How To Repurpose Wedding Decor Into Your Home's Decor

The wedding industry makes an estimated $60 billion a year, per IBISWorld. In addition to the steep costs of the venue and catering services, you'll need to find the perfect decor for your special day. Each area of a wedding venue has different decorating requirements (via Junebug Weddings). Pieces used to decorate the ceremony area, like chairs, aisle runners, or a large arch over the altar, are different from the main reception area, where you'll probably need dazzling centerpieces, food, dessert displays, and a lounge area.

Not surprisingly, beautiful wedding decor can cost a pretty penny. Thankfully, while the costs might seem overwhelming, there are many out-of-the-box and creative ways to save money on decor and create a glamorous look (via Luxe Event Productions). You can use candles for mood lighting, thrifted finds for unique table decor, and dried flowers for creative displays. A great way to make the most of your wedding budget is to buy items you can repurpose after saying "I do," preferably in ways that let you appreciate the decor for the everyday. Here are some tips and tricks for repurposing wedding decor for your home after you tie the knot.

Tablescapes provide that wow effect when guests sit at the table and make a difference in the entire experience. According to Roots Floral Design, finding the perfect decor for your reception tables is a big part of wedding planning. The reception is the longest portion of your wedding day, meaning the tablescape is something you and your guests will spend much of the day or night around. After the wedding, why not bring these elements back home? You can rework beautiful vases, glasses, plates, and even napkins in creative ways as home decor.

One must consider all tablescape elements before deciding where they fit into your home. When creating a tablescape, start at the base (via Nina Hendrick Home). If your table base includes a fabric runner or cloth, place these onto your dining room set, along your mantel, over a console table, and in bookcases. Upwards from there, the design includes the centerpiece and assorted details like candlesticks or hurricane glass with candles, vases, and place settings. You can use all of these in your home in different rooms. For example, hurricane vases are great for flowers or seasonal candle holders (via Making It In The Mountains).

Though many of these items are easy enough to bring home, it's still important to remember your home's setting when finding the perfect placement of each item. Interior designer Emma Sims-Hilditch told Homes & Gardens, "A round table is a wonderful way to create a social environment in your dining space. we often place an arrangement of beautiful seasonal flowers in the centre to draw the eye and reflect the natural beauty of the home's surroundings."

According to Wedding Forward, some of the most popular wedding trends of 2022 involve natural aesthetics and earthy color palettes. Bohemian style is becoming more popular as brides opt for simple, nature-based designs. Rattan, a popular material used in this trend, is an ideal element for a bohemian wedding and simple to bring back home after the ceremony.

One of the best things about rattan furniture is that it easily fits into most aesthetics (via Making Your Home Beautiful). Rattan features unique patterns, textures, and colors. It's a versatile material and complements bohemian styles. These attributes also make it great to accompany other furnishings with a rustic country chic or upscale coastal Hamptons look. The natural vibe makes the feeling of the room not only more relaxed and stylish but cost-effective. Plus, rattan pieces work great indoors and out. You can use rattan as wedding decor in numerous ways, but ideally with furniture or accessories with soft florals and natural color palettes. Once your guests leave the reception space, you'll have virtually no problem fitting these pieces into your home, no matter your interior style.

You can never have too much of a good thing, so why not create multiple bar areas at your wedding? Wedding planner Mindy Weiss told Vogue, "Satellite bars were trending in the days pre-lockdown, but couples seem very excited to have them back. In fact, double the amount than ever before, with a tequila bar being the favorite." Unless your venue provides the displays and glassware, brides need to source various furniture for their bar areas, including bar carts, bartending supplies, or even towers of champagne glasses for guests. The beauty of utilizing multipurpose decor is that you can use it in the future. These decorated bars and beautiful champagne towers are not only popular, but a great excuse to get some new treasured glassware and furniture for your home.

Excess glassware from your wedding is ideal for a bar cart or the shelving behind your home bar area. There are fun ways to organize glasses to jazz up this area in your home, whether by color, style, or shape. For the bar carts themselves, you can decorate using fancy glassware or other recycled elements from the wedding. As designer Emilie Munroe told Elle Decor, "Along with displaying your favorite statement glassware and bottles of spirits, don't forget to add natural elements to your cart such as a fun vase of flowers, bowl of citrus for use as garnish, or even snacks like a dish of walnuts or candies."

Speaking of the outdoors, a lovely way to brighten up your outdoor space is with string or fairy lights. These lights are popular in wedding design plans to create a romantic, fairytale-like setting for the event, per OneFabDay. Popular varieties include exposed bulbs, festoon and string light installations, mix-and-match vintage chandeliers, and classic fairy lights. You can use these lights both indoors and outdoors at your wedding.

There are plenty of reasons to utilize string lights in your home if you're not doing so already. Your lighting setup can set the mood and create a welcoming atmosphere. The function of string lights is not to be the primary light source but to accentuate the beauty of the surroundings with soft, warm lighting. This lighting has a relaxing, calming effect that makes the atmosphere cozier, an essential feeling for your home. Other benefits of using string lights include their ability to create an inviting environment for entertaining and their lower than average energy consumption, not to mention they are incredibly versatile. Inside, you can line walls or dark corners with string lights or place them behind sheer curtains for a dreamy effect.

While not always top-of-mind during wedding planning, signs often play a significant role at a wedding, according to Junebug Weddings. Signs help guests find the bar, the photo booth, bathrooms, seats, and other locations at the wedding. Creating signage for weddings can be time-consuming, whether ordering invitations from online vendors or making signs yourself with tools like a Cricut. After the wedding, however, you can repurpose them into art for your home.

One of the best ways to recycle your signage is with a gallery wall, a group of organized framed art pieces or photos put together in a cohesive, thoughtful way. Gallery walls are a great way to personalize your space. Karen Hernandez, manager of product development and art reproductions at the Museum of Modern Art, told The New York Times, "To me, the most inspiring walls are those that mix a variety of artworks representing a range of media, from photographs to drawings, mixed in with personal mementos like children's artwork or souvenirs from one's travels." In this case, the personal pieces are signs from your wedding reception or ceremony.

Invitations work best in frames, mainly to protect the material, giving you the chance to add more personal touches to the wall. Other factors go into planning the gallery wall, including organizing the pieces, picking out frames, and finding the perfect wall. You can hang up different elements in a grid-like design for a more formal style or get creative for a relaxed wall in a living or bedroom. What matters most is to take your time and plan intentionally. A wall of art that displays memorable moments is a great way to deepen your connection to the space and achieve a timeless aesthetic.