Reuse and Upcycle for Your Wedding
Finding the décor for a wedding is (mostly!) fun. You might have a theme or a colour in mind, you might want it simple, or plan to the last detail. However, however, spending tons of money on the décor that will be used for just one day is not ideal. What if you could upcycle your decorations and reuse your props? As you all know, on Preloved we are all about giving second chances, so we want to encourage you to give a second chance to those objects that made your special day that little bit more special.
Upcycling the décor
1. We all have puzzles lying around. We all did them when we were younger and if you haven’t lost a piece or two and thus have never touched it since, who are you?! These hearts made out of puzzle pieces are adorable, and have so many meanings attached. So meta.
2.As much as we like reading, there will be books that you either did not finish or will not read again. There are so many amazing things to make out of books, but to whet your appetite you can make confetti, or garlands. You can also stack a pile of books and use it to place your table number.
3. Before you put your bottles or cans in the recycling just think to yourself: can I reuse these? Probably.
4. In terms of bunting, somewhere, someone will have tablecloths or linen that is too old or frail to use. Just turn it into bunting and you can bring it out on summer days to show off the garden.
5. As for table numbers, you can use domino or scrabble. It’s something different and you can also use Scrabble to name the tables!
Reuse at home
1. Using photo frames as table numbers is ideal. You can then reuse the frames to either display photos of the day around the house or send them to loved ones with personalised photos from the big day.
2. Ladders are a thing. The sooner we accept it, the sooner we’ll acknowledge that, while it sounds like an amazing idea, they can be a cumbersome prop at a wedding. Solution? Either make a shelving unit out of it and have it against a wall, or varnish it against the elements and have it in the garden with herbs or strawberry plant pots on it.
3. If you used old doors at the backdrop to the wedding photos, you can use them as partitions either in a big living room or in the garden.
4. Old teacups or glasses can be used as candle holders. These can either be reused at home as an environmentally-friendly option for ambiance in the room, or guests can take them home as a memento. They are great as a succulent planter too!
5. If you had a typewriter at your wedding, you can easily use that as décor for your home. Some people have a guestbook for when family and friends come to stay. You could have the typewriter in the hall or the guestroom for your guests to leave messages for you and you can then make a collage scrapbook-style.
Have a look at our Wedding section to get inspired!
