Step 1: Mason Jars/Wooden Circles

Mason Jars: I took burlap/lace ribbon from any craft store/department. We went with yellow, as it's my favorite color. I then wrapped them in layers of the ribbon and used a hot glue gun to seal them. I wrapped the tops in Jute twine or white strings. I recommend a mix & match theme, especially if you're trying to save money, because you really get a chance to utilize all the materials you buy without having tons of unnecessary left overs. A friend of mine sells jewelry online, and she was able to find these small anchors which I tied onto the jute twine and sealed the bows with a drop of hot glue. We found the feathers online. There are tons of websites with all different types of feathers. I like guinea feathers, because the spots are a great contrast with plain feathers. We used an assortment of guinea feathers (as they are vastly different from male to female), ostrich plumes (the longer the better as they fluff out nicely and you can always cut the back down to needed size), rooster feathers (the ones with the V shaped lines), and plain white filler feathers. We got 3 batches of baby's breath the day before the wedding at Publix (which I highly recommend, as they are typically 3 for 10 dollars there, as opposed to about 12 dollars each at a florist, and they look identical, if not better). We arranged the feathers around the baby breath, as it provided a nice base which held the feathers in place. The heart chalkboard sticks were found at Joann's craft store. I believe they were around .80 cent each after the discount. Looking back, I would suggest to use the chalk pens instead of actual chalk, as they are much easier to manipulate. In the bottom of the mason jars, we used a tiny bit of sand, for stability and to better anchor down the chalk stick and baby's breath.

Napkins: We found these on sale at Joann's, so we basically lucked out. They were 1.00 for a package of 50 napkins at the sale rate of 80 % off.

Tea-light Mason Lid Candles: I was looking at the tons of left over lids from my mason jars, and found a great way to put them to use. I flipped the inner lid upside down, and hot glued it together. I used some of the bird seed from my confetti bar (shown later on) and in others, I used some of the sand from the mason jars to sprinkle around the tea-light candle. I used the next size up from the tiny tea-lights.

Burlap table runners: I bought the larger size burlap ribbon from various craft departments. I mixed and matched them based on what I could find on sale. Walmart had a great deal in our area, as all the yellow lace burlap was on sale for 2.00 per roll. The one shown in the photo came from Joann's and was on sale for 70% off. It just takes time to look through the sale departments in these stores. If you're not completely stuck on a certain particular theme, and don't mind mixing things up a little bit, you can save a TON of money and still have a beautiful wedding. It just takes more hands on time, which I appreciated more in the end. Just knowing that my husband and friends and I took the time to make each one of these centerpieces meant more to me than buying some pre-made decorations.

Wooden Keys: We found these, yet again, for 70% off at Joann's. My husband stained them with a jar of wood stain from Walmart that costs around 7-8 dollars for a jar. It lasts literally forever. We only ended up using about 1/4th of the stain. We also borrowed a wood burning kit from a friend. I'm not sure how much they cost to rent/buy. I'm sure they aren't cheap, but as you'll see later in the photo's, it came in handy for MANY things.

Wooden Centerpiece Circles: These came from a fallen tree behind our house and a chainsaw. They don't take much effort to obtain, and honestly, if you find someone selling firewood or clearing out their property, these are usually free or next to free. I found small circular sheer tulle with glitter at Walmart in the Wedding decorations. They're $.99 cent for 50 of them. I took one and put one drop of hot glue in the center and then tied each one off with Jute twine (The same I used for the jars, $5.00 for a large roll).

As far as the little jewels and the bells on top, you can basically choose anything you like to scatter across the top. We also took fine sprinkles of gold glitter and tossed it lightly throughout the center of the table. Depending on your lighting, it's really pretty when you dim the lights and it catches a glint of the glitter. It stuck well to the plastic white table clothes we used as well, so it didn't get all over the guests.

Step 2: More Centerpieces

Again, these mason jars are very inexpensive to make. On these, there is a slight variation. I used my Cri-cut to make several different designs with tan colored cardstock, which I hot glued to the front. I put a tiny bit of sand in these, and a small tea light candle inside. (IF you do this, please get a lighter that reaches down inside the jars to light them. It can work, even if not, but it makes it MUCH easier).

We bought a 4-pack of Champagne Flutes and tied more Jute Twine to the bottom with bow.

My husband is a Marine. So to cut the cake, we used his military knife. It took some convincing for him to allow us to put a ribbon on it, but luckily in my craft box, I had some July 4th themed ribbon. (We got married June 27th, on my birthday). I found some small Marine Corp pins online that were very inexpensive. I use them to make bows for my daughter. We hot glued one in the center of the bow to keep it in place.

This circular centerpiece was just a round cardboard circle found in the cake decoration department in any department store, covered in sparkly tulle and hot glued around the bottom.

Step 3: Confetti Bar

I found a chalkboard sign at Walmart for $2.00 and a friend of mine wrote Confetti Bar on it for me. We sealed the chalk on the board with glitter spray.

I bought a bag of birdseed from the Outdoor department in Walmart for around $3.50, which I ended up only using half. The other half, I sprinkled in my yard, and it is now growing into grass. You can get any container that you like to keep the confetti in. I also bought 3 small containers of large circular glitter confetti from a craft store. It wasn't as cheap as I'd have liked, but it was one of the things I was set on.

In all honestly, I think maybe 10 people made a bag of confetti to throw at us. But it made a very cute decoration table.

Again, I used mason jars on most tables.

Step 4: Cake Decorations

A good friend of mine make the cake and cupcakes for us. We placed a burlap flower that we found at Michael's craft store at the base of the cake. One of my Bridesmaids bought us the "J" for the topper to the cake. She didn't say where she found it, but she did say she found it online at a good price. Our colors were yellow, grey and burlap. So the girl who make the cupcakes sprinkled grey dots across the top of the cupcakes.

The cake stand is a mixture of rolled cardboard, hot glue and any color decorations you choose to put around it.

In the background, the hanging backdrop of cups was my favorite thing to see in the end. It was also the most work of all. I spent HOURS making hundreds of tiny cups.

Cup backdrop: I bought a roll of parchment paper and rolled them into cups which I taped together into the cone shapes. I used a hole puncher to make a hole in the top of each one. (This literally takes lots of time and patience!) I bought a roll of crochet thread in white. I fed the string and tied off each cup, about 4-5 inches apart. I staggered them from the ceiling at different lengths, and they made a beautiful backdrop for my cake table. I also hung several of them over the food tables as well.

In the background, you may see the square wooden block. I bought it for $10.00 at Walmart and used the chalk to write a quote across it. You can write whatever you want and put it on any table. I wrote, "Take a little, Take a lot, Enjoy the sweets, We tied the KNOT".

Step 5: Burlap Backdrop

I bought a long roll of burlap, which I cut out the flag shapes for the banner. I originally had the idea to take black paint and stencil each letter out on the burlap. The only problem with that is you don't get the dramatic visual effect of the letters from far away. So I took my Cri-cut and cut out letter with the Chalkboard Fonts cartridge. I STILL didn't like the black lettering, so I took some of my black chalkboard paint and sponged it heavily on each letter, and finished them off with glitter spray. I hot glued each of those to the burlap, which I rolled each of the tops over a jute twine string and hot glued down. I still have these hanging in my room to this day. :)

I used more mason jars to make candles that lined the steps up to the stage. And I added random things as backdrops which I already owned. Such as the large trunk and some pictures with cute quotes that matched my colors.

Step 6: Flowers

Yesssss... I used FAKE flowers. Some people think that's tacky, but I have them placed with other wedding décor in my house now, and they are still as beautiful as the day of the wedding.

For the flowers, I went to Michael's craft store and picked out the arrangement. I used some of my feathers to fill it out as well. There were beads and burlap flowers, tigerlillies, and basically anything I saw that matched.

Michael's has a service in some stores where someone will actually take what you've picked out and wrap them into an arrangement for you. As busy as I was with other decorations, I paid for this service. It was $16.00 on top of the cost of the flowers, and saved me quite a bit of time.

Step 7: More Feathers...

This is my husband wearing a buttoneer we made wrapping up some of the feathers from the mason jars. Each of the groomsmen wore one as well. Again, the entire order of feathers was around 40 dollars and they made such a huge difference. I used them in so many things and STILL have tons left over.

Step 8:

We used lots of wicker baskets, such as on the food table for the silverware. And we also used corn stalks for centerpieces on the food tables.

Step 9: Our "US" Table

My husband is a Marine, and I am a 9-1-1 Communications Officer. We wanted a table that displayed who we are, and what we stand for. So we took some of our decorations/certifications and different things we both enjoy. This is the other thing I used the wood burner for. I wrote a quote on a wooden decorative oar, which we purchased from Joann's craft store for around $10 dollars. My husband then traced out the letters with the wood burner. This is another decoration on our wall of wedding décor at home. :)