If you're a creative bride or groom to be why not try buying a pair of Converse Sneakers and putting your own unique artistic stamp on them? Sure a pair of bright colored sneakers lets the bride or groom and their wedding party make a statement, but your own design lets you choose specific colors and designs that reflect your own personality. I found this pair on a site called The Girl Who Keeps Dreaming and was WOWed! Perfect for the couple whose dreams are a little bit off center from the typical BORING shoes for weddings and who are willing to put some time and thought into their footwear. Not to mention they look really comfortable! These are for the couple who wants more than just groomsmen wearing colored argyle socks in photos! You'll need some fabric paint and assorted brushes, and if you have an old pair of sneakers you might want to try painting on them before you try your final pair for your wedding. Can't wait to try these out!
One of a Kind Hand Made Weddings--Easy to Make Projects for Stylish and Unforgettable Details by Laura Maffeo and Colleen Mullaney is the perfect book for bridal couples who are interested in giving their wedding a handmade look. It's filled with step by step tutorials for those of us who are...shall we say DIY challenged? I like how easy most of the projects are for brides of any skill level--even mine! Some brides found it too simplistic, so if you're a DIY pro you might want to find a book with designs that are more difficult to execute, but if you are looking for easier projects you can execute without stress, this is your book. Find the book at Amazon (see at right to go direct to Amazon.com) for great prices, since we're all looking to save time and money! Amazon also has some other options for the DIY'er, so check them all before you make your decision.
Looking for a unique way to make the places of your guests? Try this great idea by Momtastic. Use inexpensive glass plates (under a dollar) from your local dollar store and print the names or monograms out on your computer! So easy! Combine with great placemats or interesting linens and your table will rock! If you like these and are looking for great directions (or other great DIY ideas) head to Momtastic's site and see all their great ideas and tutorials. Perfect for a shower or even to use just to decorate plates with a monogram at a small wedding.
Signs, signs, signs! Weddings today have a variety of signage all of which reflects the persnality of the bride and groom. My favorite is the "Wait, Wait! Cake Cutting At 8!" (God forbid I miss the wedding cake!). But I like the signs the bridesmaids are carrying as well. These particular signs come from Green Wedding Shoes, but look for other signs throughout this site as well as Picnic Weddings blog. Signs are only limited by your imagination and your ability to create them. The don't have to be fancy, they just have to get the message across (like the one about cake!). Enjoy trying out different signage before coming to a final decision for your wedding day.
Decorative vintage and antique chalkboards can be used for a variety of uses at your wedding. Use them for escort boards, display boards, menu boards, and photo thank yous.
The artist hand nails each antique or vintage look frame for a quality product. These frames are used by brides to be and event planners, and they are transformed from a basic chalk board to something to treasure for years to come.
These frames are available from Revived Vintage on Etsy.com.
If you can wash strawberries, cut off the green tops and core them, fill them, and add some sprinkles or other toppings you've got these made! Simple, easy, and taste so good on a sweet table or served with your wedding cake or after it. You can find these recipes on this link, be sure to read the comments for additional ingredients that make the basic recipe even BETTER!
Some variations on the recipe include different ways to slice your berries or different toppings like the mini chocolate chips below! Make your favorites--and have fun testing all the variations out too!
Find directions to make this decorative dog collar at MSW! Easy enough for any bride (you all know I NEVER recommend something as easy unless it's doable by the least able DIY'er). If you can use pinking shears, sew a straight stitch on a sewing machine, and add some Velcro you can make Fido this cute collar for your wedding day. The biggest trick is not making the collar, it's convincing Fido to wear it for more than a few seconds!
As you may know from reading my blog I am hooked on strawberries--I eat them plain, use them in recipes, on recipes, and turn them into drinks--you name it, I've done it to or with strawberries! (Hmm..that sounded weird, but I think you know what I mean!) I found this recipe on Taste and Tell, a great cooking blog that you'll want to bookmark or follow so you don't miss any recipes they have! This recipe for Strawberry Shortcake Cake Bites not only tasted good it looked pretty as well!
I like cake bites for weddings or showers because they are so EASY! Easy to make, easy to eat...and face it, they just taste good. Not to mention being perfect as wedding favors or on a sweet table. As the writers at Taste and Tell note, some of them are just a little too sweet so sometimes I have to adjust the recipes to suit my taste buds or change the icing on them so they don't make my teeth hurt from the sweetness. So head over and take a look at the recipe for the Strawberry Shortcake Cake Bites, it's a perfect time of the year to make these, especially if you've just been strawberry picking and have lots of berries--this gives you something new to make with them!
Taste and Tell suggests a book all about cake bites called 101 Gourmet Cake Bites that they're running a giveaway for until August 12th, so get your chance for a free book--what could be better than free? So yet another reason to read their blog! (And enter their giveaway!)
Don't dye the white chocolate to make your chocolate covered strawberries a highlight of your sweet table, but after dipping them in white chocolate, roll them in colored sugar or jimmies to match your wedding colors! Try to keep them bite size for easy eating. Simple, easy to make and a feast for your eyes as well as your palate! Photo from Calligraphy by Jennifer post on Facebook.
Making your own background for your photo booth is an easy way to make your wedding photos fun. Build a wall, decorate it anyway you like but be sure to leave some open frames so people can stand behind it and join in the shot. Creative and fun!
Want to take those black and white or sepia photos and add a kick of color? Use Color Select Studios program and it's as simple as a few computerized brush strokes! Give your pictures a professional look! (Video Courtesy of YouTube.com)
The Dating Divas (one of my all time favorite blogs (what a creative group of women!) posted some great directions for doing your own makeup. While this was not directed at doing wedding makeup, I think you'll agree that it gives you some great tips on how to do it yourself and not come out looking like a clown or washed out in your photos. There just has to be a happy medium! Head to the Dating Divas site (see side bar for link) to see the step by step directions on how to go from a blah BEFORE to WOW! AFTER.
This creative bride on The Wedding Bee (under DIY) is marrying her high school sweetheart. Since they attended their high school prom together she is recycling her prom shoes. She has embellished them by covering scuff marks from previous dancing with black paint and then adding her own painted 'I DO' on the bottom of the shoes. As she said, "why pay twenty dollars for something that's going to be stuck on the bottom of your shoe?" Genius! Complete genius! And my cheap skate soul agrees too!
There is one blog that is without doubt the tops as far as showing you how to fold napkins for a wedding or shower to turn your tabletop into a designer dream. (Photo courtesy of Home Fashion)Visit Home Fashion-Be Different at their web site. Home Fashion is the brand of Carl Dietrich GmbH. They produce napkins as well as table covers perfect for any occasion but especially your wedding or any parties leading up to it. Head to their web site to learn all the details on how to make your table look gorgeous without breaking the bank!
These rum balls (photo and recipe on Visual Recipes' web site) are perfect for a wedding or shower sweet table. Not to mention rum balls are some of my absolutely favorite cookies for any occasion. These pretty and tasty cookies can be decorated with sugar in colors to accent your wedding colors and provide a feast for your eyes and your mouth! Head over to Visual Recipes for the recipe for these goodies and lots more food to die for!
Watermelon squares, feta, and cucumber make cool and refreshing appetizers. Just hollow out the center of the square, leaving a bottom to keep the cheese and cucumber from falling out and add chopped cucumber and crumbled feta--so good! SO EASY! Not to mention pretty--perfect for a wedding! Recipe and photo from Katie Brown Home web site. Katie also has recipes for
Watermelon Salsa with Cucumber, Red Pepper and Jalapenos, Watermelon and Goat Cheese Salad with a Verbena Infused Vinaigrette, and more watermelon based recipes.
If you follow Veronica at My Hands Made It you've already discovered this treasure trove of great ideas for weddings, some DIY and or you may know her from Veronica Scheaffer Bridal Gowns and Accessories. She's one very talented lady! But she also writes a great tutorial, so I've linked it for you to go and check out. She also after finishing all the lanterns turned them into a chandelier for her wedding--you go Veronica! Veronica didn't just make the lanterns, she added tassels and ribbon accents, so typical of her work--it always has that 'something extra' other people would skip. For other great ideas see My Hands Made It and if you haven't bought your wedding gown yet her bridal gowns are incredible! Kudos Veronica!
How easy can a dessert be? Buy some candy wrappers (1" size from Wilton that you can buy in any craft store or specialty cooking store, (they look like mini-cupcake papers). Then use a small paint brush to paint the inside of the wrappers with melted chocolate (no licking your paint brush please!), and let it set until it's completely dry and formed. Then carefully peel the paper off leaving you with a great chocolate shell. Now comes the big decision--what to fill it with? Martha Stewart Weddings offers a recipe for a light filling that you can top with anything from fruit to edible flowers that we featured in a previous post on our cookie blog. Any broken leftover chocolates are your bonus (snack for finishing the project, or just to keep you going!). You can buy the chocolate dessert cups at a variety of specialty stores but that will up your cost considerably.
A similar trick can be used to make larger bowls using small balloons and chocolate. Ghiradelli Chocolate has a recipe on their web site and the photo above is theirs. They do recommend using these the day you make them so it might be a better project to hand off to your favorite aunt and cousins or someone not closely involved in getting you ready for your wedding so your day isn't too insane. They can also be used for wedding showers. I'd check and see how long these survive in your freezer--some chocolate recipes will last a couple of weeks in the freezer. My friend Debbie E. turned me onto this idea and the chocolate nests below--kudos Deb! These are a great option--for any party any time!
The following video from YouTube can give you visual learners a fun way to watch and learn the art of chocolate balloon bowls too!
There are lots of ways to make chocolate dessert bowls on the web--here's another one from the Deluxe Chocolate Melter web site. A reminder to all--only fill with cold items--you can imagine the results if you filled them with a hot filling--ych! Suffice it to say--BIG MESS!
Another chocolate dessert option Debbie suggested is chocolate nests filled with ice cream or sorbet, whipped cream and some fruit. For step by step directions and a recipe you can't beat Kitchen Table Scraps recipe and directions. Sometimes someone else has just done it way better than you ever could and you need to acknowledge their mastery! Kudos to the writers at Kitchen Table Scraps for great directions and photos. Head over their not only for this recipe and additional 'how to' photos but also for other great ideas to add to your recipe box.
This idea is courtesy of the creative group over at Martha Stewart Weddings! What is Washi Tape? It's pretty and decorative masking tape from Japan (or if you're looking locally check out Pretty Tape at Etsy.com). It comes in a variety of colors and designs some of which are sure to suit your wedding decor. Vary the heights and diameter of the glass containers and add votives and voila! This is Wedding Queen easy! The hardest part is putting the tape on straight and/or choosing the tape to use--indecisive is my middle name! If your venue doesn't allow you to light candles pick up some battery operated ones. Be sure to use Bed, Bath and Beyond coupons or some for other stores to keep you costs down. And test out the glass you are using to be sure it won't break when you light the candles (and leave them lit for five or six hours). Some glass just won't take the heat. Good luck! And check out Martha's web site for lots of other great ideas for your wedding-there isn't anything they don't cover there!
Love is Art is a kit by the company of the same name that I found in my email sent by Daily Candy. What is it you ask? It's a kit that comes with everything you need to make your own piece of abstract art -- while you are--uh... being intimate with your loved one shall we say. The concept is based on the performance art of Andy Warhol and the abstract expressionism of Yves Klein.
You get a roll of canvas, a special kind to your skin paint and something to help clean the paint off with after the fact. I have to admit the whole idea made me laugh--I can just see me blushing as I do NOT explain to Great Grandma or the parents the 'where it came from and what it is' which is sure to be asked! You get custom slippers (to put on after you've finished your art of creation) and a body scrubber to get all the paint off. I can hear my husband now...we're WHAT!!!!!!!!????? But it's all in the name of love. After you finish 'painting' (wow I'll never use that word the same way again!) you shower, let the paint dry, and then take the canvas out to be stretched onto a frame and hang it proudly on your living room wall. You are the next Andy Warhol!
