The Gigantic Fall Wedding DIY Post, Part 1: Decorations

Okay, I promise: we're getting to the end of the wedding posts! I've been doing projects under the radar and all of those things will be surfacing soon. However, I do have several pictures to show from the crafts I did for the last 6 months in preparation for my Oct. 7 wedding! This first post is all about the ceremony and reception decorations/accessories.

First, the most important part to the quilter in me: the guest book. I was inspired by Pinterest and by my own crazy thoughts to do my own guest book quilt backing.



I had two baskets ready at the reception; all my guests had to do was sign them with fabric markers (Tulip brand, which I received a recommendation to use from the Modern Quilt Guild Facebook group), and sign their names on precut yellow, green, purple, and blue Kona 6" squares. I had also pressed freezer paper to each one beforehand, to provide a stiff writing surface. It worked perfectly; I would recommend this to anyone who knows their way around a rotary cutter and an iron. It's a guest book you can keep and use forever :)

One of my favorites! I'll be sharing more as I put it together...

 I didn't expect it, but most people wrote entire messages! I will show more pictures as I sew the squares together and prep it to be the backing of my wedding quilt top.

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For those who are non-quilty (or even for those who are!!), I did a lot of other DIY projects to compliment the fall theme I picked. I was on a pretty dedicated budget and ALWAYS waited for Michael's/Joann's/Hobby Lobby coupons/sales.

My mom and I made (for what seemed like months but was really a few weeks) 12 of these (fake) pumpkin centerpieces (inspired by this pin but surely less expensive). I wanted to do fall colors for everything (mainly red, orange, and yellow/gold), plus purple (my favorite color and the color of my bridesmaids' dresses). These centerpieces were super easy but somewhat time-consuming. The craft pumpkins (these are from Hobby Lobby) are hollow, so my mom cut out the centers and hot glued floral styrofoam to the bottom (inside the pumpkin). The styrofoam was tall enough to almost reach the top, and we simply stuck in the fake flowers.

Twice, I had to run out and buy more flowers because I severely underestimated the amount we needed! But, that's what craft stores are for (and I always came out with more stuff than I intended - for example, I can never resist the Kate Spain dollar bin at Michael's). Overall, these centerpieces were not the cheapest options but I loved them, I loved spending time with my mom, and I loved that others loved them (people took them home, and my friends table had to boogie down to win theirs!)

The Scrabble rack table numbers were inspired by this pin on Pinterest. I bought the extra racks and tiles on Etsy (altogether about $15), and my mom drilled a hole in the middle of the racks. She stuck one of the wires from our flower cutting into the holes, using gorilla glue to hold. They did the trick; the next simple part was sticking them into the floral styrofoam of the pumpkins, after the flower arranging was done. Oh, and I used a (very) hot glue gun for the letters. I love Scrabble, and these were a hit!

I also sewed up red, pumpkin orange, and gold table runners for each of the tables. A few yards of each color, hemmed up - done. And it looked great. Unfortunately I currently have NO pictures of them on the tables but I think the photographer got some, so I'll post them here when I get them!

And, for the ceremony (going a bit backwards here, but that's okay), I made pinwheels out of scrapbook paper (again, thanks Pinterest). It was so easy and enjoyable (AND cheap) that I would do it again in a heartbeat for other events. I waited for one of those crazy 5 for $1 scrapbook paper sales at Michael's and snatched 'em up.

You can see the pinwheels on the chairs!

So, in conclusion, Pinterest rocks, and I had the fall wedding of my dreams (and it even ended up being outside!!). I hope you enjoyed learning more about what I was doing all summer. (P.S.: Big blogaversary giveaway to come within the next few days!)

All wedding posts:

Pre-wedding

Ceremony

Reception

Gigantic Fall Wedding DIY Post, Part 1: Decorations

Gigantic Fall Wedding DIY Post, Part 2: Accessories

Quilt in progress/professional wedding pictures

Dresden Rainbow Wedding Quilt/Guestbook