BRONZE BUDGET BRIDE

This centerpiece is very easy and very affordable to make, plus all you need are decorative pears  which you can find for $4.99 per bag of 12 at save-on-crafts.com and any vase of your choosing.



You can find the vase above here for $7.49 but you can choose any from this page on the site.



Once you have the pears and the vase you want to use, just place the pears neatly into the vase. That's all the effort you need to make this centerpiece an yet it will last for as long as you want. That's pretty amazing.


photo credit: collectionsbykathleen.com

I came across some seashells today while at the dollar store and remembered this article on MarthaStewart.com with instructions for making Shell Candles. It's not very complicated for you to do them yourself and if you are having a beach wedding, they are an inexpensive way to add some unique lighting to your decor. You can even use them as favors for your guests!

I've adapted the step-by-step guide seen below from ehow.com . As you can see, all you'll need is some tea lights and seashells, both of which you can find at most dollar stores. If you'd rather buy them online, you can find tea candles in different colors here at DollarTree.com. For the shells you'll have to head over to Save-on-Crafts.com and find them here in varying shapes and sizes.


How to Make Sea Shell Tea Candles

Things You'll Need: Instructions:

1. Remove the wick from a tea and place the wick in the sea shell.

2. Melt the wax from the tea candle, or another candle to put in the shell. Wax can be melted using a double boiler, or if you have the time you could slowly drip it into the shell using a lighter.

3. Taking care to make sure the wick remains upright, add the wax to the shell. If you desire, before the wax cools, add wax of other colors to shell liven up the design.

4. If desired, make a few of these candles and create a display for them.

This do-it-yourself project is coming to you from Michaels.com. There is no way I could have seen this and not share it with all of you. You can find the petals and votives for this project at Michael's but be sure to check your local dollar store as well. Online, you can buy silk petals in so many colors here at Efavormart.com and they'll cost you $5.99 for 500 but you get a discount if you buy them in bulk.

Materials you'll need:

• Precious Petals, one box
• Votive Candle in glass, one
• Hot Glue Gun
• Glue Sticks

Cost of each project will vary depending on materials used.

Instructions:

1. Using a glue gun, on the bottom of petal, glue four sheer petals around base of votive.

2. Then, glue the second layer of four solid petals by staggering them between row one.

3. Add additional rows continuing to stagger petals, alternating between sheer and solid.

It's been a while since I've posted an actual Platinum Wedding centerpiece that you can recreate as a Bronze Budge Bride for under $20.00. and this one is perfect since yesterday we learned how to make a flower ball using an oasis. This centerpiece is from the $500,000 wedding of Anisha's and Kennard and it is simply a yellow rose ball sitting on a black glass vase.

What you'll need to replicate this piece.

You can buy 100 yellow roses online here costco.com for $89.99. That's a great price for fresh flowers but if you want to take a cheaper route and keep this centerpiece under $20 you can buy 84 silk roses for $14.99 or 84 velvet roses for $16.99 on Efavormart.com!



For the fresh roses, you will need a floral foam ball that you can get in a set of two for $9.36 at save-on-crafts.com! You can choose whatever size you'd like but I recommend using at least an 6 inch ball for a fuller rose ball.



For the artificial roses a styrofoam ball is used instead which you can also find fairly cheaply here at createforless.com, the 6 inch ball is $5.89.

Now follow the instruction here for making a flower ball using an oasis.

On to the black vase!

You have even more options when it comes to choosing a vase to use for this floral arrangement. However, to keep the look as close to the original and to keep it affordable, black Eiffel Tower Vases are perfect. They start at just $2.99, the 12" vase is $3.99 and the 16" vase is only $4.99.



Don't forget to get a floral foam holder for each centerpiece. It goes inside the vase and serves the purpose of keeping the flower ball in place. It's not expensive either only $1.99 and it is the last piece of you'll need to complete this platinum look for less.


If you want a more extravagant, black vase then take a look at the reversible, glass vases below. They stand at 15, 19 and 23 inches tall and the tallest will cost you $29.95 but they are so beautiful, I think they're worth it.

Trish Haunton an expert at VideoJug did an amazing job demonstrating in easy to follow steps just how to create a beautiful, flower ball. I could not add it to this post, unfortunately, but HERE is the link for you to see it for yourself and the step by step instructions are below.

What You'll Need:

• A damp round ball of floristry foam measuring 20cm (or close to 8 inches) in diameter
• 50 Carnations (or any full-bloomed flower)
• Scissors
• Ruler

Directions:

This clear, glass vase stands at 24 inches tall and features the silhouettes of branches with small birds. I love it and I am reminded of a peaceful, warm Summer's night when I look at it. It's art on a vase and that means now you get to do even less to make your centerpieces stand out.



If you head over to save-on-crafts.com you can find them here for  $13.99! You don't get a bulk discount on these vases, unfortunately, but you will be glad to learn that if you were to purchase them in stores, you would have to shell out $29.99. So $13.99 is already a bargain.

Look at those lemons, limes and oranges in the photo above! Did you think that they were real? I did...they are quite realistic. The best part about them are that they are not expensive either, as a matter of fact, 144 pieces cost just $19.99. That many fruit can create some beautiful centerpieces that you can set up weeks before your wedding and save yourself the stress of worrying about decay on your big day.

If you are interested in where you to this set of fake fruit then go HERE to save-on-crafts.com. Not only can you find the fake fruit but also apothecary jars, like the ones in the picture above.  I've listed the cheaper ones below for you.

Weighted Glass Urn with Glass Lid 18-1/4" tall - $23




Bubble -ball clear (8x10) Glass Vase - $6.40




Weighted Glass Jars with Lid ( 11-3/4" tall) -  4 for $8.99 each

Glass Cylinder Vase 5" x 6" diameter - 6 for $6.99 each




Set of 3 Glass Jars Glass (10-3/8" - 8" - 7-1/2" tall) $19.99

These beautiful birch branches, painted silver, have always reminded me of Winter. Perhaps it's the glitter that sparkles like snow when the sunlight catches it or it could be the resemblance to the ornaments we hang from our Christmas tree. I just know I want to get some this year to create a centerpiece this holiday season that I know will last well into the new year. They great news for you as a bride-to-be is that they are affordable and make beautiful centerpieces that would look perfect at a Winter wedding., just look at the images below.