DIY Wedding Crafts

Beach Wedding Theme Centrepiece

2013-08-02T22:20:00.000-07:00

Make a Centrepiece for a Beach-Themed Wedding

A beach wedding theme is the perfect opportunity to ditch the stress and expense of flowers and create a sand-proof, hot weather-proof centrepiece that will still look fabulous at 2am!

Beach wedding theme centrepiece - no florist skills needed!

How to Make a Lace Fascinator

2013-07-17T23:25:00.000-07:00

A fascinator can be a great alternative to a veil at your ceremony or switch to a lighter one for your reception if you're wearing a long, formal veil. I made this fascinator from a doiley base onto which I stitched a comb to the back and glued on some turkey and ostritch feathers and a dragonfly embellishment...here's how I did it...

How to Make Paper Wedding Favor Bags

2013-06-30T17:07:00.000-07:00

These white paper favor bags are easy to assemble - great if you've left the favor thing until the last minute and easy to customise to your wedding theme and ideas.You could put your favors or homemade candy in them and seal with a sticker, ribbon or wax seal or place them by your candy buffet for guests to fill themselves. You could also fill them with petals or birdseed for throwing after the ceremony.

Easy DIY Save the Date Wedding Invitations

2013-06-20T01:32:00.000-07:00

How to make a Save the Date wedding invitation that wont get lost under the fridge...

Read more »

Star Trek Wedding Theme Board

2013-06-03T22:18:00.000-07:00

How to Create A Star Trek Themed Wedding

Star Trek has many wedding traditions you can draw on to create a Star Trek themed wedding. As well as human weddings you can draw ideas from Romulan, Klingon, Bajoran or Betazoid wedding traditions to make a unique lop (celebration)...

Read more »

Goth Wedding Theme Board

2013-05-15T23:19:00.000-07:00

When white lace and flowers just wont do try an edgy, dark look with this Goth inspired wedding inspiration board.

Read more »

Christmas Wedding Theme Board: Red and Green

2012-12-09T23:33:00.000-08:00

Thinking of a Christmas wedding? Make the most of the happy season by celebrating your love by the fireplace with red, green and white...

Christmas Wedding Theme Ideas

Christmas Wedding Theme Board: Blue and Silver

2012-12-01T00:20:00.000-08:00

Ah, a Christmas Wedding. Is there any more romantic time to get married? It's the perfect time to source cheap fruit cake, masses of ham and turkey and you can even have Santa at your reception - surely weddings don't get better than this!

This blue, white and silver Christmas Wedding Theme Board takes a modern twist on the festive season compared to the traditional Christmas Wedding Theme Board in last week's blog.

Candy Buffet Ideas: Chocolate Dipped Strawberries

2012-11-18T23:21:00.000-08:00

Chocolate dipped strawberries make a great addition to a wedding candy buffet or decoration for a wedding cake.

Paua (Abalone) Wedding Theme Board

2012-07-15T21:43:00.004-07:00

A Wedding Theme with Staying Paua...

Who said: "Blue and green should never be seen?" this rich combination of paua (abalone) shell colours will glam up any beach-themed wedding. Go crazy with mismatching bridesmaids, rich jewel tones of green and blue and sea theme inspired centerpieces - paua to the people!

Pink Wedding Theme Board

2012-06-10T00:49:00.001-07:00

Freshen up a girlie pink wedding theme with a hint of orange or green and go crazy with brightly coloured candy and flowers...more wedding theme ideas...


Pink wedding theme board with orange

Creating a Pink Wedding Theme

Mix together shades of pink or try contrasting a bright pink with orange or lime green and white.
Alfred Angelo's dress, above, is a great way to add color to your wedding with a hint of pink while still wearing a classic white wedding dress
Save your cash by swapping the three tier wedding cake for a collection of pink cupcakes. Trim with pink sugar flowers available from most supermarkets or specialty cake stores
Get your centerpieces to do double duty by filling vases and jars with pink and white candy. Leave out small candy bags for guests to make their own wedding favors

Make cute wedding favors for your winter wedding with pink mugs, a sachet of hot chocolate and pink and white marshmallows wrapped in cellophane
Having trouble finding the right bridesmaid's dresses for your theme? Add a bright pink satin sash to a white or black cocktail dress

Make pink fortune cookies by adding a few drops of coloring to the dough and fill with lucky fortunes for your guests
Use pink and white lollipops as place name holders; write your guest's name onto a piece of card, punch a hole and tie it onto a lollipop stick, place one on each guest's plate or stand in their wine glass.

Pink Wedding Theme Board Credits

Pink satin shoes from Nine West
Pink trimmed white wedding dress from Alfred Angelo
Pink and orange cupcake from Joys Cake Studio
Pink diamond ring from Rothem Collection
Pink and orange bouquet from The Full Bouquet Blog

How to Make a Candy Buffet

2012-06-09T00:28:00.000-07:00

A Candy Buffet can be a cheaper alternative to individual wedding favors (which can be $2-$3 a head for literally one chocolate), a light alternative to a dessert bar, an attractive centrepiece or all of the above! Here are some tips for putting together a candy buffet.

Nom!

Take into account the weather. If it's summer and HOT, then give the chocolate a miss and go for more "durable" candy like boiled sweets, marshmallows and candy-popcorn
For candy buffets more is...more! Always allow for double what you think you need and keep a stash somewhere handy and delegate someone to topping up the buffet - a spartan candy buffet will put guests off taking any!
Source jars, vases and bowls from friends and family kitchens, garage sales, eBay or discount store sales.
Pick 1-3 colours and stick to them religiously for a flawless look.
The best buffets are based around one colour like shades of yellow or all white
Wrapped chocolate looks cute but wrapped commercial candy like Mars bars or Kit Kats look tacky - if it has a brand name plastered on it unwrap it or leave it out.
An all chocolate candy buffet looks super luxe (for cold weather only!), finish it off with a chocolate fountain and a platter of fresh fruit.

If your favourite candy is the "wrong" colour,

try wrapping pieces in coloured foil or putting

them into individual chocolate cases.

For a cheaper candy buffet make up some of your favourite home made candy recipes like coconut ice, White Christmas or chocolate crackle and put them into individual muffin cases to set. Put the cases into an ice cream container with a sheet of greaseproof paper between each layer, seal and freeze for up to two months before the wedding.
If you're having kids at the wedding consider wrapped candy, a higher table or a parental supervision rule - or make a completely separate candy buffet for the kids and let them turn it into a sticky mess...
Put out little bags or boxes for guests to fill. Remember the larger the bags the more people will eat, so allow for more candy!

Do a trial run of your candy buffet to see if you have enough sweets for all the jars. Take a photo, print it off and it will be a great guide for whoever sets it up

Get a collection of tongs, scoops and spoons to access the candy; you could get them all one colour, style or match them by tying a coloured ribbon around each handle.
Tall, skinny jars are much harder to get candy out of than short fat ones so you may need to source extra long tongs or parfait spoons
Source some cheap white paper bags or even envelopes with the open end at the side and stamp them with your initials, the wedding date and/or a thank-you message. Allow for one paper bag per guest and 20% extra to cover everyone.
Source your candy wholesale or wait until after a public holiday (post-Easter, Christmas or Halloween) to get some candy bargains. I bought boxes of Christmas chocolates for 75% less in January and just took them out of the Christmas-themed packaging to use.
Make extra place name tags and use them to label the candy jars (I made my place name tags on VistaPrint using their free business cards so I got 250 cards for the price of postage only)
Instead of a table off to one side for your candy buffet, split it up into centrepieces. Put three jars of different heights on each table and fill with candy. Tie your place name tags to lolly pops or candy canes and use lolly bracelets for napkin rings. It will keep your guests happy if the best man's speech starts to cut into dinner time!

Guest Book for under $5!

2012-06-03T19:06:00.000-07:00

Here's my guest book which I made for a total cost of NZ$2.30.

I bought a mini archival scrap book about 15cms square from the bargain bin at my local department store for $1.97. The book had plain card covers and loose cream pages inside held together with ugly black split rings. You could use a school exercise book or a plain (or just plain ugly) notebook with a heavy card cover. If you use a spiral bound book you need to carefully cut off the spiral with pliers (they can't be reused) and get it rebound at a copy centre when you're done. My local copy centre has wire spirals in several colours and sizes but it would pay to check their machine is the same as the one that did your notebook (if the holes don't line up you'll have dramas)

First I pulled the book apart and set the pages aside so they wouldn't get messy while I was sticking. For a book that's going to get a lot of use I'd suggest decoupaging the cover which means after you stick on your paper bits you paint over a layer of lacquer (sealer) to seal the pages rock solid. Because I'm using the book for one day and putting it away I went for a matte, unvarnished finish. The theme for my wedding is 'music' and the colours are black, white and red.

Here's what I did:

1. I took my plain covers like the one above (you can still do this with a book, just open each side out to trace around) and traced around the outside onto a piece of vintage sheet music. You could use wrapping paper, fabric, newspaper or even magazine pictures with your theme images on them. I measured 1 cm out from the outline and cut out the shape. Take a notch out of the corners to make it neater when you fold the paper around the cover. You can do a whole book in one piece or two pieces.

Use a multi purpose glue for sticking paper and fabric. If you're a bit unconfident try a repositionable glue which means if you stick your paper on upside down you can peel it off and try again!

Or you can use double-sided tape which is what I used in the picture here. Double-sided tape is good for fabrics which may stain if glue "bleeds" through but it's difficult to unpeel if you have to.

2. On the inside of the cover cut out a square of paper/fabric 3mm smaller than your cover and stick it over the overlap from the front cover. You can leave the join as is or cover it up with some trim. I used sequin trim which I had already and costs about 90 cents a metre. Ideally you want a pretty flat trim on the inside of the cover or the book will stick up when you shut it.

3. On the cover of the guest book you can add whatever decorations you desire. I used little music note sequins and some gorgeous diamantes I salvaged off a broken g-string! (shhh don't tell!). For 3D stick-ons like jewels I reccommend a super glue. Put a tiny ammount onto the jewel and leave it for 20 seconds then place onto the surface and hold down with a toothpick until it sets. Don't hold stuff down with your fingers! I was once making a wedding present for a friend and had to sit in the car with a bottle of nail polish remover detatching myself from the present on the way to the wedding!

You can add the date of the wedding and your names with letter stamps or stick on letter from a scrapbooking store. We haven't finalised the date yet so my book is blank for now but I've left a place to stamp the date on later. If you're using newspaper you could get a copy of the paper with your date (obviously not the year but the day and month) and collage that all over the cover.

4. Once you finished sticking, leave the covers to dry overnight. Try sitting them on greaseproof baking paper so you don't damage your desk and it peels off easily if it sticks to any remaining glue. If you're going to seal the covers do one side at a time leaving several hours (see the instructions on your sealer) for each side to dry then filp the cover on it's side (wedge it between a couple mugs) and paint the edges where the cover will wear the most.

5. I rewired my book together with some scraps of red craft wire I had lying around. I threaded the wire through the holes (I repunched them after covering the book), looped it round and threaded it through a second time and finished it off by twisting the ends round the wire. That's how it looks from the back where the joins are (it's easier to open if they're at the back). If you're time-poor you could just spray paint some silver split rings with your desired colour (leave them to dry open).

6. Because the book is going to get passed around at the wedding I made a pen holder for the front cover. I used a 5cm wide piece of lace twice the length of the book, folded it in half and sewed down the sides to make a pocket and used double-sided tape (glue and lace are a pain; don't try it!) to stick it to the inside cover. The pocket holds about four pens.

7. To close the book and make it look super fancy pants-y I stuck on a 20cm length of red satin ribbon in the middle of the front and the middle of the back of the open side of tehecovers (see picture). I covered where the ribbon was stuck on with a matching red satin rose. The roses at 10 cents each were cheaper than the ribbon to make them! In the centre of each rose I stuck a little diamante to make them extra special.The little dangly bit is just three beads threaded onto a double cotton thread and stitched to the back of the fabric rose bud - the glue holds my dodgy stitching in place.

And here's the finished book!

Here's some more paper crafts to make for your wedding:

Paper Heart Chain

Customised Paper Favor Bags

Guest Book Tree

2012-03-31T19:50:00.001-07:00

A guest book tree is a great way to make an interactive "guest book" which will be a colorful part of your wedding decor. After the wedding you can add the tags to your wedding scrapbook album, mount the tags in an album of their own or buy a split ring and loop all the tags together to make a little flip book.

Guests will have fun decorating your wedding guest book tree

Man-Proofing Your Wedding Decor

2012-03-24T23:05:00.000-07:00

What to do When Your Groom Has to Decorate Your Reception Venue

Sometimes, even with the best of planning, you just wont be able to make it to the venue to decorate your tables and will have to leave the task up to someone else. Twice this task has been left to my husband and assorted other groomsmen and male support so I share with you my tips for designing man-friendly decor.

A fish bowl vase with a single flower or floating candle is simple and man-proof

DIY Wedding Guest Book Canvas

2012-03-20T22:14:00.000-07:00

How to Make Your Own Guest Book Canvas Panels

A guest book is a great keepsake for your wedding but why have a book tucked away in a drawer when you can have a canvas guest book hanging in your home everyday.

I whizzed up this guest book in an evening for a friend's wedding; because of time constraints I wasn't in bargain hunting mode and spent about NZ$55 on materials but with a little extra time up your sleeves you could easily halve the costs by looking for second-hand canvases (paint over what's on them) and buy scrap booking materials on sale. I used two, 80x60cm panels for 100 guests. If you use paints or thicker pens remember to allow for more space to write on as everyone's handwriting will get bigger with the thickness of the materials (and the size of their drinks...)

Remember to add the couple's names, the wedding date and a big CONGRATULATIONS!

Crazy Busy Wedding Update

2012-03-16T21:31:00.003-07:00

Yep, my wedding is well and truly over but it seems like marriage is contagious at the moment so it shouldn't have been a surprise when my Maid of Honour got engaged in December last year. What did come as a surprise is their announcement of a wedding date - only two weeks away!

The groomsmen admire my first attempt at making wedding bouquets.

Not exactly how the planning process was meant to go but it was a great day in the end and I got helpful arranging bouquets, consulting with the cooks, designing the table centrepieces, adjusting bridesmaid's dresses, driving around town for more bridesmaid's dresses, not buying more bridesmaid's dresses after all, designing and making a "guest book" canvas and, the morning after the wedding, starting the task of washing the dozen tablecloths I made for my wedding that have now done their 4th wedding in 9 months. Not a bad effort really but I could sure use a honeymoon myself now :-P

The most gorgeous bride in the world looking very calm after a mere two weeks of wedding planning

Heart Wedding Favor

2012-02-08T20:00:00.000-08:00

Make a Valentines Themed Wedding Favor

This wedding favor is cheap and easy to make especially if you use recycled cards or cardboard; match the ribbon and card to your wedding theme colors. You can source the clear plastic overlay from an office stationery supply store which sells OHT sheets, another alternative is an opaque sheet of vellum.

Valentines Heart-shaped Candy Wedding Favor

Valentines Day Wedding Theme Board

2012-02-03T01:24:00.000-08:00

Valentines Themed Wedding

Is there a more romantic day to get married than Valentines Day? Make the most of the season with a red and white color scheme and plenty of hearts - a red and white candy buffet will look super romantic.

Valentines Day Wedding Theme Board

Valentines Day Wedding Theme Ideas

Add some romance to a simple white wedding dress with bright red shoes or a red sash around the waist
Valentines day candy is perfect for a candy buffet or place into organza bags for cute wedding favors
Lollipops make great place names - punch some plain white cards with your guests names and tie with red ribbon around lollipops
Try these heart-shaped wedding favors; they're cheap and easy to make
Break with tradition and swap the tiered, iced wedding cake for a buffet of heart-shaped desserts like red velvet cake, cheesecake, black forest mousse and fudge brownie
Make a paper heart chain with some paper, a stapler and little spare time in front of the TV
Make a super affordable cake topper with a heart shaped photo frame with a picture of the two of you in it - cute!
Chocolate-dipped strawberries make a romantic addition to your cake, dessert buffet or candy buffet
Roses are the flower of choice for Valentines Day and weddings; make your own buttonholes with silk roses weeks before the wedding and cross another job off the craft list!

Valentines Day Wedding Theme Board Credits

Heart-Shaped Lollipop frpm ChasingFireflies.com
Lady Dragon Heart Shoes by Vivienne Westwood
Hey Little Lucy Dress by Peppermint Pretty on Etsy
Diamond heart ring by Micheal Hill Jeweller
White chocolate and berry wedding cake. Supplier unknown.
Heart wedding invites. Supplier unknown

Give Your Wedding Some Punch!

2012-01-24T23:13:00.000-08:00

Punch is a fantastic drink for wedding catering; it allows you to stretch the alcohol budget and non-alcoholic ingredients like fruit juice and soda will keep guests more hydrated and less. - badly behaved - at least until dinner is served! Remember to make a non-alcoholic version for guests who are driving. This fruity punch ice ring will make give your drinks a real...punch...and it's easy to make in advance. A large ice ring will also last longer in your punch bowl than a bunch of little ice cubes and will dress up the simplest of punch recipes.

Wedding Theme Ideas: Turquoise and Pink

2011-11-30T01:22:00.000-08:00

Turquoise and Pink Wedding Theme

Blend fresh, bright blues with jot pink roses for a girlie wedding theme that's anything but granny pastel.

Green Wedding Theme Board

2011-11-24T23:29:00.000-08:00

How to Create a Green Wedding Theme

Green symbolises wealth and prosperity (great for a marriage!) as well as fertility, health and well being...

Wedding Flowers 101: Centrepieces

2011-11-21T22:05:00.000-08:00

How to Make your own Simple Flower Centrepieces

The Ultimate Guide to Estimating Wedding Drinks per Person

2011-11-18T22:53:00.000-08:00

How do I work out how many wedding drinks per person I need for my wedding?

Wedding drinks are one of the most difficult things to estimate for a wedding. Get the wedding drinks wrong and you could end up with a pantry full of French champagne that cost more than your car or, worse, have to watch your annoying uncle make a big to do in front of everyone about going down to the dairy for more beer (cringe, cringe). Here's a guide to working out how many drinks per person you need at an average wedding.

If you can, have a quick scan through the wedding guest list and estimate what most people drink (ie. beer, red, white or non-alcoholic). If you notice you have quite a lot of, say, red wine drinkers, then add a few more bottles to the numbers below.

Non-alcoholic drinks are cheap so don't be stingy and get a variety per person. As someone who doesn't always drink, I find it quite insulting to get to a wedding and find there's one bottle of orange juice for all of us to share - and it didn't even make it into the fridge! I hate orange juice! As a good host(ess) you should have plenty of drink options available for those who need a break from the alcohol.

People management starts with drinks!

Bearing this in mind keep some nibbles at your bar (nuts, chips, little cookies, pretzels) and resist the urge to scatter bottles of wine like candy over the tables. The next day you'll have guests traveling home with HUGE hangovers and 31 half empty bottles of champagne and wine with mysterious things floating in them to chuck out.

Hiring a bar person to serve drinks adds a professional touch, helps to keep the younger ones away from the heavy stuff and takes the pressure of your family to police every one's drinks. Look up your local catering school or polytechnic for a hospitality student.

You can buy your wedding drinks two ways:

1. Look for them on sale at your local supermarket and buy them in bits and pieces throughout the year or talk to your supermarket manager and ask for a bulk-buy discount. This is great if you're 90% sure about what drinks you need and don't mind leftovers (we took ours on honeymoon!!) otherwise...

2. Buy your drinks on sale or return at your local liqor store where they will allow you to return any unopened bottles for a refund - this is another good reason not to put several bottles on each table! They may also include free glass hire with your order which can balance out the higher-than-supermarket prices.

Wedding Drinks Estimation Chart

For 100 wedding guests

48 bottles of champagne (4 dozen)*
100 bottles of still table wine (about 6 dozen white and 3 dozen red)
100 bottles of dessert wine (375mls)**
200-300 bottles of beer (get a mixture of lager, ale and low alcohol - also called low carb beer)
5 bottles of spirits and 60 cups of mixers for punch
50 litres (25-50 bottles) of non-alcoholic drinks including sugar-free sodas, soda water, juices, (orange, pineapple, and tomato) cola, lemonade, ginger beer, carbonated mineral water
Unlimited tap water. Allow for 1 litre per table per four people - so for a table of eight have 2 one litre carafes on the table plus two more out the back/ in the bar/ in the fridge.

*Of course you don't need to serve all these drinks. Instead expensive French champagne for the toasts why not put a few bottles of bubbly behind the bar and let your guests get the drinks they want to toast you with - you'll all be just as toasted by the end of the night!!

** Likewise you could skip the dessert wine and bring out fresh pots of coffee (with a little Irish Cream!-nom!) and gerbal teas for a savings of around $1,000+

DIY Wedding Crafts: Wedding Photo Clock

2011-11-15T17:02:00.000-08:00

More Wedding Photo Ideas...

Sticking your wedding photos in an album is boring and who has the time to get it out? (OK, I confess, I get my album out a LOT!) This clever photo clock is a great way to display your wedding photos and can easily be updated over the years to include new photos and events.

Wedding Photo Ideas: Make a Wedding Photo Clock