Save money on your wedding

How can you save money on your wedding? Make a list of what you want and then try to figure out ways to have it without going over board.

For example,here is a photo of an orchid bouquet I put together last year. It is made with many different orchid colors as you can see. You actually can make your own wedding bouquet by buying the stems and putting them together yourself. Typically if you want orchids for your wedding the most common used are phalaenopsis or dendrobium because they have longer stems and can be put together nicely with some greenery. You have to make one or two before your wedding so that you know exactly how to do it and how it will look. Here is what you need:

• Your choice of flowers
• Some green floral tape
• Some straight pins (pearl tip)
• Some lace or ribbon
• Some greenery (silk or ivy works well or whatever you like)
• Some water tubes to keep them fresh

You can buy certain orchids stems at various locations, you can even use silk flowers. Figure out how long you want the stems to be. Then cut them to that length. Add the greenery to the orchid stem and wrap tightly with the green floral tape. You can decorate the stems with a braided wrap of ribbon. If the flowers are fresh use flower tubes to keep them fresh the day of the wedding. Make sure to leave enough stem showing at the bottom so you can cut just a bit off for freshness in the tubes or water vase so they'll be fresh looking at the hour of the wedding.

You can also make your own boutonnieres and bridesmaid bouquets. You will need help making them and should probably make them fresh the morning of the wedding or the day before. But like I said, do a practice run so you will know exactly how long they will last and what you want the final look to be.