Just can't do it! Goodwill/Value Village etc.

I have no idea about Seattle, but lol @Macklemore!

I had this awesome idea to use mix and match plates for my wedding, like a whole lot of different beautiful china plates with patterns that compliment each other. It was going to be like a garden tea party since I had big garden flowers.... but nope too expensive even at Good will! Its just not a good store for large scale entertaining. HOwever, I did have much better luck with antique stores near me. They negotiate and I bought some cool stuff. The little stuff is better to buy in bulk but for things like cake platters it was easier to buy there.

I was looking at vases at the Goodwill and on Craigslist and thought the same thing.

The only way I would see how some of the vases would come out cheaper would be on a day when they have everything 50% off.

You might also try Amazon. I found the submersible tea lights I needed there for cheaper than I could find anywhere else.

For the vases, if you don't need tall ones, I think Dollar Tree is probably the best deal.

Good luck!

I think Goodwill is too expensive for something...thrift stores around here charge an arm and a leg for used furniture! I decided to stop donating to goodwill because they charge so much and I'm going to switch to a different company that basically gives the stuff away

I've found my 30 vintage styled glass vases (in varying sizes) fro about 99 cents to $1.99 each. I'm going to be painting the insides of them similar shades of blue then using them for my centerpieces.

It's only cost me about $40 for far and I only need a couple more.

I feel like I'm getting a great deal. I wanted them all to be different with different textures, so it's worked out perfectly.

I agree - I went to Goodwill to see what was available. Tiny bud vases were $1 each. You can get that at the dollar store. I'd rather have something new. Very disappointed.

It depends on what you get. Not everything is cheap but a lot of things are. If you're in Seattle, there's a goodwill outlet that is crazy cheap. You REALLY have to look around and dig as a lot of the stuff is pretty crappy. They sell the stuff that wasn't good enough for regular goodwills. If you spend some time though, you can really find some gems. I haven't been since 2011 but I doubt its changed much.

A random fact about Goodwill...they take Target overstock so you can find new products there :-)

Yes I agree with you 100%. I was in there looking for something useful for my wedding and found some items, until I looked at the price and was like WTH!!! But I do shop around, I look into consignment shops and independent thrift shops too. Hey check T J Maxx or Marshall's for steals. I found some stuff for my bridal shower on the clearance rack.

I recently went to BBB followed immediately by TJ Maxx...TJ Maxx had the exact same things as BBB that we had been looking at and they were the exact same price...I no longer trust TJ Maxx lol

Honestly, one of the reasons I like shopping at thrift shops like Goodwill isn't necessarily because everything's dirt cheap, but because I like repurposing used items.

My mom works at a store like Goodwill, they keep their prices kinda low, but Salvation Army and Goodwill are raising their prices because donations are down. They aren't getting the kind of money they did before and they need to compensate for that.

Sometimes I've found good things but most of the time they're just ugly. We had one store called Stuff that was REALLY ridiculous for used items.

I am also on a very strict budget for my wedding, Honestly i found the best deals on facebook... In my area there are TONS of groups on facebook of people selling used items. If you search and add yourself to the groups in your area its a huge help. I just bought 13 vases for 8.00 off a group in my area and a bunch of other things.

Goodwill is tricky, they can be pricey so you have to catch the items when they are 1/2 off..I reccomend switching the stickers lol!

I bought two plain champagne glasses at goodwill 1/2 off for 2.00 and i will spend about another 2.00 dazzling them up with rustic rope and a heart from the dollar store

Hit them on a Midnight Madness sale! Check into it. They have certian nights out of the year where they open at midnight and everything is 50% off.

Felicia - as great as that sounds....I'd prefer not to be riddled with black eyes and bruises for my wedding...lol

Oh and Eleanor, I actually went to the Goodwill outlet first because I saw some good things about it on Yelp. Never again. I don't know how people can dig through what seems to be giant wheel barrels of stuff that is just thrown in a heap. Half of it is stained or broken. You need heavy duty gloves to make sure you don't hurt yourself. There was a broken mirror with glass everywhere in one and I stopped looking after that. You seriously could contract Hepatitis if you're not careful!

Any suggestions on where to get cheap votive or floating candles? I've found 144 votives for $30 or so on Amazon or Ebay. Haven't looked into the floating ones yet. Usually most of the sites kill me on shipping. When I wanted the 24" tall cylinder vases, some places wanted almost $100 to ship 12 of them! Just for shipping!

I agree 100% everywhere I seem to look for used wedding centerpieces they seem way more expensive than I would pay for new. My advice is keep looking because there are people out there that sell their items for cheap.

Check Ikea, they have vases for less than $2.00 and candles under $2.00. We are getting candles and the lanterns from them. (Still debating to paint them different colors)

SXC: That's hilarious. Have you tried Deseret Industries?