Budget Weddings: Flowers

Weddings and flowers are synonymous, but blooms are ridiculously expensive.

Fortunately, there are many ways to save in this department. Go to a professional for the bride's bouquet (unless you're Martha Stewart). You can tackle the rest of the floral decorations yourself if need be. For bridesmaids' bouquets, buy flowers -- such as lilies -- that look gorgeous just loosely arranged. Tie the stems together with a satin ribbon and use wire to keep them alert. Another possibility is for each bridesmaid to carry a single rose or a large sunflower.

Since you will be spending less time in the church or synagogue than at the reception, allocate your flower budget accordingly. Consider renting flowering plants from a company that supplies plants to offices. Place the plants at the church or synagogue's entrance, altar and at each aisle. (A ribbon tied around each pot is festive.) If you are having your ceremony before or after another couple's event, talk to them about sharing decorations and splitting the cost.

To avoid expensive floral arrangements for each table at the reception, invest in inexpensive glass vases and fill them yourself. Not talented at flower arranging? Go for elegant simplicity: Set one type of flower in each vase.

For a winter wedding, evergreens are a handsome option at a modest price. Ice sculpture, of all things, is making a comeback. A wholesale food or catering supplier will sell you a mold -- swan or otherwise -- for about $35. The price of a glistening sculpture is a far cry from that for a large floral arrangement, and makes a dramatic object on the buffet table.