One Time Use Items

I’d like to discuss some common items we almost always see at weddings that could be termed “one time use” items. Because they’re so common many brides assume they must have them, but I’d like to suggest that if you want to save money, consider going the economy route on these “one time use” items or do without them altogether. I’m not talking about The Dress or The Cake either. The items I’m referring to are:

Borrow them if you can!

• The champagne flutes used for the toast                     
• The knife and server used to cut the cake
• The bride’s tiara
• The bride’s garter
• The throw-away bouquet
• Artificial flower petals
• Ring bearer pillow and flower girl basket
• The guest book and pen

I’m going to be blunt: these items have little or no practical use after they’ve served their purpose in a wedding. If you must have them, there’s the issue of storage after The Day has passed. But our goal is to save money, so I'll go over them one by one.

Champagne flutes are best suited for being filled with champagne so unless a couple likes to drink champagne on a regular basis, the flutes will be relegated to a knick-knack shelf to collect dust or be stored away in a cupboard. In a few years they may even find themselves in a garage sale, so why spend a fortune on Waterford crystal flutes? I can guarantee that no one is going to be examining them that closely. Or why spend extra money on decorated “wedding” flutes that serve the same purpose as regular flutes? My suggestion is to buy plastic flutes at The Dollar Store. You can still decorate them beautifully and inexpensively and you won’t feel so bad about getting rid of them when the allure of hanging onto them has passed. Better still, save your money and borrow them from a friend.

The fancy knife and server might find a practical use if and when the couple entertains, but if these utensils are decorated they will always need to be washed by hand. If they’re made of silver they’ll need to be kept polished. Now perhaps I’m the only person on earth who loathes washing dishes by hand and polishing silver, but there it is. So, I wouldn’t buy anything you don’t plan to use in your own kitchen after the wedding. Plain stainless utensils may be decorated using a little ribbon, some seed pearls, and a hot glue gun. The pretty stuff can then be snapped off after the wedding and the utensils returned to practical use, and they’re dishwasher safe. Again, if possible, borrow them.

A tiara is a lovely addition to a bridal headpiece but aside from a wedding, it’s really only appropriate to wear at proms and costume parties…and I’m hoping the bride is beyond her prom years. My suggestion? Save your money. If you must have one, be prepared to store it. I suspect it may end up delighting your own children in the years to come when they play “dress-up”.

A single bridal garter is of no use whatsoever unless it’s actually being used to hold up stockings in which case you need two to do the job properly. Hanging it on the rear view mirror of your car is tacky. My advice is to save your money and bypass the “tradition” of retrieving and tossing the garter which, in recent years, has lost much of its playfulness and is too often used to embarrass the bride and shock the guests. Trust me, no one will miss this foolish ritual and your dignity will remain intact.

Whoever invented the throw-away bouquet is a marketing genius! It’s true that most bridal bouquets are gorgeous and we hate to see them go but, like all flowers, they will wilt and like many other bridal items, they’re really only suitable to be seen at weddings. Drying an entire bridal bouquet and then storing it seems like a waste of energy and space when the photographs of the wedding can bring back those fond memories so easily. If you must, pluck a few petals before the wedding and press them in a book. Save your money on the extra bouquet and pitch your bridal bouquet to your eager guests, then count yourself lucky that you’re not the one who has to find a place to put it over the next few weeks before it’s thrown out.

What can be said in favor of buying artificial flower petals? I don’t know; you tell me. Aside from crafting projects, there is literally no practical use for them at all. Anyway, our local wholesale florist sold real rose petals for almost the same price as the fake ones. I understand that some churches don’t allow the use of real flower petals because they can be ground into the carpets and stain them. (Brides will want to ask about that before wedding day.) The fake flower petals aren’t any easier to deal with since each and every one of them needs to be picked up after the ceremony. So, my suggestion is to save your money and have the Flower Girl simply carry a flower or, if she’s very young, she can carry a favorite toy dressed up for the wedding. Or perhaps she can sprinkle lavender petals, which add a nice fragrance and can be easily vacuumed up.  P.S. Fresh flower petals are perfectly suited for outdoor weddings, in my humble opinion, since they are biodegradable.

I may just donate these things to a school for arts n' crafts.

Speaking of the Flower Girl…the Ring-bearer pillow and the Flower Girl basket are nice touches but hardly necessary. If you eliminate the artificial flower petals like I suggested then there’s no need for a basket! As for the pillow, often the best man and maid of honor are holding on to the real wedding rings while decoy rings are tied to the pillow. Let’s be honest, if the Flower Girl isn’t actually sprinkling flowers and the Ring-bearer isn’t actually in charge of the rings, what is their function within the bridal party? To provide a charming spectacle that serves no purpose but to delight your guests, of course! Thankfully, they don’t need baskets or pillows to accomplish this. Save your money! If you must have them, see if you can borrow them.

The guest book and pen are two articles that need not be expensive or fancy since there is a strong possibility that the bride will never look at them again beyond The Day. The guest book was never meant to become a “keepsake” but rather served the practical purpose of providing a list of those who attended the wedding along with their addresses so that the bride could begin her own address book. This was invaluable when sending out thank you notes. Guests sometimes wrote a note or two of congratulations and well wishes to the couple. This elevated the guest book from a simple attendance sheet to something more personal but still didn’t raise it to the heights of say, a novel, which the bride might actually sit down and read more than once. Meanwhile, the pen need only be functional! No one is likely to be examining the book or the pen very closely, that’s not why they came, so save your money and don’t spend too much time creating a fancy guest book. I suppose if we had really wanted to economize we could’ve simply put some binder paper on a clipboard-- but no, that wouldn’t have been very elegant.

Bottom line: save your money. Borrow them, buy them cheap, make them yourself but don’t spend too much time on them, and by all means, pass them on when you’re done.