A great wedding is all about the lots of love and fun, personal details. Our latest contest features a book offering you over a thousand ways to wow your guests and create your perfect event! {Wedding Chic: 1,001 ideas for every moment of your celebration}, a gorgeous book from event guru {Colin Cowie}, covers every detail of creating a stylish affair that is uniquely you. From bouquets, dresses, and invitations, to ceremony décor and food, Wedding Chic contains pages and pages of inspiration and gorgeous pictures! Colin is also the a new host on the fabulous Get Married TV. Be sure to check it out!
Win: One of our lucky readers will win their very own copy of Wedding Chic!
How to Enter: Leave a comment on this post telling us about your favorite DIY item! It can be from your own event, one you’ve been to, or one you’ve read about (please share the web link, if available). One winner will be chosen at random.
I love these little heart paperclips. Total DIY cheap, looks adorable on inviteshttp://howaboutorange.blogspot.com/2009/02/heart-shaped-paper-clips.htmlHope I win!Cassie Pawling
My college room mate is getting married in August on a lawn next to a Victorian hotel. She is buying vintage hats and placing them on hat racks outside so all the guests can wear a hat and keep the sun out of their eyes during the ceremony. I love this idea and can’t wait to photograph the wedding.
I am horrible at DIY (Ive tried many times) so I am always amazed at what people can do. I especially love all the wonderful stuff on etsy.
I am making patchwork tablerunners for my backyard picnic style wedding!
I think my favorite DIY must be the hot chocolate favors from SMP.Here is the link:http://www.stylemepretty.com/2008/10/27/diy-project-2/
I am amazed by the women of weddingbee and their DIY skills. It’s hard to pick just one project, but I did love Miss Cupcakes invitations: http://www.weddingbee.com/2008/08/13/inside-the-cupcake-invitations/#more-62234
I adore the idea of a DIY guestbook. I’ve seen a few ideas, like putting a Polaroid camera on the guestbook table, having guests take a photo of themselves, paste it into a book and write their message next to it. I also love the idea of having an old-fashioned typewriter and plenty of paper set up so guests can type up their messages for you (seen here, among other places: http://www.elizabethannedesigns.com/blog/2009/02/02/real-weddings-sarah-brian-10252008/).I’d love to win this book to get some inspiration for my still-being-planned wedding!x
My upcoming wedding is going to be my big DIY project!!!!! I am handling all the decorations myself, and I plan on creating a lot of things like embellished mason jars for flower vases. Furthermore, I am going to arrange a bunch of flowers from a local flower farm for my bridesmaid’s (and my) bouquet as well as table arrangments, with the help of a family friend. I have to say I have gained A TON of inspiration from this site, so I check back every day! Thanks y’all!
I’m making the cake stand for the reception! I’ve never been a fan of the classic silver plated circular or square cake stands that you can rent. So, I decided to stretch my creativity and design one of my own. My cake is a relatively small, buttercup yellow, 3 tiered, Martha Stewart inspired round wedding cake and I’m planning to make a cake stand to compliment it. Something round, either white or yellow and accented with a ribbon edge. The cake is just so adorable that it deserves an equally adorable stand!
I had everyone that attended my sister’s bridal showers take a home a square piece of fabric to create a quilt square for her. They returned them at the wedding and I created a wedding quilt for her, it turned out so neat and she was tickled by all the neat things people did on their square.
I bought wine glasses at $1 a glass at a warehouse/discount place, and my Mom & I are making wine charms with wire rings (found on ebay) and "Shrinky-Dinks"– you can print anything onto this special paper, bake it, it shrinks down perfectly proportional. Great for my vineyard wedding!
I am DIYing my bracelet for my wedding. I have a brooch from my great grandmother, a necklace from my grandma and one from my mom. I am taking them apart and putting them back together for a bracelet that will bring all of these women together into one piece.
My favorite DIY project is the crepe paper flowers on martha stewarts wedding site.
For my wedding, I made personalized water bottle labels…They were so easy to make and guests loved it!
my favorite DIY project was this personalized hot cocoa and marshmallows favor I saw on style me pretty. It would be so cool for a winter wedding. http://www.stylemepretty.com/2008/10/27/diy-project-2/
I’m baking cookies for my OOT baskets. Everyone loves homemade cookies!
my friend made the groom’s party’s boutonneires based off each of the guys’s interests: computer chips, golf tee’s, flies (from fly fishing)
My husband and I both love to read, so our tables were named after books and authors. Our ‘place cards’ were bookmarks we made ourselves out of thick card stock and ribbons. They were so elegant looking!
These DIY STD stickers are a really good idea, I hope to incorporate them into my wedding… http://www.marthastewartweddings.com/good-things/save-the-date-stickers?rsc=taxonomylist-b_inspiration_good-things&lnc=087707e418b1d110VgnVCM1000003d370a0aRCRD
I absolutely love the idea of these Love Story Books. The bride made a book with his version of their love story and her version. I think it’s a great way for guests to learn more about the bride & groom’s stories and it’s also a wonderful way to put those engagement photos to good use! http://www.stylemepretty.com/2008/10/27/diy-week-project-2/
This may come as a shock (lol), but my favorite DIY item was my table runner. I started my business two years ago after creating a hand-painted aisle runner and table runner for my own wedding. Now I’m making all kinds of stuff.
For our wedding I am making monogram letters to hang on the church’s front door. Simple yet elegant!
I have big dreams of a DIY wedding. One of my biggest goals, which may also be the biggest challenge, is to create a lot of the stationary for my big day using stamps and embossing powder. I plan on working with one of my girlfriends to create a design template of DC (I am thinking of incorporating the Tidal Basin and cherry blossoms – one of the most charming elements of DC) and sending it to a custom stamp maker. Once the stamp comes in, then it is off to a craft store and Paper Source for ink, embossing powder, an embossing gun, and paper. I also found an envelope template at Paper Source that lets you make envelopes out of maps and newspapers. I think that I will be able to use these elements throughout the process, including stationary, table cards, save the dates, and thank you cards. If I can pull it off then it will give our wedding a chic feeling, while still being personalized and familiar.
The DIY moment i am most proud of was something that I came up with at the last minute and without spending any money! I used this for a bridal show I was doing, but it can be used for a centerpiece, a wishing tree, or other decor. I was up north at my parent’s house and we were hiking around the lake. As I was admiring the view, i began to notice that there was Manzanita trees EVERYWHERE! As I was walking, I found a broken off portion of the tree lying on the ground. I picked it up and carried it with me the rest of the hike. When I got home, I had my husband screw the branch/tree to the bottom of a piece of scrap wood from our garage. I dug through our garden stuff and found some moss. I used my glue gun to attach the moss to the bottom of the tree to cover the wood. Viola! An instant decor gem! When I got to the bridal show I used clothes pins to attach my business cards to all the little branches. So fun!
I absolutely love these Save-The-Dates from Martha…http://www.marthastewartweddings.com/photogallery/downloadable-wedding-templates?lnc=4db27a48efa1d110VgnVCM1000003d370a0aRCRD&rsc=lpg_planning&lpgStart=1¤tslide=11¤tChapter=1And boy could I use this book for some inspiration! I’ve hit a dry spell…
Although I am the designer and owner of a website marketed to brides (we specialize in wedding flip-flops), I did create plenty of DIY’s for my own wedding back in 2003. Here are a few ideas: 1) If you’re wedding guest list is is small, like mine, around sixty people, you can save money and make your table special. Rent simple white cotton/linen (or blend) table cloths, which typically are the least expensive. Visit a local fabric store and pick out some shear fabric (I found a champagne color for $2.00/yd. at 60" inches wide. I cut simple squares large enough for each round table size, fringed the edges (shear is easy to fringe, and no bother sewing) approximately 1/2", and used them as overlays. Beautiful!2) French tulips are expensive. but if you live in NYC, on 28th street, they are far less costly then what a florist would charge. I piurchsed simple glass vases with a slight lavendar tint in the glass from "Fishes Eddy", for only $1.50 each. You can probably find similiar deals at target, or K-mart. They were tall, and could hold a dozen stems or less. I kept my arrangemtent exclusive to the tulips however for even more savings, fill in with a few greens. My total flower cost was approximately $162.00.I love contests! I hope I win too!
I loved Mrs. Lemon’s (from Weddingbee) DIY Out of Town bags! http://www.weddingbee.com/2007/07/30/diy-details-out-of-town-bags/ They have this perfect silk screen ink on the front of a plain/reusable tote. Inside the tote she had lots of little goodies. I will defintely be using her ideas for my wedding.
I’m DIY’ing a ton of my October, 2009 wedding (along with my wonderful Fiance’) to save a ton of cash. I’ve made the wreaths for the Church doors, the pews. I’ve made table decor for the reception hall and we’re ordering cow bells (I’m from a small southern farm town where my grand-daddy raised black angus) for folks to pick-up and ring as we leave rather than the traditional rice, bird-seed or sparklers. They can keep the cow-bell as a favor from the wedding and it will contain a message tied with a huge satin ribbon from a lovely hang-tag pertaining to the Irish tradition of ringing a cow-bell for the bride and groom (not to mention it ties in with our countryfied DIY wedding). http://www.bell-outlet.com/cowbells.htm
I’m really exciting about the DIY lighting that we’re doing at our wedding in June. In Amelia Island, all the big oak trees have spanish moss hanging from them, so we’re taking Mason Jars, and putting some sand from the beach, spanish moss, and votives in the bottom and placing them on outside on the deck, lining the seawall, on the dock, etc. I think it will be beautiful and illuminate everything that night! Our reception overlooks the marsh, so I think it will be magical!
my entire wedding is DIY but my new favorite DIY love are the "wedding wands" featured in southern wedding magazine! i wanted to do sparklers but couldn’t and i am SO excited about this idea!
yay! i love making guest books and plan to make a scrapbook after the wedding!!!
I hope to have alot of DIY projects at my wedding; but the one i am most looking forward to is my joint favor/place cards. I plan to make up seed packets that have a mix of local wildflower seeds in them. We are planning to use the Gocco press to print a design on each seed packet, and will write each guest’s name on the front. I envision these at each place setting, tucked into folded napkins Thanks!
My fiance’s cousin had DIY favors/placecards that were too cute. She potted tiny little clay pots with all different kinds of spring flowers, and then crafted little leaf shaped tags with each guest’s name on them and then mounted them in the pot with a fun wooden spear. So adorably efficient and GREEN!
I’m making my own thank you cards!
Two DIY projects I used to show my loved ones how much I adored them:1. Vases: mini Pellegrino bottles (clear, dark green) with a wide, satin deep-blue ribbon tied around it (to hide the label), and a couple of yellow daisies and baby’s breath for a Paris sidewalk cafe effect (romantic and rustic)!2. Valentine cards with a twist: "Paper Source" sage-colored cardstock in the shape of 20 small hearts placed in strategic spots around the apartment (bathroom mirror, computer, refrigerator, photo frame, etc.) with "20 Things I Like About You" written with a calligraphy pen. I holepunched the top right side of the heart to loop a satin, antique-gold ribbon around it and tied an extravangantly large bow and hung it. This made for a sweet surprise at every turn!
I’m a sentimental person, so I’ve been saving the ticket stubs from every movie date we’ve been on. They’ve been sitting in a box with cards and clippings, and I thought that one day I would eventually scrapbook them… Now that we are planning our wedding, I’ve thought of a whole different use for these old pieces of paper. We plan to give every table the name of a movie that we’ve seen together, with the stub (copied and matted) serving as the table marker! The head table will be the name of the first movie we ever saw together, on our very first date.
We’re DIYing a lot of stuff, centerpieces, guest book, bouquets…but I think that ultimately my favorite will be all the DIY baking my mom and I will be doing. I’m having a dessert reception, so there will be tons of baking to do, and my mom is an awesome baker. I can’t wait to have that special time bonding with her the night before the wedding just baking away! :)
My favorite DIY moment was at my brother’s weddings I made paper cones out of restaurant menus where the couple met. We used the cones to hold the pom poms in the pews that the guests tossed at the bride and groom as they exited the church. They were really cute and an easy way to personalize the church pews.
I love how this bride put together a blurb book filled with mementos and pictures documenting their whole dating years as a guest book. http://jessedeanna.blogspot.com/2008/07/detail-post-4-guest-book.htmlMy fiance and I have been dating for 8 years so I’m thinking this is the perfect idea for us to DIY too!
I went to one wedding where the bride and groom made a personalized Dr.Seuss book to recite their vows! It was truly one of the most adorable things I have ever seen. Here’s a photo of it!http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk223/sharonnicolephotography/LJ-10-1.jpgNever seen anything like it, and I thought it was really creative!
I love making your own oversized floral initials to hang on the doorways of the ceremony or at the reception :) Can’t wait to check out this book for more details!
I love the "will you be my Bridesmaid?" cards that Ashley(Kohler44) made over on Project Wedding. I loved them so much she inspired me to make a similar card for my girls!Her Cards::http://www.projectwedding.com/biography/list/kohler44/moh-bm-invitationsMy Cards::http://mydreamring.blogspot.com/2009/01/eeek-i-did-them.html
I am completely in love with the idea of a crystal wedding tree – think how great this would be on an entry table, or on the table with your seating cards!!! I’ve done a ton of research trying to find what will work best, be most cost efficient, and look stunning — here it is… You can purchase the branches on: http://www.nettletonhollow.com/branches.html You can purchase the crystals on: (They have a really helpful step-by-step guide, and a design tool that allows you to customize your crystals!)http://www.cristalier.com/lastly, if you want to add a bit of pizazz – you can get beautiful hanging glass votives here:http://www.flowersandsupplies.com/Hanging-Votive-Holders_p_28.html Happy tree making!! :)
How fun! My bridesmaids and I are making the wedding favors. We are going to do the "meant to be" honey jars. I’ve sourced the jars and found bulk local honey to fill them with. One of my bridesmaids, Elizabeth is designing the label’s that we will print ourselves. We are using french blue tulle for the top of the jars and tying the tulle off with some rustic looking ribbon. I can’t wait to see the finished product :)
This is my absolute favorite DIY centerpiece from Weddingbee.http://www.weddingbee.com/2007/07/24/diy-details-centerpieces/They make such an impact without costing a fortune.
I am currently planning my farm/garden wedding for next June. (My fiance’s parents live on a goat farm) We really want it to feel fun and casual yet absolutely beautiful.My favorite DIY project I found a couple months ago on Once Wed… Rock Candy Chandeliers. They look so classic from far away, but imagine how excited the children will be when they get to eat the ceremony decor! (after they wash them off of course)And keeping with the goat farm theme, I also found a homemade goat’s milk soap recipe, which we will be packaging ourselves and giving as our wedding favors.
My favorite DIY items are my Save the Date maps that I just got back from the printer today (not to toot my own horn, but I’m so happy with how they turned out)!I was so impressed by the funky little maps à la Laura Hooper and Stephannie Barba but just couldn’t work the design fee into my stationery budget. So I decided, what the heck, I’ll make my own!I can’t wait for our guests to open the Save the Dates and get a glimpse of our upcoming wedding and the places and sites that are meaningful to us!
I am planning a nautical chic wedding and I love Martha Stewart’s sailboat place cards. They are made out of pieces of scrapbook paper which are then filled with life saver mints. They double as a place card and a wedding favor if on a tight budget, and they add just a touch of creativity to the reception tables.
I attended a large bridal shower where the hosts used sepia photos of the bride-to-be at age 1, 2, 3, etc. to number the tables. They also made napkin rings with a framed mini photos attached. They were adorable and a great converstation starter.
My college roommate had a very DIY wedding. Her renaissance man husband did water color prints they used for the STD, invite and program. It was beautiful.
My favorite DIY project for my wedding was our save the dates. We took 4 different black and white pictures of ourselves and put them into a film strip. In photoshop, we wrote on each picture Save The Date Marco & Britney. My husband is a filmmaker and I wanted both of us to be apart of this whole process. Overall, they were a hit with all of our friends and family and it cost less than $30:)
I am made candle holders out of mason jars for my wedding. I wanted to bring a little bit of southern to the tables. I gathered 3 buckets full of old mason jars from my fiance’s grandmother that she had stock piled from her fruit canning days. I dipped the tops of the jars in white glitter and added a simple navy blue ribbon tied in a bow under the lip of the jar. My mother, soon to be mother inlaw and myself sat down together and had a diy wedding project day.
My favorite DIY element will be my Save the Dates and Invitations and other crafts that I will create with my soon-defunct gocco printer. Designing them has helped me create a cohesive theme and make me really consider my color schemes.
I DIY’ed all of the flowers for my wedding, and had such a fantastic time doing it too! But, by far, my favorite thing that I made was my very own bouquet. I had a concept in mind, and it was just so much better than I ever anticipated.
For our wedding we’re making our own invites, I’m making all of the napkins, the escort cards, programs, maps, welcome kits, bridesmaids gifts and our caterer is using my recipes for our cake(s). Whew, good thing we had a year to plan!
as a wedding photographer, I see a lot of do-it-yourself items. My favorite still remains the wedding programs. I love how personalized they can be. And I have seen a lot of elegant programs!
I need all the help i can get to plan the wedding of my dreams with my future husband!
My absolute favorite DIY wedding project are these homemade tissue paper pomanders, featured on Vintage Glam Weddings (http://vintageglamblog.com/2008/09/02/diy-tuesdays-tissue-paper-pomander/), as well as Martha Stewart. I just think they would be darling to hang in the trees at an outdoor garden wedding.
this is absolutely amazing!!http://oncewed.com/index.cfm?postID=478&title=DIY_Bouquet_Favor_Box
It’s so hard to pick just one! However, one of my favorites is the grab bag favor from Deanna and Jesse’s wedding: http://jessedeanna.blogspot.com/2008/07/detail-post-2-favors.htmlSince our reception is going to be adults only, we’re having a special kid party at the same time, and these bags are the inspiration for the grab bags the kids will get to take home!
I think my favorite personal diy project will be the flowers. I’m buying yellow ranunculus in bulk and handmaking the bouquets! I saw a blogpost about it and found a video that shows how easy it is. I’ve made 2 trial bouquets thus far, you can see the results of one here.
I think making invitations the DIY way is the best cheapest to go. I have made many invitations for friends and their special occasions. All you need to get is vellum, embossing powder, a heating gun and some artistic ideas and presto…you’ve got a one of a kind, personalized wedding invitation. It’s fun, stress relieving and is a money saver, the only draw back is it is time consuming. Thanks for all the great ideas Colin, I hope to get more ideas from your book.-Jorgina
A DIY project I am looking forward to is doing my own calligraphy for invitations! I say that now…haha, we’ll see how I feel once I hit the 50th invite…http://withthisringwedding.blogspot.com/2008/11/calligraphy-101.html