Monday Inspiration: Garden Wedding on a Budget

Today, we are featuring ideas for a beautiful, budget-savvy wedding in a public garden. Gardens are a romantic setting for many occasions, and can usually be reserved through your city’s parks department for a fraction of the cost of a “real” wedding venue–and with all the flowers around you, you won’t have to spend as much on decorations! Over on Love & Lavender, (a wedding blog specializing in custom INVITATIONS) they have been featuring a series of "weddings on a budget" and this one was a MUST SHARE!

The Decor: Gardens are so romantic; they are the perfect location for a wedding. Gardens also make decorating really easy and less expensive because they are already so beautiful with all their flowers and greenery. Add a simple arch to tie in the wedding atmosphere!

The Food: You’ll save money on food by hosting an afternoon teaparty, rather than a full dinner meal. Serve cucumber sandwiches, quiches, fruit, and other classic tea party food. Fill pretty bowls with berries and set a bowl at every table.

The Dessert: Every good tea party has a plethora of pastries and sweet desserts. Petit fours, mini tarts, and french macaroons are great choices that not only taste good but look beautiful, not to mention a decadent cake, beautifully decorated and topped with a vintage crown.

The Fashion: To get your dream dress on a budget, shop at sites like PreOwned Wedding Dresses or Once Wed, where you can find dresses that have been worn just once at incredible savings. A big white sunhat would fit in with a teaparty theme perfectly–and would cost a lot less than a veil. The bride’s look would be complete with elegant lace gloves and shoes with rose details. For the bride’s bouquet, choose garden roses instead of peonies–they look very similar but cost so much less.

The bridesmaids could carry parasols or lace fans instead of bouquets. Let your bridesmaids choose their own dress to save stress and money. Each girl will look and feel good in a dress that complements her own body (just make sure that the colors, lengths, and styles look cohesive). Skip the tux rentals and put the groom and groomsmen in white shirts, suspenders, and khakis. Let them wear ties they already own, and they’ll save money too!

The Details: For the centerpieces, use teapots as vases and fill them with flowers.  Set the table with pretty mismatched china that you collect from thrift stores during your engagement. Using a gold pen, write the guest’s names on teacups that double as both placecards and personalized favors. On the guest table, decorate a gold birdcage with moss and flowers for a pretty cardbox. Use paper doilies to make envelopes for the invitations, petal cones, cupcake liners, and more–they’re so pretty and super inexpensive!

The Invitations: Love & Lavender designed a beautiful lace invitation suite to capture the personality of this garden wedding.
It is available to download for free here.

If you have a moment check out Love & Lavenders BLOG for more great tips, and inspiration. Below are the Links for the fabulous images featured above. Enjoy!

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Image Sources:  Seating Chart picture by Jose Villa, Table Setting via Wedding Whim, Cake via Elizabeth Messina , Envelopes via This is Glamorous, Teacups via 100 Layer Cake, Berries via Grey Likes Weddings, Teapot via The Exchange, Invitation via Love and Lavender, Bouquet via Martha Stewart, Sandwiches via The Loving Spoonful, French Macaroons via Martha Stewart, Archway via Rose Garden,  Groomsmen via Pretty Chicky , Birdcage via Mints Design, Wedding dress via Oscar de la Renta, Bridesmaids via Utah Bride Blog, Shoes via Amazon.