General Tips, Your Event Career

7 Budget-Friendly Ideas for Truly Innovative Event Decor

In the world of event and wedding planning, event decor plays a huge role in making your client’s special occasion come together! Event decor allows you to customize your client’s special occasion to include sentimental touches and reflect personality. If you’re a certified planner, adding event decor training to your repertoire is a smart way to not only strengthen your skill-set, but to get an edge over your competition.

That being said, your clients will have all sorts of different budgets available to them. Not everyone will have extra cash to spend on lavish decor. Does that mean your clients are out of luck if they have small event budgets? Does that mean these clients can’t have beautiful decor?

No, it certainly doesn’t!

The great thing about event decor is that it’s very flexible. Practically anything you can think of can be used as decor, so long as you give it a creative spin! With your ingenuity, talent and maybe a little extra elbow grease, it’s 100% possible to work with budget-conscious clients. You can provide your clients with cost-friendly, gorgeous decor!

Don’t believe us? Below are 7 timeless and elegant event decor ideas that WON’T break the bank!

1. Photobooth Prop Set

Who doesn’t love starring in a personal, impromptu photoshoot? Photobooths have gained immense popularity over the years. They’re an easy way to have fun with friends and get Instagram-worthy shots to commemorate a special event! Plus, photobooths create a rather convenient setup for the event photographer.

Typically, photobooths come with a set of props that guests can pick from and use to make their shots all the more fun. Your clients can choose from tons of options to include in their events, in terms of what they want the props to be and/or say.

The best part? These props can be dirt cheap! Online stores, such as Amazon, offer full sets for less than $20.00 USD. If a client wishes to save even more money, consider the DIY route. With a few arts and crafts items, you can make your own photobooth props for a minimal cost!

2. Decorate Candle Lanterns

You can find candle lanterns almost anywhere, and they’re not overly costly. You can fill decorative lanterns with candles, flowers, stones or whatever else your client would like!

Even something as simple as a faux gold lantern with clear glass can appear regal and expensive, when in reality, your client paid less than $20.00 USD a piece. Plus, if the event has a specific color scheme or theme, you can paint decorative lanterns to match the rest of the decor!

The Knot Shop sells these beautiful lanterns at an easily-affordable price, while also providing great deals and savings if you buy multiple lanterns in bulk.

3. Mason Jars

Similar to decorative lanterns, mason jars make for excellent event decor because there’s SO much you and your client can do with them! They can be incorporated into the tables’ centerpieces, used to display floral arrangements or to hold decorative pens for the guest book, etc.

You can easily elevate the look of mason jars using paints glitter, ribbon, miniature chalkboards and so much more! Their clear, simplistic design makes for the perfect canvas.

Since mason jars can even be found in dollar stores, your client can stock up on loads of them for a very budget-friendly price!

4. White String Lights

I, for one, can think of very little else that’s as romantic as dangling white lights. Is your client’s event and/or reception taking place at night? Strings of white lights can add an intimate, magical flair to the atmosphere!

String lights have plenty of practical uses, too. For instance, you can line the tables with them, or you can strategically pick specific areas to show them off throughout the venue. If you’re decorating a wedding, white lights can even be used to line and accent the cake.

White lights also extremely adaptable, in that you can use them whether the event is taking place indoors or outdoors. This kind of event decor works for practically any environment!

Rest assured, you can easily find these lights, no matter the season. Amazon, for example, sells them by the hundred for $9.99 USD. What a steal!

5. Play with Your Food

Okay, maybe not literally. What we mean is that you can consider the way in which an event’s food and drinks are displayed to be decor in its own right. Have you ever been to a celebration where the food display and/or plating was so eye-catching that it could have been considered its own art form?

There’s a lot of room here to add a bit more flair to your client’s special day, without going broke in the process!

Will there be platters of food available for the guests? Stack up the trays to create an aesthetically pleasing flow! Will the event include some sort of candy bar? Use those mason jars we previously talked about to group certain candies together! With a bit of extra preparation, you might even go so far as arranging the candies for guests according to color!

The possibilities are endless!

6. Fake Greenery and Florals

If your client feels strongly about protecting the environment, many believe that faux plants and flowers make for a great, affordable way to decorate the event while also keeping it eco-friendly because these products are reusable. Even if this isn’t at the top of your client’s priority list for moral reasons (which is fine), it’s often a cheaper alternative than authentic greenery.

You can take this idea as far as your client is comfortable with. You might simply use fake florals and/or plants for the centerpieces, or you might replace ALL the bouquets and flowers with synthetic replicates. In many cases, fake florals are a lot cheaper than going to a florist to obtain the real thing.

If your client is concerned about the use of plastic (as this would in fact be counterproductive to any green initiatives), you can find many alternatives made from other sustainable resources, such as silk. Just make sure to research into the companies, so you know whether or not the silk has been harvested in a way that doesn’t kill the pupa.

7. Real Greenery and Florals

On the other hand, some argue that the real thing is the best (and only) environmentally friendly option for event decor. Or maybe your client simply doesn’t like the look of fake flowers. Either way, you’ve got it covered! This is your client’s big day, so if she wants real florals and greenery, she should have it.

In terms of event decor, flowers and greenery have way more uses than just your traditional bouquets. Florals can be used to elevate centerpieces, be masterfully woven into the rest of the room’s decor, or even stand alone in beautiful arrangements! Have you ever seen those big, hanging flower spheres? They’re sensational!

While real flowers may be a tad pricier than their fake alternatives, you can still find cost-friendly options for your clients. For example, a client can make them herself by simply purchasing Styrofoam balls and then inserting the flower stems into it. She can also purchase her event’s florals in bulk from a wholesaler to get a better price.

Another option? YOU can do the florals for your client!

By adding floral training to your resume, you can expand your event and wedding planning business by also acting as your client’s florist! You’ll not only open your overall services to a much wider clientele; you’ll be taking your skills as a professional planner to a whole new level!

For clients who may be on a budget, you’ll be able to combine all of your planning craftiness and expertise with your knowledge of floral design. This way, you can provide your clients with the most gorgeous results – without the most outrageous bill.

So, how would you go about obtaining this additional training? Through schooling, of course! QC Event School, for instance, will soon be releasing its very own Floral Design Course. This course will allow event and wedding planners to learn everything they need to know about the floral arts, and will even arm you with a certification and professional designation upon completion of the program!

Interested in learning more about this new course? Stay turned for upcoming details!

In the meantime, enroll today in QC’s leading online Event Decor Course, and earn your event decorator certification in as little as 3-6 months!

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