Budget Savvy Bride: Flowers a la Nancy

Hey there! I wanted to share with all of you one of the major ways my fiance and I are trying to save money on our wedding. We've found a bunch of great ways to save some green, but this one is one of my personal favs.

I was reading Weddingbee and saw that one bride, who was quite proficient at origami, decided to forgo live flowers for paper ones. That got me to thinking about what we could do. I've never been a huge fan of live flowers. I always thought it was such a waste of money since they don't last beyond the event date. After some poking around on good old YouTube, I found a way to make roses out of ribbon. I scoured craft stores and really any store that sold ribbon for clearances, sales and whatever cheap supplies I could find. So far I have over a hundred made for a tiny fraction of what real ones would cost. I plan on making: bouquets for me and my bridesmaids; boutonnieres for the groomsmen, his father and my grandfather; and corsages for the moms and grandmothers. Besides the money we are saving, I love the thought that our wedding flowers will last forever.

For anyone mildly crafty and interested in saving some serious dough, think about ribbon roses. They are easy to make and can be proudly displayed for years to come!