Wedding Countdown Ticker

Monday, July 23, 2012

What Do I Do With All This Stuff After The Wedding?

Hey everyone. I'm back. Its been almost a month since I married the love of my life and my best friend. I am finding my way through this new thing that is called a wife. It is a new adventure and I am trying to navigate through all the changes. But, I have been looking all over the online world for some ideas on what to do with all the accessories that I have now that the wedding is over. I found nothing. I found out how to make them and stuff, but I have found nothing to do with the sentimental things like ring bearer pillow, left over flowers, bridal bouquet, unity candle, etc after the wedding is over. So here is my best advice for any brides who may be having this problem.

Ring Bearer Pillow:

1. Give it to the Ring Bearer. Since your ring bearer is probably the son of one of your close friends or family member, they may want a sentimental token from your wedding and also something that they can put in their child's hope chest.

2. Keep it for a Scrap Book. Say your ring bearer or his mother/father does not want the ring bearer pillow, then what? Well, if you are crafty, and you probably are given the fact that you have been following a blog that has been 75% DIY projects, then you would probably enjoy cutting up the fabric, using the little rings and if there were flowers on the pillow, using them as the cover to your scrap book or some accessories in the actual book.

3. Donate it to Another Bride. You all know how much all of this stuff costs and it all adds up. Even the little things. Some of the things that you may not want, another bride may want to take off of your hands. And if you don't have any friends or friends of friends that would want it, then you could donate it to a local church that has a wedding department. I am sure they would appreciate your reused items.

4. Sell it On eBay. You could make a little bit of cash and another bride will get something they need at a discounted rate. Its a win win.

Extra Flowers:

1. Use Them In Your Scrap Book. Just like the ring bearer pillow, you could use this to decorate your scrap book by using some of the flowers (if you used silk flowers).

2. Make An Arrangement for you home. Take some of the flowers that you have left over and mix it with some other cool flowers you may find or have laying around and make a cute and trendy little flower arrangement for a dining room centerpiece, window sill decor, or any other little piece of artwork that you think of.

Unity Candles:

1. Dining Room Centerpiece. The candles probably are the hardest thing to find something to do with, but if you took time and/or money to put them together, then you may want to give them a prominent spot in your home. Not just a dining room centerpiece, but also using the candles in a living room, den, ect. Find someplace pretty to put them.

2. Donate Them. If your unity candle doesn't have any identifying marks or if they weren't permanent (like mine), then just give them to a friend or a church like with all the other stuff.

3. Reuse. Are you planning on having date night? Instead of stuffing the candles in a drawer somewhere, take them out and have a candle lit dinner with your hubby or wifey. Something less romantic, use them if the lights go out in your house LOL.

Bridal Bouquet:

1. Centerpiece Bouquet. I know I used silk flowers for my wedding so I have this beautiful bouquet that I now want to show off. I plan on using mine on a table that I will place my wedding portrait on. Its all white, so it will go with any decor that I may use in the house. But this could be used in any room of your house to add something sentimental from your wedding to a table, room or shelf you plan on devoting to wedding pictures.

2. Scrapbook It. If you don't mind deconstructing your flowers, use them in your scrapbook. Simple, easy and adds pizzazz.

Wedding Veil:

1. You Guessed It Scrapbook It. If you, like me, made your own veil for like $15.00 I don't mind cutting up the fabric and using it as keepsakes in a scrapbook.

2. Sell it on eBay. If you actually went all out and spent lots of money on your veil and do not want to keep it around for your daughter or some other person to use it later, offer it on eBay and make some money off of it.

3. Donate It. If you have a friend or loved one who doesn't mind using a second hand veil, let them use yours or donate it to a Goodwill store for someone who may not be able to afford a really nice veil for their wedding day.

Wedding Dress:

All the ideas apply for the wedding veil, although I don't know who would want to cut up their wedding dress.

Make it into a Party Dress. Do you know anyone who can sew really well? Maybe they can take your wedding dress and make it into something that you can wear again. Many people think about doing this, but never actually do it. But, it could be kind of fun to actually wear your wedding dress again for a fun night out with you hubby.

I am curious what other brides did with any left over items that they had after their wedding. If you think of something else, please leave a comment, I would love to hear from you.

Lastly, my last wedding blog will be pictures of  the wedding day. Once I receive the CD from our photographer, I will upload some of my favorites on here so that everyone who followed this blog will be able to see the finished product if you were not able to make it to the wedding. I have really enjoyed blogging and documenting my journey and was overwhelmed by how well the blog was received. I was not expecting to get so many readers, but I did. I will be rolling out a new blog next month about a topic that really hit me hard while I was planning our wedding. I hope you all will enjoy my next blog as well. Stay tuned and save those pennies.

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