You may have seen her: the girl clutching a stack of wedding magazines and a large binder overflowing with tear sheets, pages of notes and material swatches. Her bags are overflowing with paper, ribbons and glue.
“About four years ago, we noticed a new creature in our store—the crafty bride,” says Anna Ludwinowski, owner of the Essential Packaging Warehouse Store in Vancouver (www.essentialpackaging.com). “More women are gaining the confidence to create their own look.” If you're feeling that creative urge, grab your glue gun and follow this guide to join the ranks of DIY divas.
Tear Away
Browse through magazines, newspapers and the web for ideas. Tear out any pages with neat details and unique ideas that jump out at you. You can use these as a starting point. Poll your recently married friends and family for ideas and advice based on their own DIY successes (and horror stories).
Lose the Martha Complex
It is all about balance. You have a life outside of your wedding and unless you want to spend every weekend for the next six months assembling wedding crafts, pick projects you can easily complete. Be realistic about your abilities and how much work you’re willing to do. This way, you won’t be in a tizzy because you’ve decided to teach yourself to silkscreen tablecloths three weeks before W-day.
Perform Reconnaissance
Make two visits to the stores: one to browse and one to buy. Take your clippings with you the first time out and note down price, sheet size and package quantity on the items you like. When you get home, reconcile your ideas with what you see on the store shelves to create a budget, then create a plan of attack for your next shopping trip.
Watch That Budget
Creative carte blanche doesn’t mean credit card blanche, so set a budget. DIY projects are a great way to stretch your resources, but with so much choice and selection available, material costs can easily add up. Solid research will help you establish what each project should cost. Remaining focused on the price of each item you require will keep your project under budget. And if you find you have some extra coin, reward yourself and splurge on something really special.
Paper Projects
Creating simple yet beautiful wedding crafts using paper is a lovely way to inject personality, colour and theme to your wedding. You can find a wide selection of paper in every imaginable texture and colour. Visit a stationery or art supply store to check out their card stock, vellum and decorative papers. These stores often offer catalogues filled with design ideas, as well as how-to classes, so take advantage.
Stationery: Anyone with a computer and a printer can create a full range of wedding stationery, from the invites to the programs to the thank-you cards. Try layering paper in different colours and textures. Card stock, lace paper, Japanese papers and even fabric can be combined for interesting effects. You can also use vellum to create a translucent overlay for your text. For a finishing touch, attach the vellum with ribbon or break out your sewing machine and stitch the cards together.
Guestbook: By utilizing a pretty notepaper for the inside of the book and a heavy card or thick, textured stock for the cover, you can create an inspiring place for guests to record their best wishes. Cut everything to size and use a punch to make holes (be sure to measure first so everything lines up). Stack the sheets and cover, then bind tightly with ribbon or raffia.
Paper fans: Pretty fans can also act as wedding programs. Create a double-sided fan with your program text on one side and your names or a special poem on the other. Print out the text on card stock and cut to the desired shape. Attach a craft stick to back of one side and then glue the two backs together.
