DIY Wedding Decor

Caroline Sturman
Jul 25, 2017
4 min read

In case your Newsfeed hasn't been blowing up with gorgeous wedding photos enough this year, its time to take a look at the finer details! So here's to a special highlight of a few decor/DIY items I made for my sister's wedding.

Costola Photography

My sister/Sandra/the Bride tied the knot in June and over the course of the past year, I've been slowly making a few things to help her dream wedding come true without breaking the bank! For those of you who know Sandra, she's pretty thrifty (except when it comes to food...Lawd, never offer to treat her to a meal in DC!). Luckily, she has a crafty sister/MOH (das me!) so I did her a few favors for the wedding:

Addressed Save the Dates and Invites with Calligraphy (not shown)
Door Wreath
Ceremony Programs
Stemless Champagne Flutes
Ceremony/Reception sign

Door Wreath

Why the wreath? There was a main entry door that we wanted people to use to enter the barn/building for the reception plus I had a friend get married at this venue last fall and she had a super cute wreath. It just sets a welcoming tone for the guests and avoids confusion.

Materials? The fake flowers and wooden "J" for Janschek (sissy's new last name) were from Michaels, of course. I simply stained the "J" Dark Walnut, painted it with AS Old White, distressed it, and waxed it with AS Clear Wax. The grapevine wreath I conveniently had sitting in my basement waiting for a chance to reuse it! Our house's previous owner had left it with some faded fake flowers on it so I just pulled those off and stuck the new ones on! Just add some hot glue to attach the "J" and DONE!

How much money saved? I found a similar wreath on Etsy for $65. Now, fake flowers can be pretty dang pricey so take your coupons to Michaels, people! Our costs: flowers ($15, includes using coupons and clearance), grapevine wreath (owned, but can cost $5-$10 at a craft store), glue gun (owned), "J" wooden letter ($3), paint/stain/wax (owned). So roughly $50 in savings! It makes it even sweeter knowing that my sister uses this wreath on her home front door!

Ceremony Program Fans

I can only take minor credit for the design of these...Sandra created the design and I just tweaked the fonts and colors a tad. I got them printed for her and then it was just cutting, corner chomping (yes, there is a device that only cuts corners and I love it), and gluing them onto some large jumbo craft sticks that came from...you guessed it, Michaels! Now I made 160 of these bad boys, averaging about 10 per night, so this was no quick project but it saved her some money!

How much money saved? On Etsy, I found similar programs would cost $300 for 150 program fans. Here's what it cost us: printing programs ($60), corner chomper (owned), paper cutter (borrowed from a friend but should REALLY just buy...thanks, Dani!), jumbo sticks ($10), and paper craft glue ($8). So roughly $220 of savings...I'll take it!

I also used this cute chalkboard storage box that Sandra gave me to put the programs in. It wouldn't be complete without a lovely play on words...

Stemless Champagne Flutes

You might remember seeing these cute polka dot champagne glasses in the bachelorette weekend blog post...well I decided to reuse them for bubbly beverages as the gals were getting ready on the big day. Glad we got a cute photo op with them! Again, these were super simple. All it took was a set of glasses off Amazon ($20 for a set of 12), Q-tip (owned), and gold nail polish (owned). I cut the Q-tip in half and dipped the middle end in the gold nail polish and dotted away! I found a similar set on Etsy selling for $150 for 12. Woah, buddy! So we saved $130! Best part is that I've used them several times and so far, the nail polish has held up to hand-washing.

Costola Photography

Ceremony/Reception Sign

So the ceremony was outside and around the corner of the building while the reception was inside so we felt we needed a sign. Sandra and I found these cute arrows at a vintage fair in Lynchburg ($8 each)! I found these wooden plaques at Michaels ($5 each) and stained them Dark Walnut and then painted the middle with chalkboard paint so I could write "Ceremony" and "Reception" with a chalk marker.

I nailed/screwed the boards to this spare piece of wood me and Charlie found in the basement and turned it into a stake. The pot and pants my Mom owned already! So this sign cost us a whopping $18. I found a similar sign on Etsyfor $65. The sign is even cuter knowing that we saved $47! Best part is...Sandra is going to use the arrows in her home decor and I'm going to reuse the signs!

I know I saved quite a bit just by having random craft items, but I also saved by re-using things that I owned or borrowed from others. If you need help brainstorming how to reuse/upgrade a piece in your home or how to DIY a cute sign, my email is always open! :)

Cheers to love and saving almost $500!!!