If you are trying to keep costs down when planning your wedding, one way to cut corners is to make your own table centerpieces for the reception. Making centerpieces on a budget is simple and a great way to add personal touches to your wedding decorations.

Most of these wedding centerpieces can be made for under $5 each.

Purchase very shallow, clear or lightly tinted glass bowls from a local craft store or dollar store. If you get tinted glass, make sure they match your wedding colors.

Fill the bowl halfway with water and add tealights or flower petals. You can add color to a clear bowl by putting a layer of glass marbles or aquarium gravel at the bottom.

Hurricane lamps can be found at craft stores for about $2 each. Put a white or pastel colored candle in the glass. Place the lamp on a square or round mirror on each table. You can buy the mirrors from a craft or home building store.

Sprinkle the table with glitter or metallic confetti for a more dramatic effect.

Keep it simple with fresh cut flowers. Buy simple white or clear vases from the dollar store. Purchase a large bouquet of cheap flowers from the grocery store - perhaps daisies or carnations - and put three or four flowers into each vase.

Wrap a white or metallic ribbon around each vase and place it in the center of the table.

Small, inexpensive potted plants (under 6 inch pots) can be found at most grocery stores and gardening centers. You can pick a flowering type of plant with the blooms matching your wedding colors or simple greenery will do. Decorate the pots, stenciling the names of the bride and groom with acrylic paints.

Buy inexpensive 8x10 picture frames and put a candid picture of the bride and groom together in each frame. You can put a different picture on each table. You can put a twist on things and collect childhood pictures of the bride and groom. Then put two frames on each table - one with a picture of the bride, the other with the picture of the groom.

All of these centerpieces are easy to make and affordable. A nice touch is that you can let you guests take the centerpieces home.

To decide who gets the table centerpiece, tape a piece of paper or index card under one chair at each table. Toward the end of your reception, announce that the person who has the card at each table gets to take home the centerpiece.