Wedding DIY Ideas

Mostly to distract myself from impending wedding dress failure, I've come up with quite a few DIY ideas for the wedding! And even better, I've started ordering and buying the things I need. I'm so excited, so thought I'd share some of my DIY plans, and the inspiration for them!

• Ring Bearer Pillow. I plan to sew a small pillow out of burlap (I ordered half a yard from this seller on Etsy) and use green tulle to "wrap" it, as well as make flowers using this tutorial for rolled ribbon flowers, and/or this tutorial for chiffon flowers.

Inspiration from Etsy; can't find listing to credit! :(

• Cupcake stands. I've debated a lot on this one; DIYing it didn't seem like the cheaper option, but cake stands aren't cheap either! I was about to settle on one of those cardboard, tiered ones, when I discovered this tutorial using silver trays from Dollar Tree, and thrifted candlesticks. I actually love the silver trays - I use one for miscellaneous jewelry & perfume on my dresser, and another in my bathroom for the bowls with cotton balls & nail clippers! Of course, I won't spray paint mine, because I love the silver look of the trays, and the vintage feel. I've collected 2 tarnished gold candlesticks so far, and am debating on whether I'll spraypaint them.

From Shelterness

• Chocolate lollipops for favors. This one should be easy-peasy. I got the idea from The Wedding Chicks tutorial for mustache & lips lollipops, and loved it! The fiance wanted me to make beards instead of mustaches, but I had to explain that nobody makes beard candy molds, hah! All I'll need are the molds (which I've found on Amazon here and here, for about $5 a piece when you include shipping), some candy melts ($2.50 for a 14oz. bag at Walmart), lollipop sticks, clear treat bags, ribbon, and tags (see my next bullet point!)

From The Wedding Chicks

• Favor tags. This one could be an utter fail, or pure genius (I've yet to find out). Originally I was going to buy a self-inking stamp from Vista Print, custom-designed with something I whipped up in Paint.Net, and then stamping onto plain Avery hangtags. But then I thought, what about just getting a bunch of free business cards from Vista Print, and then trimming them and using a hole punch to to attach them with ribbon? Here's a mock-up of what it'd look like:

Unsure about this idea. Thoughts??

• Ceremony programs. This one's easy, too. I just used the colors from my stationery, to whip up an image in Paint.Net and have it printed onto "rack" cards at Vista Print (you can find a 50 free deal). Instead of glossy paper though, I'll use the matte recycled paper. The key to making great images in Paint.Net for printing, like through VistaPrint, is making sure the image is set to 300+ pixels per inch!

• Banner for venue's entrance gate. This one was inspired by this banner from BHLDN. It can't be that hard to trace letters onto poster board, cut, and spray glue some glitter on, right?! I plan on having it say "Our Wedding" or "K & N Wedding" and draping across the gate that you enter to our venue's yard.

• Flower girl tutus & pomanders. I've never been a big fan of traditional flower girl dresses, so when I saw this floating around Pinterest (which says it's from The Wedding Chicks, but I can't find the original post!) I knew I wanted my flower girls (my nieces) to wear light-colored tutus! Nothing neon or hot pink here :) So I was happy to find this tutorial, which says all I need is a roll of 6 inch tulle ($2.50 at Walmart) and elastic! For the pomanders, I'm probably going to either use the chiffon flower tutorial I linked above, or use this tutorial (but with a styrofoam ball instead of a paper lantern).

• Cupcake topper. Since we're probably just doing simple white-frosted cupcakes on the tiered cake stands I mentioned, I wanted something to distinguish two of the cupcakes as the "Bride & Groom's". Thanks to Pinterest, I discovered this cake topper on Etsy. I loved it, but not for $25 (have I mentioned before that I'm cheap?) So I found these wood cut-out banners on eBay, and bought one (for a total of $3.71) and it's on it's way to me now. Not sure yet if I'll paint it, or buy a cheap wood burning tool.

From this listing on Etsy

• Birdcage Veil. (Will this list ever end??) This one should be pretty simple. I can find the netting material on eBay for a good price, and just need a clear plastic comb to attach it to; then I'll decorate with some of those fabric & ribbon flowers I already mentioned!

I'm sure there's a lot more I could add to this list, but these projects should keep me pretty busy in the meantime! Any suggestions? Or want to tell me I'm crazy if I think I'll accomplish this all in the THREE MONTHS (!!!) til my wedding?!