How to Find Vintage Books for Under $1

post from My Splendid $10,000 Wedding by Vera Devera on 02 January 2010 01:30:00 PM. © My Splendid $10,000 Wedding by Vera Devera

If you're a DIY bride like me, I'm sure you've oohed and ahhed over centerpieces featuring books, like this one seen on OnceWed.com:

{Source: OnceWed.com}
I finally found a really great resource for finding vintage books in one shopping trip without having to run around to rummage sales, Goodwill or raiding my friends' collections: Half Price Books. Guitar Fred loves this national chain of secondhand and discount books, and he encouraged me to ask the buyers if they had any cheap vintage books they'd typically recycle. I was skeptical and asked. To my surprise, the buyer informed me that HPB offers "Books by the Yard" -- old Reader's Digests and other hardcover books that real estate agents typically buy to stage homes for sale. After handpicking books with pretty covers, I bought a box of 25 books for $20 (they quoted me $17 at first but the price went up starting today). I couldn't believe how nice the books were considering they were published more than 35 years ago. To find a Half-price Books store near you, click here.

I did a trial run with all the elements I've collected recently to get a sense on my progress to-date. Forgive me for the lack of flowers in the photo below -- I plan to use hydrangeas and ranunculus in the real thing. Also see below on the bargains I found at Target!

{Photos by Vera Devera; on Flickr}
Also this week, Target held a 75% off sale of holiday items. I snatched up about 13 of these 12" tall silver pillar candle holders (originally $12.99 each, and at discount $3.25 each) that feature a brooch. I also took advantage of the $1 price for thirteen 5x7" photo frames that I will either put menus or table numbers into. If you need vintage looking pillar candle holders or frames, I urge you to run to your nearest Target now! Total price: $55.25

{Photo by Vera Devera; on Flickr}