Marital Talk

It’s no secret among my friends that I’m a crafty individual. Most evenings I can be found sitting on the couch, either a crochet hook or knitting needles and some yarn in my hands. I make gifts for others, but most of my craft time is caught up in making items to donate to charity.

With an impending wedding, I thought long and hard of ways I could make our day a bit more crafty to reflect my personality in a unique way. The added bonus I’ve discovered? It’s saving us thousands of dollars to adopt a DIY approach!

So what have I done so far?

I’m crocheting all the flowers for the bouquets and centerpieces. We’re being married outside, so we don’t really need any ceremony flowers, which is a nice bonus. And I’m not so much a flower person, more interested in other aspects of the day. So when I started to figure out how much bouquets, corsages and boutonnieres were going to cost, I panicked. And then I started doing research.

I found a pattern for a crocheted rose, which I’ve altered slightly for my uses, and hit my local craft store. For under $100, I should be able to make enough flowers for my bouquet (all white), The Monkey’s boutonniere (also white), and all the bridal party flowers. I’ll also have all the flowers for the centerpieces for the tables done! It doesn’t hurt that I’ve got a Mother-In-Law who knows how to attach said blooms to stems!

We’re having a non-traditional guest "book". Instead of spending a ton of money on a book for guests to simply sign their names into, we’re doing things a bit different. I’m picking up a mail box and some spray paint (in one of our wedding colors) at the hardware store and making it festive. Then, a few pens and some pretty paper laid out on the front table, along with instructions to write us a little note, is all we’ll need to have some great notes to read for the next few days! People can also place cards in the mail box, and in the weeks after the wedding I’m going to put all the notes into a photo album (I’ll cut the paper to 4×6 size to make this easy). I also hope to put a picture of the guest that wrote the letter with it, but that may be a pipe dream!

I’m repurposing my mom’s hair piece. While her hair piece is larger than I’d normally wear in my hair, there’s a section of it that’s absolutely gorgeous. I’m going to take that section and wear it in my hair. Since I’m wearing my hair partially down, this piece will hold some of my hair off my face and add my "something old" to my day!

Speaking of my mom, she’s making me necklaces for all the bridesmaids (and for me)! An avid beader, we found some gorgeous baubles that will each be unique to the bridesmaid. The perfect thank-you gift, these bad boys will be something they can wear for years, and will speak to the personality of the wearer.

We had a friend design our invites. I found a great source for printing invitations (Vista Print!), and so we had a friend, who is in school for graphic design, work up our invitations. They’re now totally unique to us, and we’re getting them at a fraction of the cost of store-bought invites!

Hopefully, as we get closer to our wedding day, we can find more ways to be crafty, creative, and save some money! What are some ways your weddings were crafty and creative?

Robyn is guest posting at Martial Talk from her regular blog Craft and Found. (www.craftandfound.com)

********************

I’m only adding this because I am in the process of helping with my cousin’s wedding.  I was originally suppose to do the photography.  Then I became the director.  Then I became the program designer and printer.  Then, I became the burner of music on CD.  Then, I became decorator……here’s a picture I did, I just feel the need to share because these guys are adorable.