DIY Wedding Guestbook

October is the best month to get married. Yes, I am bias because I got married in October, but it's true.  The leaves changing colors, the cool air helps keep the bride from being a sweaty mess, it's the perfect time of year for nuptials.  We had a DIY wedding. It was time consuming, stressful, and messy, but I am SO glad we did it because it represented us and and everything we love!
One of my favorite DIY projects for our wedding was our guestbook.  We didn't want a traditional guestbook and we wanted the signing process to be creative, fun, and efficient.  We decided to make cards.  The card allowed multiple people to signs at once and once the wedding was over, it was a joy to go through and read what people wrote. 

My amazingly talented husband designed the cards and we brought the file to our local Kinkos and had them printed on a heavy card-stock.  We fit two cards to a page, saving money and space, and all we had to do was cut them and buy a nice pen!

To keep our cards safe, we found a vintage tin book at a thrift shop that fit the cards perfectly! It was the perfect piece!

Even a year later, opening this up and flipping through the cards brings a smile to my face.  It is such a special memento of the most amazing day!

-M.

Wedding Hints

The preparation for a DIY wedding is long, grueling, and messy.  In the end, however, a DIY wedding can give you the greatest sense of satisfaction and pride!  So why not use your homemade wedding decorations as Home Decor!? This is how I used some of our DIY decorations in our home.

 My wedding Bouquet

In the Wedding:

In our Home:

I put the bouquet on a vintage table we have in our dining room. It's a great conversation starter and I love looking at it every day!

I loved the idea of a flowerless wedding bouquet because I didn't have to worry about preserving it after the flowers had died.  I crafted my wedding bouquet from vintage pins, broaches, and buttons that belonged to my grandmothers.  I have posted a detailed tutorial for making your own Vintage Wedding Bouquet.


This little door decoration was way to precious to throw out! So we put it at the bottom of the stairs for all to see!

A piece like this can be crafted for about $15!

Wedding Centerpiece:

In our Home:

So before you throw out your DIY wedding decorations, embrace your inner pack-rat and use them as inspiring home decor!

-M.

Homemade Boutonniere

In keeping with the wedding theme, I thought I'd share the boutonnieres I made for our wedding.  Because we did a DIY wedding, we wanted to do things as early as possible.  When it came to making boutonnieres for the guys, I knew I couldn't make them early if I used real flowers. Solution: use fake ones!
By crafting them out of "fake" stuff I was able to make the boutonnieres MONTHS early! For a total cost of about $10!

Step one:
From the craft store I picked out a small bouquet of flowers with complimentary colors. I then cut the flowers off so that I had a pile of individual flowers.

 I also found this tin that came with fake rose flowers and loose leaves.

 I also picked out some twine. Choose a color that compliments your flowers and color scheme.

 Pick out some small details.

Step two:
Once I had all the pieces. I placed two leaves like so,

 A little dab of hot glue held the two leaves together.
To add a little pizzaz, I found this awesome "baby's breath" bundle. Pick out some branches that have some bulk and cut them off the bundle.

Step three:
Once you have some nice pieces, place them over your leaves and use a dot of hot glue to make them stick.

 Step four:
To make sure the flowers were close enough, I bent the stems so they were touching and then used hot glue to hold.  Thank god for hot glue.

 Step five: Once the flowers are ready, place them on the leaves so that you can still see the leaves and baby breath combo. Use hot glue to stick the flowers to the leaves. Wrap your twine around the flower stem so you can't see the plastic.  To finish, use a rose bud, or other choice flower to hide the plastic stems of your flowers. Hot glue time! Stick the rose to the bundle. I used a small pearl in the center to complete the look (and cover some glue).

 Voila!!  I made the groom's boutonniere have three flowers and a large rose. Not only did they look great, but from a distance they look real!

 Enjoy!!

DIY Vintage Wedding Bouquet

For my wedding I wanted to create a bouquet that would last and be personal.  I decided to create a bouquet out of vintage broaches, pins, and buttons from my grandmothers.  It was such a special piece! Unlike a flower bouquet, this handmade bouquet is timeless.

Step one:
Gather vintage pins, broaches, buttons, or other special mementos

 (my grandmother collected buttons and my husband's grandmother had some awesome broaches!)

Step two:
You will need something to hold all your found items.
For the "stem" I used a stick that I found in the woods and cut to the right size.

For the body of the bouquet, I used a grapevine ball that I picked up at a local craft store like Michaels.

Step three:
Place your "stem" through the body and use hot glue to attach.  Don't worry if you can see the glue, you will cover it with your mementos.

Step four:
Simple a matter of gluing your pieces on to the bouquet body.  I found it easier to place the larger items first and then use the smaller items (such as buttons) to fill the spaces.

Step five:
Find a piece of fabric that suites your color scheme.  In my case, my husband and I had touches of red in our wedding so I chose a red silk fabric. I saved a ton of money by buying a remnant!

Use the fabric to wrap around the base of the body to give a soft and pretty effect.

Step six:
Check out your new and beautiful bouquet!

I love this piece.

Enjoy!

M.