One of the biggest stresses of wedding planning is in realizing the amount of details to be coordinated. As my planning progressed, I found a theme which helped to sort out the details that were most important to me. In all areas of my life, I like to have coordination and organization, so it was important that the same held true for planning my wedding decor.

My goal was to find the perfect combination of cozy, rustic and glam without going over the top. As I have {or will} mention in some of my other wedding blogs, I re-used much of my decor for my engagement party, bridal shower and wedding day. It was a tremendous time and money saver!  I was most excited about smaller decor details in the last few weeks before the wedding , when everything started coming together. On the day of my wedding I barely noticed some of the decorations we added, but it was sweet to hear from family and friends how much they appreciated the beauty of our weddings’ details.

I purchased most of my “signage” on Etsy through instant downloads and had everything printed at Staples. All of my “rustic glam” signs were from this seller on Etsy.  I actually purchased a few signs last year for my engagement party and reached out to her again for my wedding. I found a few odds and ends at HomeGoods along with some inexpensive picture frames from Walmart. I found this “love is sweet sign,” on Amazon. Costs can add up, so be sure to do some research!

{Disclaimer: I are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for me to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites. All opinions/recommendations are my own.}

My ceremony programs, menus, place card tags and labels for the favors were purchased from this Etsy seller.  I decided to use 2-in-1 favors and place cards. We chose wine bottles as our favor, and we added custom labels and attached the place card  to the bottle with twine. I absolutely loved them! I kept the hotel bags really simple and just used this tag which I attached to the bags with twine. The hotel bags included water bottles, Kind granola bars, Swedish Fish, North Fork Chips and Advil. This chips are from a local company on Long Island, and I really liked being able to include a small local business in my wedding.

A really special decor touch were pictures of parents and grandparents on their wedding day. I put them in 8×10 frames on a built-in bookshelf at our venue. I think it’s a really nice way to incorporate parents and grandparents into the special day.

I don’t have photos of my flip-flop or bathroom baskets, but I do think they are a nice additional touch for the guests. As a guest at other weddings, I’ve always appreciated them. My mom purchased all of my flip-flops well in advance during the Old Navy $1 flip-flop sale. I think she actually got them for $0.90 by opening a store credit card. I found two metal baskets at Michael’s Craft store on clearance for $5 each to use to store the flip-flops {I now use them for blankets in my living room}. My mother-in-law made the bathroom baskets filled with travel sized toiletries. I think the top items are mouth wash, hair ties, hair spray and mints. No need to go overboard!

Two weeks before my wedding, I was still thinking about the entrance sign I hadn’t purchased. Since ordering instant downloads from Etsy had worked so well, I figured this would be a good option for a welcome sign too. I purchased a welcome sign and photo frame on Etsy for around $20 each, but was surprised when I went to Staples to have them printed. To have a 24×36 poster printed and mounted to foam board, costs about $70! Without the mounting a poster costs $35, and that was still before buying additional supplies to mount the poster myself. The pre-made wood entrance signs I originally had my eye on were about $80, so they actually would have been a better option than printing it myself. (Disclaimer: It wasn’t until my husband was proof reading this blog that he knew I wasted money on these!)

When I went to my venue a few days before my wedding to drop off my decor, I took a look around and realized there wasn’t an optimal spot for a welcome sign anyway. In reflecting on the wedding planning, I am happy knowing I didn’t spend money on the welcome sign because I don’t think anyone would have really noticed it anyway! When the big day comes, the small details don’t matter all that much. What matters most is that you enjoy the day and all of the people around you. And that’s just what I did!