How to Style your Wedding in Marbella on a Budget

Hosting a destination wedding or party in Marbella can be tricky if you are trying to decorate it on a budget.

With a rising trend now for smaller intimate villa weddings many couples want to create their dream days but don’t want to blow their wedding budget on decorations and cannot bring them with them. Thanks luggage allowance!

So here are some top tips and plenty of decoration ideas if you are planning an intimate villa wedding here in Marbella or along the Costa del Sol.

Intimate Villa Weddings Decoration Ideas

Marbella, and the Costa Del Sol, are full of ‘Chinese shops’ stocking a wide range of decorations from battery operated fairy lights to cheap glass vases and candles. So it is time to get creative!

If you arrive in plenty of time before your wedding you can visit these stores and purchase what you need. In this blog post I will show you how to style them up Mediterranean style.

Firstly here are some tips to help you plan your party or wedding decor on the Costa Del Sol.

Planning a Long Wedding Table Decor

Depending on your tables, for example long or round, here is a brilliant tip to help you decide how many decor items you will need for each table.

The standard catering long table size is 1.8 metres x 90cm and will seat 3 each side so a table will seat 6 both sides facing each other. Add another table and you will have 6 guests each side with two tables measuring almost 4 metres long.

If you wish to have a wider centre display or are having sharing platters ask your caterer to double the width to provide you with a 180cm wide long table and make sure you order tablecloths to cover a wider table. Most caterers will advise you on this.

One of my pet hates though is seeing the table legs so make sure your tablecloths go to the ground and when placing chairs keep them outside of the table so as not to push the tablecloths in. (Photo purposes!)

When planning the decoration for a long table work on a per metre length as one metre will be 4 guests roughly, 2 either side.

So if you have a 4 metre long table plan the decor for each metre which makes it so much easier to design.

Here is how we do it!

One metre, a main display, combine with a few smaller vases with single flowers and then 8 tealights per metre. Or a main candle/flower centerpiece, smaller display vases and still 8 tealights per metre.

This is how all florists and stylists work out the decoration for long tables based on a metre length.

Planning a Round Wedding Table Decor

This is easier of course, a main display or perhaps a cluster display surrounded by tealights.

Whilst table mirrors or wooden slabs used to be a fashion they aren’t now so do try to avoid this in your table styling. Gone are the jam jars and mirrors with crystals, sorry not sorry!

Do remember you will have a lot of glassware on the table so allow space for this.

A trip to IKEA in Malaga

Whilst I don’t advocate too much IKEA decor for weddings, we do have one in Malaga which is near Malaga airport and always worth popping into, you can check out what they have online before you arrive here.

Browse the glassware and vases selections, frames for signs, lanterns and of course the inevitable tealights!

Garden Centres in Marbella

One of the best garden centres in Marbella is the Guzman one, there are a few others but this one has many gorgeous decorations and plants.

What I love is they have loads of one type of plant so you can be assured you can pick up say 30 white miniature rose plants or 30 pink petunias.

These potted plants are usually about 2 to 3 euros each. Perfect for a budget wedding and you can also purchase really cheap terracotta plant pots to pop them into bringing the Spanish vibes to your wedding or party!

Combine a gorgeous potted plant with a candle or fairy lights and some tealights and you have a beautiful tablescape for probably about 20 euros per display.

Go foraging! Spain’s countryside is full of olive trees so get creative and design an olive theme wedding using branches of olives and candles. We adore these olive candles which can be ordered from us prior to you arriving in Marbella for your wedding.

Finally think about adding some gorgeous details such as lemons, oranges or pomegranates, depending on the season, but a quick dash to the local market or supermarket will elevate your table arrangements and turn them into a glorious Mediterranean display.

Buy extra to create those special corners, the welcome sign, the table seating plan, the cake table and enjoy decorating your intimate wedding here in Marbella.

Want to know more about what Spanish flowers to use and more importantly which ones to avoid you can read more here.