DIY Wedding blog post #1

This is my first DIY project posting, originally on Weddingbee website. I will also post it on Project Wedding website. I think it means I am a bona fide DIYer!!

When I started planning my wedding, my already married sister gave me some advice: choose three things that are important to you and leave the rest to someone else. Invitations and decorations top the list and although I have a whole slew of DIY projects up my sleeve, this is by far my favorite.

THOUGHT PROCESS: Sangria is our signature drink so corks and empty bottles will be decorating the three different wedding locations. With this in mind, I really want to have some interesting flower holders at the cocktail hour for people to take away as favors. But who wants a boring old empty wine bottle and another bud vase? Thinking cap!

I saw this catalog for a company called Artful Home and tucked in the back were these colored bottle that had been reversed etched with very cool sayings (the entire bottle was etched, leaving the letters in clear glass). Sayings like: LOVE - Warning causes dizziness. Recommended in excess, DREAMS: Drink deeply and believe. They were perfect wedding sayings but outrageously expensive bottles so I decided to make my own version! No etching only labeling....my style.

ITEMS NEEDED:

Wine bottles - lots of 'em. I retrieved the wine bottles being thrown out after a christmas party at my work. No worries, they knew what I was doing. Straight ones are better than v-shaped ones I have come to find out. Soak the labels off and clean well. I like clear ones, but colored ones are fun too

Paper and printer - you will have to experiment to see which works best with your printer. Paper cutter, Glue stick, Embellishments - I used a silver paint pen.

Using Word, I took the sayings from the catalog, added our names and wedding date, put them into a border I got from Clip Art, played around with color and accents and then printed on a laser printer at work. SHHH.

Here is my first attempt:




I lined the edges with a silver paint pen, trying a couple of different options - silver paint, a silver sharpie, but the silver paint pen worked the best.

This is the final label product although the picture is not as crisp as I would like.



Here is the corner.



So now that I have the label, a bottle is in order. I recommend buying lots of bottles of wine you like, sharing them with your FI, all in the name of science, well, an experiment, ok, a trial of sorts. Or you can steal them from parties you attend. I found that the perfectly round bottles, while boring in shape, make for the best specimen.

I thought I would try spray glue first, I hear it is good for everything. At my first attempt, it turned out gloppy, too thick in one area and not enough in another. It oozed out the sides of the label as I tried to smooth it out...yuck. It also soaked into the paper in the areas where is was thicker and ruined the label. Here is what it looked like.



So for my next experiment, I tried a super bond glue stick and a completely cylindrical bottle which made the smoothing out a lot easier. I would highly recommend using the glue stick cause it allows for adjusting.



Here is one of the final products, with some added ribbon and voila - a personalized wine bottle/vase to go the tables at our cocktail hour and to scatter around the mansion we are using for our wedding day festivities. Tags will be added with little notes encouraging people to take these home as a momento of our wedding.



It is an easy project and adds a personalized touch to your special day. Enjoy!

Draping Dilemma!

Currently being obsessed with the idea of tent draping...no correction, forever being obsessed with tent draping, I am having a difficult time figuring out how and what to do within a budget and time frame.

Originally, I wanted to drape the ceremony area, which is an outside grape arbor as well. Imagine, white chiffon or cotton panels floating softly above the quets, protecting against the harsh sun but casting warmth around the nuptials. It would be beautiful and whimsical, soft with perfect light. Ahhh....it seems like a dream and impossible on our budget.

So, I move to the place where we will be spending the most time, the reception tent. BIG HIGH tent with three poles. I originally wanted draping from the center pole out to all corners of the tent with chinese lanterns in the colors of the wedding hanging in between. Ok that how the hell do we get up there??

This would be perfect.

Other thoughts or ideas to fake the look?

- Draping fabric in a few openings between the poles

- Using just the colored chinese lanterns to break up the white space of the tent

- Line the perimeter of the tent with colored fabric to give hint of color

A few images I love:

I love how the natural elements are tied in with the lanterns.

(Top pic) Example of an initial thought I had to just drape around the poles like curtains.

Adds color but not too difficult to create.

With lots of ideas, not a lot of time or money, the first place to start is with the tent itself, dimensions, poles, how long, how tall. I actually just got off the phone with Justin at Taylor Rental in Haverhill. They are providing the tent and are super super nice. Gave me all the info I needed, 40x80, 24 poles, every 10 feet, and even some suggestions based on what I want to do with the chinese lanterns. We discussed heavy gauge fishing wire. I will still snoop around for a design that I like. Here are the colors thus far:

I would like to use saffron ribbon to hang at the bottom or use to hang on the wire. We will see cause that ribbon is expensive!!

Thoughts for now. My brain is overloading but I think my ideas are starting to come together!