Capital Ideas

Customize your reception by putting your brand-new monogram on everything, from diminutive spoons to paper cartons to burger buns.

Fashionable Foliage

Find the perfect greenery for your fete by logging on to foliagegarden.com, where you'll find tropical plants to rent or buy, including ten types of palms.

Deep Freeze

Some flowers turn black when the temperature dips below 42 degrees. If you're marrying in winter, pick blooms—like hydrangeas—that can stand up to the cold.

Stand Alone

Save time by choosing one type of flower (in one color) for your wedding decor and bouquets. Think peonies, roses, or hydrangeas, which are lush enough to stand on their own.

Vintage Bouquets

Tickled Pink

For a fun and feminine celebration, think pink. Try gerbera daisies, celery sticks filled with pink beet horseradish, cosmopolitan cocktails, and hot-pink rock candy.

The New Vase

Use fun alternatives to vases such as antique watering cans for a country event and large conch shells for a seaside fete.

Supersize It

Choose one hue to create a fuller-looking bouquet without spending one extra dime. Monochromatic bouquets look fuller than ones made with blooms of various colors.

Sticky Situation

What to do if a boutonniere snaps in two? Dab on some glue from a hot glue gun. Pinch the bud and stem for a few seconds to make sure they stick.

In Your Best Light

Colored lighting is beautiful. Ask your site manager to swap out white light bulbs for amber, peach, gold or pink ones that make everyone glow.

Country Covers

How to dress your tables at a country affair? Unfurl fabrics that are ever so humble for tablecloths, seat cushions, and slipcovers. Try gingham and calico cottons, burlap, hopsack, and corduroy.

Branch Out

Inexpensive blooms like carnations make sumptuous arrangements affordable, while one or two branches of orchids create dramatic yet cost-effective displays.

Boutonniere Bust

If you find yourself short a boutonniere on your wedding day, snag a flower from one of the bridesmaid bouquet’s or pick a bloom from the back of one of the ceremony arrangements.

Heads-Up

Instead of bouquets, have your florist create European-style head wreaths for your bridesmaids to wear down the aisle.

Go-Again Greetings

Don’t chuck those greeting cards—let environmental guru Danny Seo show you in his book Simply Green Giving how to turn them into charming luminarias.