Planning a wedding is a lot of work, especially when it’s your own wedding that you are planning. Additionally, most brides do not have unlimited budgets and often need unique ideas to help them spread the dollar further than anyone ever thought it could go. No bride wants her wedding ceremony or reception to be lacking in decorations because of money, but at the same time lots of decorations can be really expensive. With that in mind, the following are 5 great ideas for decorating your wedding on a budget!

#1 – Reuse Bridesmaids Bouquets for Centerpieces Reusing the bouquets that you bought for your bridesmaids is one of the smartest and resourceful things that you can do. They make excellent centerpieces for the tables at the reception and don’t cost you any extra money. Moreoever, most bridesmaids don’t do anything with their bouquet at the receptions other than lay them down for the rest of the evening while they fly off to dance, so you won’t be hurting the feelings of your bridesmaids. In addition, you will be saving yourself some money!

#2 – Bowls Of Fruits Are More Than Healthy Thank the heavens for creating fruit that is so beautiful and healthy, and great for centerpieces. That’s right, centerpieces. Get several types of fruit together that are brightly colored and place them in bowls in the centers of your guest tables. They will not only look great, but will work well as appetizers while your guests are waiting on their main meal. For something extra special, try cutting limes, lemons, and oranges into wedges and filling them in a tall vase. This makes a stunning centerpiece.

Decorating Idea #3 – Add White Christmas Lights Adding white Christmas lights around the reception venue is a great idea. You can use them to add some light to the tables, put them around the ceiling of the room, or use them to decorate a wedding archway that you have set up. These lights are easy to find, inexpensive, and pretty easy to set up as well.

Decorating Idea #4 – Place Framed Photos of the Couple on Every Table Placing framed photos of the couples on every table at the reception is a great way that you can decorate for your reception without a lot or work or money involved. You can go with the same photo on every table or you can get creative and go with different photos of the bride and groom on each table for some variety. Kodak Gallery will both print and frame your photos for you, if you don’t have the time to do it yourself.

Decorating Idea #5 – Add Some Candlelight Adding some candle light is a beautiful way that you can decorate for your wedding reception. One easy way to add some “mood” to the room is to put beautiful tea lights on small mirrors on the tables. They’ll reflect the light and look incredible. Floating candles in glass bowls are also a great way to use candle light for decorations.

Sheila Dollarsby place framed photos of her and her husband on guest tables at their reception. For the photos that weren’t digital, she used a photo scanning service online to get the pictures printed and blown up. She also used photo hosting companies like Kodak Gallery to store her pictures of the big day!