Chalkboard & Wedding Centerpiece For Sign In Table

Photo by Bellissima Portraits

At Hobby Lobby in their 80% off section I found UGLY 12x12 square metal wall hangings for $2.40 each. They just needed spray painted with chalkboard paint.  I also attached adorable pictures of the bride and groom with cute magnets made from clear stones and scrapbook paper   (I'd suggest using a powerful magnet as it has to be strong enough to attach through the picture and several layers of paint).  Last, I used some colored chalk to doodle a welcome.  As you can see we forgot to bring a cute pen!

Here is the before of the floral containers:

The metal container the above flowers are in was a 50 cent thrift store find that was mustard and red colored-  and- go spray paint!  I just painted them silver.  The silk flowers were purchased from Hobby Lobby at 50% off and my talented sister-in-law created the beautiful arrangement- thank you talented sister-in-law!!!

Dyeing Japanese Lanterns to Match Wedding Colors

I found white Japanese lanterns for a nice price online.  They were available in a variety of colors- but were more expensive that way.  But you can easily dye them yourself!!

Just purchase white paper lanterns ( I found mine at Luna bazaar-) and some rit fabric dye in the colors of your choice. Don't forget that you can mix up custom colors- there are "recipe" suggestions that come with the dye.  You'll need rubber gloves that fit tightly around your wrist (ask me how I know?!) and a plastic storage container wide enough to dip your lanterns in like this--- (see diagram below)

I mixed three cups of boiling water with one package of the fabric dye.  Stir this mix well- until all the color granules are melted and mixed in.  Add this mixture to 3 gallons of room temperature water in your plastic storage bucket.  I highly recommend doing this in your yard- spilling this much dye in your house is a disaster just waiting to happen!!!

Your lanterns will arrive all folded up- leave them that way- and carefully roll them through your plastic bucket.  I spent about a minute on each lantern.  You want to allow the lantern paper to soak up enough colored water to be thoroughly wet without destroying the paper.  Carefully lift the lantern out of the water bath.  The paper is fragile right now so be careful that your fingertips or nails don't poke through the paper- use the palms of your hands as much as possible.  Dump out any water that is trapped in the lantern and lay it out to dry. 

After about fifteen minutes gently unfold your lantern as if you were going to assemble it and shake off any water drops- then gently let it refold up and allow it to continue to dry.

First- I laid my wet lanterns on the plastic packaging that the lanterns arrived in- then I just I just plopped the lanterns on the grass.  I went out and flipped them over once or twice and they were completely dried out in about three hours. 

Gently unfold your lantern and insert the wire frame that arrives with your lantern and you are ready to hang them.  We had an early evening reception so we did not insert any lights- we just used the lanterns to add pops of colors and we hung them from the trees like giant ornaments.

One package of dye would easily color 30 lanterns.  I'd suggest ordering a few extra lanterns just in case a few tear before you get the hang of it- but it's really so easy!!

Oh, and these pictures were taken by Mindy over at Bellissima Portraits.  She's great!

Flowergirl Dresses

Because we were having a casual outside reception we chose simple  $20 sundresses from Target for the orange flowergirl dresses.  We added a ruffle and a ribbon around the waist and they were ready to wear.  Their flower arrangements were slightly different and that added to the casual look we were going for. 

This picture is a quick snapshot that my daughter took before all the actual posing began- can you imagine trying to catch three little boys smiling all at once- yikes!

                                                                              

Ready to Share Some Do It Yourself Wedding Ideas

Wow, that was a LONG and exciting five weeks!  I'm home now and ready to share some of my daughter's wedding ideas- I hope they help someone else to have the wedding of their dreams while on a budget!

Our talented photographer was Mindy (my niece) from Bellissima Portraits- there is a link on my sidebar to check out her website and to schedule her to photograph your Utah wedding!

Because we had invited bunches of children to the reception we decided to save money on chair rentals and place some quilts around the yard for the little ones.  This quilt was made from a vintage sheet, washed well, and tied to a white sheet with a small amount of batting.  The children spent so much time playing that I don't think they sat down- but now I have a picnic quilt that I really like!

This flower girl bouquet was made from Hobby Lobby silk flowers at 50% off.  We purchased a small bouquet in the "floral bush" section and changed out some of the flowers and greenery.  The bush was 5$.

I'll post more as I get pictures back-

Big Blog Break to Plan Big Wedding

Wow, well, my trip to Dallas wasn't as productive as I was hoping.  The salvage store I wanted to go to had gone out of business.  The thrifts stores were either too busy with 15 people in a check out line or the prices were a bit high.  I did find a perfect JCrew t-shirt and some large tin planters- and I just may be using those for my daughter's wedding-

Yep,  she decided to marry her best friend in a month!  So, I KNOW all you mother of the brides will understand that I will be taking a prolonged blogging break.... but I should be back the first part of August with some pretty, budget friendly ideas for a garden wedding reception..... wish me luck!

Here are some of our multi-colored inspiration photos....

I looked through etsy, martha stewart and these links:
project wedding
idiy weddings
once wed
intimate weddings