To save money I've had to break out my old box of craft supplies. Ever since I got engaged back in May I've been collecting jars for my dream rustic wedding. Our theme is New Hampshire meets Tennessee. I know the rustic theme has been a huge trend over the last couple of years in the south. Being a northern girl from an area that's known for its natural beauty I wanted a natural theme for our wedding. We decided on purple for two reasons: it's my favorite color, NH and TN state flowers are both a shade of purple. Unfortunately Lilacs and Iris flowers aren't in our budget so I plan on incorporating them into our cake design. One thing that has save us a TON of money is doing a lot of things handmade and finding deals through word of mouth.
The jars you see are (from top left to right):
A jar to hold my Sola Flower Bouquet (ordered custom from Etsy for under $100 after tax and shipping) I monogrammed it with a leftover glitter iron on and the ribbon was left over from another project. The only part that isn't recycled is the lacey burlap ribbon.
Baby food jars I got from a friend. I cleaned all of the excess glue and printed on experation dates on the jars with a professional grade brush cleaner (please try to avoid doing this indoors). After the cleaning I put a thin coat of pearlescent white paint on the inside. I wouldn't recommend painting the inside if you plan to use tea lights. Our venue doesn't allow real candles for liability reasons so I managed to find some bulk LED tea lights at a craft store. They aren't very pretty on their on which is why I opted to paint the inside of the jar. I hot glued a chevron pattern ribbon that I measured and cut to where it just slightly overlaps. On the other half of the jars I used Washi tape to decorate and tied a skinny ribbon around them in a bow to hide the seams.
The last photo is of our centerpieces. I cleaned the jars the same way as the previous ones. I originally wanted mason jars but with pinterest and rustic weddings trending they are pretty pricey so I simply saved spaghetti sauce jars for MONTHS. I realize that mason jars are probably more convenient for a shorter engagement but I recommend trying to recruit friends and family to help collect. I used felt flowers I bought premade at a craft store. I didn't like the little puff ball center so I pulled them out and hot glued a gem. This was a really easy and cute DIY. I have 17 centerpieces for less than $100 which is almost unheard of.
Overall I am really happy with how this is going and if there is any advice I can share it would be to utilize your crafty side and give yourself more than a year to pull your wedding together. Time has really been on our side and its helped to keep us organized and stress free.
Good luck and happy crafting!
