Check out my loot!

Most brides know that vases are EXPEEEENSIVE!  Few brides know that you can find them for cheap.  But you have to hunt.  And you need to give yourself time.  And you have to be quick about it too.  A lot of it is luck, so you have to be patient.

I need to find vases for an assortment of things, but the most important are the centerpieces.  I didn't want vases of all sorts of shapes and sizes either.  I want them to be consistent.  Specifically, my vision is to have half tall trumpet vases (15 or more) and half short square vases (15 or more).  But if I found a good deal on Craigslist for say tall cylinder vases, I'd be willing to settle for that too.

My friend Lan-Anh, a previous bride back in October 2011, told me she got her 20" tall trumpet vases in downtown LA for $7.  That's a really good deal, but her husband said you have to wheel and deal a bit to get that price.  So even then, it wasn't a guaranteed price.  But that became my frame of reference.  It was either find vases for cheaper than $7 or bust.

I began my hunt when we decided we needed vases and dishes for the candy table.  That's easy.  Candy table vases are meant to be a variety and I could easily hit up the thrift stores for that.

My first thrift store visit was the Salvation Army store in Buena Park on Stanton:

Woohoo!  Found a square vase to use for the centerpieces!  And the fishbowl is good for the candy table.

My second thrift store run was during a long lunch break.  Randomly found a thrift store across the street from where I was pumping gas.  Took a look around Sav-Mor Thrift Store in Anaheim and got this:

This was the only vase so far where I've had to pay tax.  Kinda silly to pay tax to a thrift store, but whatever.  The vase is good for the candy table.  Not too tall -- 9.5".  

I've been scouring craigslist for a good deal on leftover vases from weddings.  Whenever I find the ones at great prices for $5, they're always taken by the time I reach the seller.  This time I got lucky.  Twice.  

I found 12 6-inch square vases selling for $5 each!  

Bought them from a mother-of-the-bride from Irvine.  She was so sweet.  Even offered me wedding help if I needed it.  After she helped me load my car with all the vases, she even gave me a hug before I left!  

 I found 20" tall trumpet vases for $5 each!

And yes, they were $5 each originally.  But upon inspection when I got home, one of the vases had a crack!  I told the seller and she offered me a partial refund!  Sent me a check for $8!  I don't know why she sent $8 and not $5, but whatever.  Now I have 13 intact trumpet vases averaging out to $4.77 each.

I thought I was a bit late to respond to this Craigslist listing too.  But lucky me, the seller still had the vases.  I hadn't even realized she was selling two different kinds though (notice one with the rim?).  Maybe that's why she still had them.  She had 8 with rim, 6 without rim.  I asked my florist friend Thi if she could work with them and she said she'd try to make it work.  It was a tad inconvenient to pick up too.  The seller was all the way in Monrovia and she worked late hours!  Eventually we agreed for a Saturday morning pick-up.  I have work at 9am on Saturdays so I had to wake up at 6am to meet her at her house by 7:30am to get the vases.  Then got home to unload them before I had to go to work that day.

I'm almost set on centerpiece vases.  I've got 15 square vases so far (I already had 2 from a previous friend's wedding where Mat and I looted 2 of their centerpieces).  And now I've got 13 tall vases!  If we have 30 tables, I still need 2 more vases... and still possibly more because I'm sure there will be more than 300 people at the wedding.

Over the weekend, Mat and I decided to go around more thrift stores.  Lucky us, Salvation Army Family Stores were having a 50% off sale!  Half off already dirt cheap prices!  HECK YEAH!

All that for $8!  (SA Family Store in Huntington Beach on Beach Blvd)

$4.90 paid at the Fountain Valley Salvation Army Family Store

 I was so proud of this loot that weekend.  6 vases for under $13!

Then during my lunch break at Long Beach work, I walked to the nearby Out of the Closet thrift shop on PCH.  

Stoked that I found that giant wine glass vase for only $3 (totally awesome for jelly bellies), but even more ecstatic that they had the exact same 6" square vase I need for centerpieces for $5.50!

Now I need at least one more centerpiece vase to make my minimum 30.  But will most likely still need more.  I'm still gonna hit up the thrift shops and check out craigslist for them.  Stay tuned for more loot!