The SJD TOP TEN decorating tools for easy elegant party decor:

1. A limited or neutral palette
2. Votives
3. Branches
4. Mirrored tiles or mirrors
5. Fresh fruit
6. Whatever's plentiful and in season (rice, shells, pebbles, apples, nuts,hydrangeas)
7. Yards of Fabric (o.99 remnant table at Mill End or Hancock)
8. Monogram
9. Spray Paint (white or metallics)
10 Computer w/ Printer

Easy Elegant Party Tips
Food, Glorious, Food!

Rethink time of reception. A gorgeous wedding brunch (egg dishes, fruit, coffee cakes, muffins & champagne mimosas) can cost less than half of a traditional dinner. Plus, you can probably forgo the open bar - how about fancy coffee or espresso drinks instead? Guests love having the rest of the day free.

A glamorous evening dessert reception with champagne and dessert buffet looks like a million bucks -plus everyone loves dessert!

For spring or summer, a fun picnic box lunch can be made ahead of time and saves tons of clean-up.

What's a hot trend coming to us from the coasts that we all can get behind Cupcakes! How cool would it be to fill one of those Wilton cupcake racks (rent) or a footed pedestal plate with cupcakes and set in the middle of each guest table? Each guest gets their own yummy moist wedding cupcake for dessert. Cupcakes are cheaper to produce than cake plus you avoid the cake serving charge added by the servers....oh, and no extra expense for guest table centerpieces. I'm dying for somebody to try this - I think it's original, fresh, and fun.

Pasta Bar! I recently had an open house for over 100 people. I had 2 steam table size pans of lasagna (made ahead of time) a chicken alfredo, hot garlic bread,bagged chopped romaine Caeser salad with Newman's Own salad dressing and a ton of homemade croutons. My family donated dessert (platters of homemade cookies and bars) and I served ice water, lemonade and coffee. People were so happily surprised (what? no cheese and coldcut tray?) plus the whole thing cost about $5/person.

HELP! If you are organizing the reception yourself, do not skimp on hiring or enlisting help during the reception itself. Replenishing food & drink, answering questions, discreet clean up, finding extra napkins: you need at least 2 capable people working the reception and sheilding you from drama.Older teens are fine (tons of energy and usually thrilled with $10-$20 bucks/hour) but they can require a little more direction than college age or the completely capable church ladies if reception is at the church.

Limit color palette to 2 colors at the most. Different shades of the same color always looks rich and expensive.

Tips for Elegant Easy Decor

Ask yourself, What is plentiful? Plentiful usually equals affordable. For example: dried rice is the quintissential wedding symbol. Buy a big bag at the asian grocery and use it to fill glass cups, platters and dishes adding candles or white branches for drama. Ditto for play sand from the lumbar yard. Fill containers with clean, white sand, add a pillar candle or votives and stud sand with seashells, sand dollars or starfish. How about big bowls of gorgeous apples in the fall? Lightly polish with vegetable oil for a beautiful sheen, add a sprig of greenery.?

Don't worry about decorating the whole hall. Have one or two dramatic focal points. Whatever your decor, it will have lots more impact heaped abundantly in one place than it would spread skimpily here and there throughout the room. This is a wedding feast, a celebration, so creating a feeling of abundance makes everyone feel like they've been to the party of the year.

Easy effective focal points are achieved with yards of fabric draped on a backdrop and puddled on the floor. Add a floodlight for uplighting and you've got elegant drama galore. (suspend fabric from the metal acoustical tile ceiling supports with bent paper clips hooked into fabric or find another tall support like an old AV movie screen.

Fabric may be cut into large squares to anchor centerpicces as well as bring color and interst to guest tables. Cut long runners for cake, punch, or gift tables. Finish by pressing raw edges under with a steam iron. Secure with iron-on hem tape or fabic glue. You can even hot glue thicker fabric. Add tassels or embellishmnets with glue. Go to upholstery/decorator's fabric remnant table for low cost material.

Don't overlook non traditional sources. For example, fabric can be found: Clearanced velvet curtains, toile shower curtains,thrift shop tablecloths or even snow white burlap can add texture and interest to your tablescape. Lightweight satins, silks or drapery sheers look gorgeous swirled and draped.

Big pots of bare branches look amazing when uplit or festooned with tiny twinkle lights If it's winter wedding, spray painting the branches white looks incredible. A liberal sprinkling of white glitter while the paint is wet looks even better.

In general, branches (free) are the tanks of the broke decorator's arsenal. Branches are inherently sculptural and their wild, organic forms provide contrast not only to the soft linens but the hard shininess of plates and glasses. Swirl them into free form wreaths securing with wire for individual centerpieces. Combine with votives or a hurricane candle or even tuck a few blooms (real or permanent) amongst the twigs.
Spraypainting branches gold, silver or white looks great. And remember the SJD mantra: Go glittered or go home!

Buy a box of mirrored tile from Home Depot or Menard's. Making mirror the base for your centerpeice automatically visually doubles the centerpeice and candlelight. If you have time, pick up old mirrors at thrift shops or garage sales. Even the fakey plastic framed ones look spectacular when the frames are all painted a uniform color and they are set on the table as a centerpiece base.

Use produce for decor. Fruits start as flower blossoms, right? Talk to the grocery store produce manager about special ordering you some items. He may be able to find you a good price on a case of smaller lemons (not so desirable for the consumer but adorable for the decorator) a case of pears, champagne grapes, etc. Filling rounded clear glass bowls, cylinders, or hurricanes with cranberries and limes or lemons and a sprig of greenery then adding water is just about the most gorgeous thing ever. The water magnifies the fruit and makes the colors pop. Heaping grapes (different varieties or not) on a pedestal dish adds height to the table as well as a wild organic element for contrast.

Unshelled walnuts,pecans, and especially almonds -a traditional Italian good luck symbol- may be heaped on platters, in bowls or hurricanes to anchor candles, branches or to cover base of flower pot topiary.

Sparkling sugared fruit piled onto a pedestal looks magical. Just beat an egg white (or to be ultra safe some reconstituted egg white powder) until foamy. Add a bit of water. Dip in any kind of fruit. Sprinkle good old granulated sugar over all. The sugar mutes the fruit's colors creating delicious hues of soft plum, barely there green and the prettiest pink (strawberries and cranberries) you ever did see.

Create your own pedestal dish in a snap. Find some inexpensive stemware or footed dessert dishes at a (wait for it) thrift store, garage sale, or dollar store. Hot glue a clear glass plate on top of the glassware. Tada! It is relatively sturdy and the hot glue peels right off after the party. It really does! Option: Lift up the bottom of the pedestal and tuck in a hydrangea bloom,white feathers, etc. so the base has more interest.

Monogram mania continues. Combine yours and your true love's initials in a font you adore. (His first initial on left, the shared last initial in center, her first initial on right) Print out and wrap around little votive cups. Intersperse with other votives that have been wrapped in sonnets, poetry, bible verses or other meaningful quotes.

Print your monogram on an overhead transparency sheet. Project the image onto a homemade banner you've affixed to the wall. Yards of flannel backed vinyl tablecloth fabric from the fabric store is perfect for this project as is heavy felt. Trace the monogram on the banner. Fill in with paint, outlining in a darker shade or black.Sew or hot glue a rod pocket at the top and insert a pvc pipe or closet rod. Add finials if desired. Attach wire to rod to hang on wall or on another pole you've secured in a Xmas tree stand or patio umbrella base. This looks fabulous hanging behind the head table at the reception or as a focal point by the cake table.