We’ve all seen the GORG viral Jimmy Choo wedding heels. These are the two most popular–the ones with the pearls and the ones with the bows; they are timeless, of great quality, and so beautiful, buuuuut… They are pretty expensive. Want the look but don’t want to pay four figures for a pair of shoes? We’ve got you covered with dupes and DIYs of the shoes to consider before you splurge.
01
The OG Shoes
Designer shoes are a lifetime investment. Jimmy Choo makes good quality, timeless designs that you can pass down once you’re done stomping around in them. There is certainly an argument to be made about spending the money on a piece like this that you can wear for other occasions.
These are the Aveline 100: oversized bows with asymmetrical placement, open toe stilettos with a delicate strap, almost four inch heel. A classic silhouette that makes your legs look so sexy. These ones retail for $995.
The other pair are the Sacaria/PF 120: peep toe, white satin, platform heels embellished with pearls. The heel is almost five inches with a one inch platform. They come out to $2,050.
02
Second Hand, Consignment, Liquidated
Ok so, I’m in love with the look and I want them so bad! What about discounted prices? Poshmark, Saks off 5th, eBay, The RealReal, Vestaire, and United Apparel Liquidators are good places to start your search. You can even set up alerts for some of the sites when new Jimmy Choos become available. Look around areas near you for designer liquidation stores and high end consignment. While you might need to keep an eye out and be patient, some of these places will have a basically brand new shoe for half the price.
03
Dupes
Consider: the dupe. You don’t need the original shoe, especially if you only intend to wear these for just one day. I scoured the internet and found (almost) perfect matches. I chose the top three based on price, how close it looks to the original, and, of course, style!
These Milanoo heels are a fantastic dupe for the Aveline shoe. They are less than $60 and have the same big asymmetrical bows as the Jimmy Choo shoe. The color is not a perfect match for the off white of the designer, but these look pretty close.
There are many designer-hack sites listing near-perfect dupes for the Sacaria shoe. These Gianni Bini ones look pretty close. They have the same kind of pearl embellishing, similar toe shape, and the familiar platform.
The real winner in terms of Choo dupes? LingChanStudio on Etsy. Take a look for yourself–this shop has a variety of styles for a fraction of the designer price.
04
DIY
Aveline-ish
credit: @SarahPopolo
This DIY video is easy to follow along with and doesn’t require you to spend more than $40. It takes you through step by step on how to create a very similar look to the original. If you’re looking for a specific walk-through of this DIY, this video is for you.
Sacaria-ish
This video shows you how to add pearls to any pair of heels. It is not specific to duping this exact pair of heels, but it gives a good idea of the pearl-attaching process.
Whether you buy the originals, the discounted ones, the dupes, or DIY them yourself, these shoes are going to look like a million buck on you when the big day actually happens. For more tips on how to accessorize for your wedding, check out 10 Bridal Accessories You Need to Know About.
Choosing centerpieces is not always a top priority for brides and grooms, and it can be a bit of a surprise when they discover the price that comes along with getting professionally arranged centerpieces. Whether you’re on a budget, or just looking for something simple and trendy and elegant, we have compiled a list of inexpensive ideas along with YouTube DIY’s that won’t give away your budget.
Sweetheart, Banquet, and Round Style Reception Tables
When thinking of how to design your centerpieces, its important to think of what kind of table you are going to be using for your big day. Round tables will usually require one centerpiece per table, and is something to keep in mind when budgeting the cost of each centerpiece, whereas banquet tables can make use of table runners, candles, or greenery instead of large centerpieces. This also applies to your sweetheart table, as this is the table that will be photographed the most. Prioritize how you will decorate this area over the reception tables that your guests will sit at when designing the overall theme of your centerpieces.
Here is a beautiful example of a simple way that you can decorate a banquet table using a floral table runner. This video goes over cost and how to assemble.
To avoid the high costs of name brand vases and centerpiece sets, scope out your local thrift store for unique vases and glassware. Local craft stores often have sales on glassware, and you can also repurpose old beer and liquor bottles to incorporate size and shape variety. You can either leave your glassware its original color, or paint them to fit in with the color theme of your wedding. If you know a friend or family member who loves collecting mason jars, ask them if you can borrow some for your big day, as they are versatile for any wedding theme. Not all of your tables need to be uniform, and variety can add a flare of individuality to each table.
Simply Handmade has a great DIY video on how to repurpose old bottles, how to decorate them to create a stunning variety of shapes and textures, that only require a few florals, and make the table look full and elegant.
If you’re wanting to incorporate flowers into your centerpiece, you can reuse your bridesmaids bouquets after the ceremony to take advantage of the beautiful floral arrangements of the bouquets. Large flowers like hydrangeas take up the same amount of space as a collection of smaller flowers, and can help lower the cost by only using one flower per bottle or vase.
If you’ve found the perfect bases but don’t know what to put on them, you can use floral foam to attach real or fake flowers alongside leaves, berry branches, and other accessories to create a beautiful and full arrangement for each of your tables.
Here’s a video on how to assemble floral arrangements for tall centerpieces using floral foam.
Depending on where and when your wedding is taking place, it might be a good idea to provide some ambient light for your guests as they’re eating dinner and listening to toasts. Candles are a classic, varying from pillar, tea-light, or floating candles. To avoid the spillage of wax on your table linens, votives or some type of glassware to house you candles may be required. To save on these, you can clean out and repurpose old scented candle jars that you’ve used to house new candles. If your venue does not allow open flame candles, fairy lights inside jars and glassware is extremely popular and adds a fun and whimsical atmosphere to the tables. Battery operated flicker candles are also a good alternative, but can get pricey in larger sizes. We recommend sticking to smaller flicker candles and dispersing them throughout the table.
Food as a Centerpiece
Almost always, appetizers will be served to keep guests from getting too hungry while they wait for dinner to begin, and can be a good mingling activity while the couple is taking post ceremony pictures. This would require for there to be a table dedicated to appetizers, and usually a person or staff member in charge of keeping it full. As an alternative to the traditional apps table, you can make a multipurpose charcuterie board to serve as a centerpiece and cocktail hour snack. Pick meats and cheeses that have a long shelf life that will survive being put into a fridge overnight, and gather some of your close friends and family members to assemble each board. Either you or the catering staff can then add any additional fruits, crackers and breads the day of for the best results.
Here’s an idea on how to assemble a beautiful food arrangement.
If you’re wondering what you’re going to do with all of your centerpieces and decor after your big day, not to worry, there are a variety of options for this concern, many brides give their centerpieces away as party favors, and you can even reuse them to decorate your home after the fact. If you’re blessed with a green thumb, you can use potted plant arrangements to help ensure that your centerpieces will be reused.
Here are a variety of DIY floral arrangements that can be used for your wedding centerpieces, and to decorate your home or gift to friends and family.
A popular party favor for guests is making little goodie bags with candies and memorabilia with the date of your wedding date. If giving favors to your guests is an important thing you want to do, you can consider utilizing the party favors as centerpieces, arranging them in the center of the table with some signage telling guests to take one per table. It will cut down on waste and clean up by the end of the night.
Creative Decor Alternatives
Disposable film cameras have become popular centerpiece additions, and are a great idea for a more vintage theme wedding as it gives guests the opportunity to take pictures of your wedding from their point of view, and can serve as precious memorabilia years down the line.
Here is a DIY video that shows how you can custom your disposable cameras to fit the theme of your wedding.
Credit: Knitting The House
For a vintage and moody vibe, books can serve as a great base to hold table numbers, candles, lights or other types of decorations. Peruse thrift stores and antique malls for books with interesting and unique covers and spines that fit with the colors of your linens, and stack up to three books to create a tiered display. These books can serve as decoration in your home after the wedding, or offered to guests as a piece of memorabilia.
Displaying photos of you and your partner from your engagement, or the adventures you have gone on, can be a fun way to show the progression of your relationship, and give your wedding guests a peek into what life was like for the young lovebirds. You can take advantage of all those printed photos, and create a collage for each table that represents an era of the couple’s life, and can be used as an interesting way to assign seats to guests.
Centerpieces don’t have to be the most stressful part of your big day, and they should be a fun and creative addition to your decor. Make an excuse to spend some quality time with your partner before the big day, and involve your friends and family in the creation process. Be mindful of the way your tables will be set up, and remember that less can be more. Your guests will be much more focused on you and your partner than your table decorations, so have fun decorating your centerpieces the way that makes you happy.
Reina
Howdy! This post could not be written any better!