Every decoration you buy for your wedding is going to be expensive, but you can always find ways to make things more affordable. The vast majority of couples are stuck on the notion that you need everything to be elegant and classy at your wedding reception, but for those of you with more flexible standards there are ways to decorate for pennies on the dollar. One of the best places to apply this technique is to the centerpieces that you place on each of the tables at your wedding reception. Here are ways to save on each aspect of your centerpieces for your wedding.

The Vase

Buying glass vases for every table’s centerpiece is not only expensive but it’s also quite wasteful. After everyone is done at the reception, the bride and groom are usually stuck with all of the leftover decorations to take home. Sure, one or two vases could be a nice addition to your collection, but what if you had 15 tables at your reception? Instead, you can go with something a little more practical like Mason jars for your centerpiece vessels. Just wrap a piece of ribbon around the lip, stuff whatever you like inside, and poof: you have a centerpiece. Best of all, you can just sterilize those Mason jars when you get home and you can use them to can your tomatoes from your organic garden.

The Contents

By far the most expensive part of any centerpiece will be the flowers. Buying flowers for your wedding is already ridiculously expensive, but when you start putting them on every single table in your reception venue the numbers really start to stack up. Instead of costly flowers that only last a few days anyways, consider putting in something a little more fun and practical. You can buy some cheap sparklers to put in each centerpiece so you guests can have a little fun later on in the evening. You could fill them with candy so everyone gets a sweet treat after their meal is over and before you serve your wedding cake. You can put anything you want in your centerpieces, so there’s no reason to waste all that money on silly flowers.

Skip It All Together

And finally, you have my personal favorite option: skipping the centerpieces all together. Now, I’m not saying you shouldn’t decorate the tables for your reception at all, but there’s no reason to buy vases, jars, flowers, or whatever else just to clutter up the table. Instead, just dump a huge pile of candy right in the middle with some confetti and ribbons. You could put a bunch of pictures of the bride and groom in the middle of the table to give people a conversation ice breaker. Perhaps finding the cheapest wedding centerpieces ever can be achieved by getting rid of them all together.