Wedding planning questions?
Ask Jennie!

You’re organising your wedding on a shoestring. You want to invite your friends to the evening reception party. You’ve found a community hall nearby that is very reasonable to hire. Trouble is, it looks dowdy. How can you cheer it up without breaking the bank?

How to decorate your wedding reception venue “on the cheap”

Strings of twinkling white fairy-lights, muslin swags and ivy

Take advantage of the present fashion for white lights on Christmas trees. Nip into Ikea during the January sales and snap up strings of white lights that didn’t sell in the Christmas rush, at half their usual price.

Ivy is easy to find in the hedgerows. Collect a car bootful, as close to the time of decoration as possible, so that it is really fresh. Simple off-white muslin is also easy to acquire by the metre over the internet. The cost is minimal. Hang it up to conceal the worst of the peeling paint. Create bows and swags to go with the ivy and twinkling white lights.

When you decorate, make sure you have plenty of sellotape, string, plastic-coated garden wire, long strong mapping pins and drawing pins, in order to hang up the ivy, the lights and the muslin successfully. Bring along a selection of electrical extension leads, so that you will have a connection handy in order to plug your lights in.

As daylight fades, the combination of shiny dark green ivy leaves, twinkling white light and soft creamy muslin will give a sparkling wedding feel. The faded wallpaper will be lost in the darkness.

Table and seating layout

Do your homework carefully. Have a good look at the chairs and tables available and plan the layout of the room in advance. The only furniture available comprises of old grubby trestle tables?

No worries! Google “banqueting roll”. It’s easy to obtain a suitable length roll of flexible white paper from party suppliers that can be cut and pinned to create excellent tablecloths that will transform the look of the tables.

Candles and flowers

It’s back to Ikea for the candles. You can buy short, plain off-white candles very cheaply in packs of a dozen. Simple cup-like candle-holders are also available. They are not quite two-a-penny, but nearly! Buy enough to spread liberally around the room on tables and window sills.

Azaleas are a wonderfully festive potted plants. When in full blossom, these glorious bowls of pink, purple and white blooms are perfect for conjuring up the wedding-effect. Market stalls usually have the plants on offer at two for £5. No need to fork out for a posh florist. These bowls of floral joy will do the job at less than half the price.

Do a deal with the flower stall holder in advance, so that you can be sure of purchasing exactly what you require on the day. Note the size of the pots. While you’re at Ikea, buy simple white plant pot containers of the right size to pop the pots into. You can always make use of these at home afterwards.

Ask artistic friends to lend a hand as their wedding present to you

Do you have friends who enjoy this sort of task? Ask them to give their time and expertise as their wedding present to you. Remember that “doing” means greater involvement in the event itself.

The personal input involved in this type of giving draws you and your friends closer together. It gives your guests a more real connection and deepens the meaning of the wedding celebration itself.

Remember to organise the clearing up

You don’t really want to be up a ladder, taking down the decorations at midnight on your wedding day!

Make sure you organise an able-bodied team of lads and lasses to take down the decorations, clear up and tidy up, in order to leave the hall ship-shape at the end of the day.

Find out how to organise wedding music “on the cheap”

No wedding celebration is complete without musical accompaniment. Find out how to do it without spending any more than is absolutely necessary at Hop Till You Drop Wedding Music Agency: How to plan cheap wedding music. There are lots of tips on how to organise your wedding music while also keeping strictly within the prescribed budget.

It’s not quite Cinderella and the pumpkin - but if you’re creative and innovative, it’s not at all difficult to make-over a drab venue into a magical setting for your wedding reception. Involve friends in the organisation and this process will become an integral part of the formula that makes your wedding a uniquely special and memorable celebration.