The Creative Cubby: Crafty Wedding

This time last year, my life was very different. I was frantically crafting my heart out for my wedding. I remember exactly what it felt like too. My future-husband and I had planned everything to a "T". We had spent 10 months brainstorming our items, purchasing all the materials needed (on sale, of course) and slowly putting things together.

We decided to do all of our wedding ourselves. From the stationery (Save the Dates, Invitations, Menus, Thank You Cards) to the accents (Card Box, Guest Book, Centerpieces), we wanted every guest to know how much we appreciated them sharing our special day with us. We also wanted a wedding that was uniquely ours. Crafting was the only way we knew how to achieve this.

Below is a collection of the items we made. (This was prior to my bloggy days, so please be gentle when criticizing the photos.)

Stationery
First I have to disclose, I decided that to save money, I needed to spend a little money. During a Presidents' Day sale, I bought a really nice printer. We're talking $175 printer on sale for $99.99. This way I was able to print all of our paper items at home. I was also given an amazing paper cutter for Christmas that year. This was truly a godsend (thanks, Mom!).

A friend of mine created a personal monogram for us to use on all our items. We used this on envelopes, the top of the invitations and Save the Dates. A monogram is a great way to add customization without spending a whole lot of extra money.
To make life easy on myself, I used easy dimensions on all my items. Save-the-Dates and Invitations were 5"x7" so I would only have to buy one big box of envelopes. (Purchased from: Desktop Publishing Supplies) Dinner menus were also 5"x7". Programs were 5"x5". This made paper cutting quick and easy. For all my stationery, I used Ivory cardstock from Staples. Nothing special... I just bought a big stack of cardstock. Tip: Don't print black on ivory... it's too blunt. Try a gray tone. The only time we used black ink was for the date on the Save-the-Date and our names on the invitations.

We also used the same exact blue cardstock for all of our stationery. We waited for it to go on sale at Michael's, 4 for $1, and bought out three stores' stock. We did end up having some leftover, but that was perfect because I used it in my wedding scrapbook. Better to have too much than too little.

My very best friend during this whole process was double-sided tape. Tip: Buy double-sided tape in bulk on Amazon - incredibly cheaper than buying stores! Some people may think that using tape is cheap or wouldn't look the same - but trust me, it binds really well!

In creating our stationery, we used three different fonts. This gave a professional look without having to shell out the money. Using a variety of fonts creates a sense of dimension and entertains the eye. Use the fonts consistently throughout your materials. We reserved one font for our names (because we're important!), one for headers, and one for details.

Finally, do something to make your stationery unique. Our wedding had a romantic tropical feel to it, so I thought the addition of a flower would be ideal. I used a Martha Stewart paper punch to punch out orange and yellow flowers. To add a little bling (what's a wedding without a little bling), I used Tacky Glue to adhere rhinestones to the center. These flowers ended up being perfect little accents to a number of other items in our wedding, tying everything together.

Escort/Seating Cards and Favors
Let me be completely honest with you. Most people don't take or use the favors you give them. It's a nice thought and if you can come up with a unique idea, go for it. But honestly, most people don't care.
For this reason, we decided to do something simple. All of our guests got two bamboo coasters (purchased on clearance from Michael's) with their seating information on a personalized card. We tied everything together with raffia.

Thank You Cards
Having Thank You cards that match your wedding materials truly does complete the experience for your guest. I know after everything is said and done, the last thing you want to do is more crafting, so make them ahead of time! It took me one day to stamp and decorate over 150 thank you cards (used for bridal showers and wedding gifts). People loved getting thank you cards that both had personal messages and were handmade.

Programs
Programs are meant to inform your guests of the ceremony and reception activities as well as entertain while they wait. My biggest tip is to personalize it. Tell your story... share some memories. My husband and I are both huge history buffs, so we included a "This Day in History" in our program. Don't forget to take this opportunity to thank you guests for coming as well!