It’s no secret that I’m getting married within the next year or so. It’s also no secret that weddings can be very costly. Jordann from My Alternate Life wrote a great post about the cost of her wedding and how she was able to save money.
In my own journey of planning a wedding (and paying for the majority of it out of our own pockets), I’ve been trying to follow in Jordann’s footsteps and save money where possible. I had a thought recently to check out the dollar store for some wedding decor.
One Saturday earlier this month, a friend and I took an adventure to Ikea to pick up a few things. I had to pick my friend up at the bus station on my way there. I didn’t know where she’d be waiting as I wasn’t familiar with the station, so I parked and went inside the adjacent dollar store for a browse while I waited.
I was surprised to say that I found quite a few little things for the wedding at the dollar store, which I was planning on picking up at either Ikea or Target. Don’t worry, I don’t plan on feeding my guests Dollarama food, but I did score some good decor.
Cake Cutters & Servers, Other Utensils
I’ll really never understand why people would ever spend more than the bare minimum on a cake cutter. You’re cutting a cake with it! It doesn’t need to be fancy. Nobody will notice whether it has hearts engraved on the handle. Nobody really even notices the cake, they are too exhausted from the festivities.
I found a cake cutter and server (and no, it’s not plastic) for $1 each at the dollar store and I picked up the set. Weddings are already expensive without adding pointless costs to them.
Stationary
We are making our own invitations, and I was surprised to see how expensive stationary is. Especially when purchased at a store like Michaels, you can spend almost the same amount on stationary as you would on some cheap invitations.
The dollar store does have some good options, even if you just go with white card stock, or buy envelopes from the dollar store instead of the stationary store.
A package might be more than $1, even at the dollar store, but it’s usually cheaper than a crafting store.
Ribbon, String, and Twine
There’s no doubt that twine is a very popular fibre right now. I’m not sure why, but it’s blown up (as has burlap, kraft colored paper, and mason jars).
I was buying twine for a wreath this fall and it was $6 a roll at Michaels! I went to the dollar store next door and got twine for $3/roll.
The twine from the dollar store was a bit thinner but who needs thick twine? Same goes for ribbon. There were rolls of lace ribbon at the dollar store for much cheaper than the prices at Michaels.
Vases
Many weddings have vases all around. Some are used for the candy bar, some for flowers or other center piece items.
Vases can be cheap at the dollar store, and they don’t have to be great quality if you are using them just for your wedding.
You can get some wedding decor from the dollar store, you just need to know what to look for. Don’t expect to get your lighting from the dollar store, though.
One way I saved some money at my wedding was we actually went to home improvement stores like Lowe’s and Home Depot to pick up twine. It’s much cheaper. Our florist (a family friend) also told us she goes to these stores to buy mirror plates for the table settings. Much cheaper than going to a craft store.
We didn’t shop at the dollar store for any of our wedding needs, but I do love getting things at the dollar store, especially greeting cards. The dollar store I go to has greeting cards 2-for-$1. They actually have some good ones too. I figure why spend $5 on a card when a cheaper one that says the same message will do the trick?
We saved a ton on decorations at our wedding using simple center pieces (bowls with floating candles) and small pots with flowers for each guest. The facility where we got married also decorated our courtyard in twinkle lights and my mother in law made two beautiful (but fake) flower centerpieces for the alter that got moved into the banquet hall. Our wedding was beautiful, but simple and inexpensive.
Love this! I still need to buy some crafts for the wedding, and on that list includes vases and ribbon. It sounds like I will be going to the dollar store soon 🙂
We bought a ton of our wedding decor at dollar stores! Vases, frames, candles, etc. And there are some great inspiration sites out there!
I got a decent amount of my wedding decor from Dollarama and Ikea! We bought rocks from Ikea and vases from Dollarama, plus photo frames to use as table numbers from dollarama. Well done on your thrifty purchases. There is a family cake cutter that belonged to my spouse’s great grandma that gets used at all the weddings, so we didn’t have to pick one (honestly I think most are hideous!), or pay for one.