Trash to Treasure

We all know that weddings are expensive, but there are ways to save money and they are right under your nose. When brides envision their wedding décor I’m sure trash is the last thing that comes to mind, but for me it was one of the first! I needed a way to brighten up a big reception space and I have a small budget. One of the solutions I found was using everyday items such as different types of soda, beer, wine, and any other glass bottles your friends and family might throw away. This may seem crazy to some people to be using “trash” as wedding décor, my mom Tricia Harris told me, “At my wedding over 30 years ago all I used to decorate was some flowers and candelabra’s. I never would have thought to DIY different decorations from things I was throwing away”. It has become a lot more common in the last few years however, DIY has gone from being just a cheap solution to actually being cool. Sites like Pinterest have inspired a lot more DIY projects for weddings and other such events.

The project I am going to share with you today is how to make decorative vases out of glass bottles. This project is extremely easy and inexpensive. Below are the step by step instructions followed by photos at the very bottom.

1. First I recommend asking friends and family via Facebook or something similar to save their glass bottles of any type after they drink whatever is inside of them. You will want to figure out about how many you will need for your wedding, I am using mine in the window sills of my reception so I want about 30-40.

2. After gathering your bottles, the next step is to remove all labels and clean off the residue. There are several ways to do this and probably the easiest is to get a large bucket filled with water, place all your bottles in the bucket and put one to two scoops of Oxi Clean powder in the bucket. Stir it all up and let the bottles soak for a few hours, the labels will float right to the top of the water leaving nice clean bottles to work with. Other methods include using stain stick, Goo Gone, and scrub the bottles using any type of sponge.

3. Next step is to paint the bottles. You will want to get a spray paint that matches your wedding, and that works on glass. Spray painting the bottle is pretty self-explanatory, you can either paint it one solid color, do an ombre effect, or use rubber bands to create stripes. This part is where you get to be creative and go with your wedding look.

4. Finally, you must decide what you will put into the bottles. Flowers are always a good choice; you can use different flowers in each bottle, or all the same. Match them to your bouquets, whatever you want. I also have found that you can use the floral decorative stems from craft stores, if you don’t want flowers.
You can also add things like hand painting designs on them, tying them with ribbon and burlap, or creating your own monogram stickers with your initials.

And that is how you make easy, inexpensive, and pretty décor! I hope this post inspires you to think outside of the box when it comes to decorations. I want to give a big thanks to my mom for letting me interview and quote her, and big thanks to my Fiancé Kyle for helping me out with all my DIY projects.