As I mentioned in a previous post about our venue, the reception area has enormous black boards that I am determined to somehow decorate or tie in with the wedding. The venue normally uses the boards for golf tournaments and posts things on them, but they look like chalkboards (imagine my excitement when I first saw them and thought of the possibilities of giant chalkboards!). They are made of wood though and are huge and there are three of them. Everyone keeps trying to tell me that they will ‘disappear’ at night and no one will notice them, but I do. To me, they feel like blank canvases, waiting for something to be done to them.

This is the largest of the boards. We plan on having an 8ft long dessert/cake/candy table in front of this one, but you can see how large it is! Fortunately they have beautiful scrolls on the top that can act as hooks or a holder for a dowel.

My first idea for these boards was to do a ribbon wall behind the dessert table. I fell in love with this picture!

{Image by Jose Villa via Duet Weddings}

My mom and I went to the best place we knew of to buy ribbon, Ribbons and Lace in Mesa. They have a huge selection of ribbon and the prices aren’t too bad, but for the amount of space we needed to cover, this just wasn’t a logical choice.

Then I came across this idea:

{Image by Paloma Images via The Knot}

I love the look of mason jars. I’ve used them a few times before at showers I’ve hosted and for decorating in the house. They are very inexpensive…we got a dozen at WalMart for about $8. It was decided that we would buy mason jars in varying sizes and hang them similar to this in front of the black boards. It will add enough interest, but not accentuate the boards too much.

Then, I found a tutorial on how to paint the jars to look like the turquoise vintage jars! Its so simple, just use Mod Podge (I used the regular kind that Hobby Lobby had) and food coloring.

A couple of my bridesmaids came over one night and we painted away! In the light, the jars look blotchy and not good, but once a second coat is put on and it dries completely they looked better. (It is very important to be patient with this project because Modge Podge goes on solid, but dries opaque/transparent.) Then, I took a dried one with two layers, put a candle in it and held it up against a dark backdrop with low light. I love it! The texture is actually better than a completely clear glass because you won’t see the candle as well. We bought wire that has a brown raffia like twine around it and found another tutorial on the same site about how to hang them. I love the outcome of this!

Any other ideas on how I could decorate these black boards?