Posts in the 'Dana H.' Category
February 13th, 2012 by dana h.
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Today’s inspiration post is in response to a reader’s request! (My first one — exciting! )
Holland from Jamestown, NY writes:
My fiance is a British army medic stationed in Germany right now…he’s working so hard so that we can have our dream wedding. We have a budget of $5,000, which to me seems so little. I’m looking for some ceremony decoration ideas for a red and black wedding. but I want to stay in my budget…and decorations are so expensive nowadays…if you have any ideas please get back to me! <3
Not to worry, Holly — even with a $5,000 budget, a beautiful ceremony is possible!
Image: Project Wedding
You’re probably looking at spending about $400-500 for all your decor, right? That’s based on the typical “8% of your budget” guideline. (Again that’s a guideline, not a rule.) Depending on what your priorities are, you may want to spend more or less than that. But let’s take a look at cool stuff you can get within that range.
Let’s start with the floor and work our way up. An aisle runner in an eye-catching pattern makes a great foundation for your ceremony decor. Since you have black as a wedding color, a black and white damask print makes the perfect design. It might be your bigger-ticket decor item, but it will make an impression in lieu of more expensive flowers.
$50.99 for a 10’ runner, or $99.99 for a 25’ runner at EverythingDamask.com
Speaking of florals, just because you’re on a budget doesn’t mean they’re totally off limits. Instead of large bouquets, how about sprinkling silk rose petals on each side of the aisle runner?
2000 silk rose petals for $24.99 at Amazon
Along with rose petals, you can create a romantic ambiance with votives lining the aisle. Now’s a good time to also talk a bit about wholesale. With wholesale, you can really stretch your dollar, and easily buy many of the same item. That candle or votive holder at Pier 1? They only expect you to buy one or two, so of course they’ll mark up the price (retail). With wholesalers, you buy in bulk and get everything closer to cost.
144 votive holders, $59.99 at Koyal Wholesale
For extra flair, and to designate seating for family, try hanging a few pomanders from the the last chair of each reserved row.
8” Black pomanders, $17.49 each at Koyal Wholesale
If you’re set on having real flowers at your ceremony, you can find a variety of DIY packages on FiftyFlowers.com. For example, with a 25-pack of roses, you can make a dozen-rose bouquet for yourself, and have your maids carry a single stem. Use the rest to make boutonnieres for the guys. And be sure to talk to their customer service — they sometimes offer a military discount!
DIY 25-flower pack (with baby’s breath, leather leaf and tree fern), $109.99 at Fifty Flowers
As for where you’ll be standing when you say your vows, you can skip decorating this area, because all eyes will be on you anyway.
Good luck with your wedding planning, Holly, and best wishes to you!
February 6th, 2012 by dana h.
Weeks ago, we showed you how to dress up DIY invites to give them more of a “WOW” factor. On my quest for lacy paper and fun postage, I walked into a whole other world that makes for easy wedding projects — the world of rubber stamps!
Clockwise, from top left:
The inspiration — custom-made house and picket fence stamp by Three Fifteen Design, featured on Oh So Beautiful Paper; Bicycle Built for Two by terbearco, $24.99 on Etsy; Bouquet of Flowers by talktothesun, $15.00 on Etsy; Heart face change, set of 5 stamps, by MemiTheRainbow, $22.00 on Etsy; Bushy Mustache by skullandcrossbuns, about $7.31 on Etsy; Happy Couple stamp by Flonz Craft Shop, $5.95 on Etsy.
Not only can you use rubber stamps to personalize your invitations, but you can extend the design of your choice into other areas of your wedding, like favors (see how pretty the flower bouquet stamp makes burlap baggies?) and other wedding-day items (imagine using the mustache stamp on table numbers and menus). Having a retro affair? Try the “Happy Couple” stamp on your thank you cards.
Have you used rubber stamps as part of your DIY wedding projects? Got any fun ways to use rubber stamps you want to share?
January 30th, 2012 by dana h.
Image: Kauai Wedding Photography
Many of us agree that photography is a HUGE part of your big day. After all, your photos stay with you forever! As if pictures weren’t prominent enough in the wedding biz, they’ve taken a step further into the spotlight with the introduction of photo booths.
So what’s the big deal with these anyway? Obviously, a photo booth lets your guest take home sweet photos, sure to bring up memories of the fun they had at your wedding. But pictures aside, photo booths keep guests’ spirits high. After the pomp and circumstance of a formal ceremony, it gives your guests a chance to cut loose and express themselves in a humorous way.
Now, let’s get real for a minute. Yep, we have to start thinking about the dreaded b-word. Photo booths for weddings typically rent for $1000+. And when you’re on a budget, well, that can be a lot of dough to dish out on a novelty. But let’s step back and think about the concept of the photo booth. You want to give your guests an easy way to capture wedding-day memories. You want to provide them a fun setup. Thinking about it this way, having a photo booth – without actually renting one – is totally doable.
A couple ideas:
The Polaroid Setup. This requires very little work from you. All you need is the camera; a small table to set the camera on (along with extra paper and batteries, if you have a large guest list); and backdrop (whether it’s a folding screen, or pretty fabric tacked to the wall if your venue allows). Make it fun and set out a box of props, too!
Polaroid Z340 Instant Digital Camera, $299 at Polaroid.com
Polaroid cameras are easy to operate, so guests can take turns taking pictures of each other, or hold up the camera to take pictures of themselves.
Tip: If you don’t already have a Polaroid camera, register for one! Make sure it’s on your registry early and maybe, just maybe, you’ll get it before your wedding. If not, cross it off the registry and pick one up yourself. It’s less than a third the cost of a photo booth, and you get to take it with you on the honeymoon! If $300 is still too rich for your blood, you can grab an old school vintage Polaroid for a fraction of the cost of a new one on Etsy, and source film for it from The Impossible Project!
The Laptop Setup. To get closer to the real deal, you can purchase photo booth software (like Spark Booth, $59) that takes the pictures through your webcam. By bringing in a laptop and printer, you can set up a photo station that snaps your guests’ photos in a single keystroke and prints them out in photo-booth format. Brilliant! Interested in the details? See the step-by-step and results from a real wedding here.
You can take these ideas a step further by using the pictures in your guestbook, as an alternative to signatures. Set out markers for the guests to write messages on the prints, and mounting squares to stick their snapshots in a scrapbook. (Your crafty girlfriends will have fun with this, too!)
Image: Emmaline Bride
How are you getting creative with photos at your wedding?
January 23rd, 2012 by dana h.
Image: Style Me Pretty. Photo by Greer G Photography.
Lately, I’ve been obsessed with DIY wedding stationery. Not only is it a great way to stick to a tight budget, but what better way to give your guests a sneak peek at your wedding style? And whether you’re going the print-at-home kit route, or cutting blank cardstock for your own creations, your invites don’t have to look plain. It’s easy to use decorative elements to pack a punch and add a bit of personal flair. After all, your wedding should be your own!
The source of my inspiration is this lovely invitation envelope. While the paper itself is your standard white and brown, it gets prettied up with vintage-style stamps and a touch of lace, both of which are easy to achieve.
Let’s start with the lace edges. The practical side of me wonders how the delicate lace on the outside envelope would hold up in the mail. A nice alternative might be to use paper doilies instead — you achieve the same effect, but with more strength. And did I mention doilies are super cheap? (You can find packs of 30 for about $2-3 each.) If you need a little direction on how to cut and position the doilies, here’s a great DIY tutorial.
Image: Sparkle and Hay
On to stamps. While there are plenty of custom postage designs on the web to choose from, they require a little more dough than you’d spend at the post office (usually double or more). And when you tally up all the stamps you’ll need to buy — for save-the-dates, invites, reply cards, and thank-you cards…well, let’s not get into how much all those custom stamps would be! That’s why it was refreshing to find that the pretty stamps on the inspiration envelope can be purchased through the post office…at every-day stamp prices. Yay!
Featuring pretty herbs, you can mix and match these 29-cent stamps at your pleasure.
Herbs stamps – Roll of 100, $29.
If vintage and flora aren’t quite your style, the “Love: King and Queen”designs are a good bet, and less ho-hum than the Wedding Roses and Rings designs.
$8.80 for 20
Or maybe you’re an unconventional bride, and you’d rather have and “pretty” isn’t a concern to you. With an open mind, you’ll find the post office carries many other choices. You might like something a little quirky, like the Mark Twain design, or even American Scientists. Neat!
How are you making your stationery special? If you’re going the DIY route, what special touches do you think you’ll add?
-Dana H.
