeouts you can use for
the chair bows. If you find a deal on one spectacular silk flower, add that to
the bow.
In a
pinch, sew a short version of a pillowcase to slip over simple metal or plastic
chairs
If
you’re really on a budget, borrow white pillowcases from all your friends, wash,
bleach and dip in starch before ironing to a crispness. Then adorn with bows.
They will not rival the custom chair covers Maryann and Helen specialize in, but
necessity is the mother of invention.
Wedding
cakes don’t have to be multitiered extravaganzas. Spend your limited funds on a
two-layer cake decorated to the hilt. Then make it the center of attention by
covering two boxes with a white tablecloth and setting the cake atop. Then
surround it with your homemade cupcakes or petit fours.
Skip
the expensive wedding mints at each place setting that rarely are eaten.
Instead, put them atop cupcakes or petit fours.
Try to
put the guest chairs under some type of canopy, Helen recommended, protected
from blazing sun and sudden downpours.
Other brides have come up with their own tricks:
Never
buy or rent expensive live or artificial trees. Either buy tall budget palms at
a discount or building center. Or do what one resourceful father did — he walked
the woods and found fallen branches, then secured them upright in buckets filled
with cement. The bride’s mother then swathed the branches in white tulle hiding
tiny white lights inside it. The effect was ethereal.
If you
are renting a vase of some kind for dinner tables, make sure it is extremely
tall and clear glass or plastic. Again, swath in tulle and top with inexpensive
artificial flower sprays. After all, who is going to get close enough to the
towering confection to know the difference? Just as important, vary the heights
of the vases so the effect is visible throughout the room, adding interest.
