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DIY!

Calling all Crafty and Creative Brides

I love thinking up fun and inventive ways to spruce up your wedding, make it fun for guests, and keep it affordable. I randomly had this DIY inspiration about how to handle the tricky task of assigning seats for your single guests. It’s hard enough to seat couples and family, but single friends can be trickier as you don’t want them to feel left out and you don’t want them to be seated as the lowly single among a table of parents and children. This may be a bit quirky and offbeat, but I think it would be fun and adventurous if you have open minded single friends

For this quick and easy project, purchase two birdhouses either on a stand or the kind you can hang. On a skinny roll of paper, write table numbers and seating numbers in a random order. Use one birdhouse for the guys and the other, for the ladies. Place the roll inside with a portion hanging out. Let your single friends know ahead of time that seating will be determined the wedding day and have an obvious sign to direct them. Then, let the intermingling and fun begin! That wasn’t too hard, right? After the wedding, you can use the birdhouses in your backyard and create a nice haven for the birds which ties in with the weddingregionalism theme of this week and a lasting memory of your big day. I’m all about dual purpose ideas!

DIY wedding bird house

Crafty project #2 will make a tree hugger out of all your guests and you and your hubby.

For our wedding, we thought that it would be thoughtful if guests could take home a little tree to plant and not only make the world a greener place, but also to remember our big day by. They also doubled as name card holders. For this project, you’ll need terra cotta pots, potting soil, tree seedlings, barbeque skewers, ribbon, glue, glitter, 5/8 inch craft balls, paper, printer, tape, moss (optional), and time. Plant your seedlings in advance of your wedding and make sure to water them. For the name cards, you can make a simple design on your computer and print and cut out from home.

Dip non pointy side of skewer into glue and place craft all onto the glued stick. Do this assembly style and repeat this step over and over again, setting the sticks with their balls aside to dry. When finished, dip craft ball into glue to cover (I like to use Martha Stewart glitter glue as it comes with a brush and you can paint the glue onto the balls). Dip glued craft ball into glitter of choice (I like Martha’s again here) using the skewer stick. Let dry and repeat. For ease, tape on a few strands of ribbon in your wedding colors and then tie a bow to cover and finish. Tape cut name card onto the prepared sticks and repeat with remaining sticks and cards. Many hours later, you’ll be done and can stand back to admire your crafty work.

At the wedding, display name cards and place pots at each seat. Guests will be able to find their name flag and “plant” into their pot. When they leave after all is over, they can keep their name card/pots as a wedding favor. I think we killed 3 birds with one stone with this one (decoration, name card holder, wedding favor).

DIY wedding potted plant favors and escort cards

Have fun!

{All photos courtesy of the author and/or Paul Rich Studio}