How I Saved More Than $1,600 on My Wedding: Decor

My fiance, Ryan, and I are planning a wedding in Healdsburg, California, in the heart of wine country. Like so many couples, we’re learning that planning a wedding means lots of shopping. Whether it’s paper for your invitations or ties for your groomsmen, spending becomes second nature. So, as a bride with a budget she’d like to stick to, I’m obsessed with getting the best deals when I can. Thankfully, Ebates helped me save on so many wedding essentials, such as invitations, decor, attire — even our honeymoon. In this series of posts, you’ll get a chance to see exactly how much I was able to save and how.

For us, decor was one of the budget items that got thrown into the “miscellaneous” category. So as we approached the wedding day, we were looking for as many deals as we could find. In addition to flowers, there were other wedding decorations we wanted for our winery wedding to give it a personal touch and tie the whole day together. For bud vases and candles as centerpieces, string lights illuminating the outdoor dance floor and wedding favors decorating the dinner table, we budgeted $400.

In the end, we saved more than $200, essentially halving our budget. Here’s how:

Lights

One must-have for our Northern California wedding was dancing under the stars. To light the way for our guests, we chose classic round globe lights strung up overhead. These frosted white string lights from Lighting Direct were perfect for the soft glow and charming backyard-party ambiance we were going for. Between the 10% off coupon for string and rope lights that was available when we purchased, free shipping for orders more than $49 and 5% Cash Back at Ebates for Lighting Direct, we were able to save a pretty penny on our dance floor lights.

Savings:

Ebates Cash Back savings: $6

Total saved at Lighting Direct: $25

Wrapping a few strands of string lights around a couple trees was also among our wedding-decoration ideas. Since we were setting up our dance floor outside, it was crucial that the area was well lit. With these solar string lights we found on Overstock, we were happy not to have to worry about the major tripping hazard of electrical cords taped to the floor. And (bonus!) we were saving energy by powering our lights with the sun.

For our tree lights, we went with two packs of 225 solar-powered and long-lasting lights from Overstock. A free-shipping offer and 6% Cash Back at Ebates saved us a few bucks, and helped save the planet.

Savings:

Ebates Cash Back savings: $3.50

Total saved at Overstock: $10

Total saved on lights: $35

Centerpieces

Since we were doing a farm table for dinner with natural green-leafed garland down the center, our centerpiece needs were mainly to decorate our wine-barrel cocktail tables, the bar area and the dessert table. We preferred to keep it simple, with votive candles and bud vases for flowers at the center of the barrels.

Decorating the cocktail tables was the first priority. Even though we were looking at simple votive candles, candle holders and small bud vases, buying enough for tables for 100 guests meant preparing to spend. Luckily, we found some crazy-good deals at Pier 1 Imports, including clean-lined votive holders and ivory candles at a great price, with free shipping. Since Pier 1 was offering 15% Cash Back at Ebates, we decided to poke around for other decor goodies. We ended up discovering some adorable agate photo clips on clearance — saving us $30 — which we used as table-number holders at dinner.

Savings:

Ebates Cash Back savings: $25

Total saved at Pier 1: $75

We found bud vases at the Container Store. We went with vintage-looking glass milk bottles to hold our flower centerpieces on our wine-barrel cocktail tables. We saved $10 with a 15% off coupon that was available at the time of purchase, earned free shipping because our order was more than $75 and got 4% Cash Back at Ebates. And our wedding flowers couldn’t have looked sweeter.

Savings:

Ebates Cash Back savings: $3

Total saved at the Container Store: $25

Total saved on centerpieces: $100

Favors

Part of our wedding favors included a little ode to San Francisco, where Ryan and I live. We wanted to pair a couple of our favorite Ghirardelli chocolates in a tiny sachet to place on each plate. Because we happened to be shopping on a triple Cash Back week at Ebates, we found some incredible savings at Ghirardelli. We saved $25 on our order thanks to 15% Cash Back, and our guests loved the personal touch.

Savings:

Ebates Cash Back savings: $25

Total saved at Ghirardelli: $25

Chocolates weren’t the only favors we decided to give out. I had seen small bottles of olive oil handed out at a few weddings on Pinterest, and I thought it was the perfect idea — especially for a California wedding. The winery where we were getting married was dotted with olive trees. This idea turned into a small DIY project that was well worth it and loved by everyone, and Michaels was our store of choice for the tiny bottles. Thanks to a buy-one-get-one-50%-off deal on swing-top bottles and 2% Cash Back, we were able to pour some local olive oil into each bottle with a thank-you tag for our guests. These were a huge hit!

Savings:

Ebates Cash Back savings: $3

Total saved at Michaels: $45

Total saved on favors: $70

 Total saved on wedding decor: $205

Overall, we saved $205 on wedding decor, cutting our budget for that in half. An extra $200 went back in our pockets thanks to all the deals and Cash Back we discovered at Ebates. We’ll take it.

Next up, I’ll share even more wedding deals. Stay tuned to learn how I was able to save big on wedding attire.