Thursday, February 9, 2017

What Do You Have In Your Hand {Wedding Edition}

Last Saturday a friend of mine got married. It was a very small wedding and I did not attend but she did hire me to do her flowers and then I volunteered to help with various decorating and to make her veil. She was on a budget and so I had fun finding ways that I could do things using things that I already had on hand so that it didn't cost either of us any money. Here are some of the things that I (with Megan's help - she really was enjoying working on this wedding with me) made using things that we had:

 The ring pillow. I actually couldn't find any peach fabric (which is what the bride wanted) that worked at my house so my mom went looking at hers and found a peach skirt that she had set aside for repurposing and brought it to me to use. The bride had chosen the colors of peach, turquoise and light yellow -not colors that I would have chosen but rather fun to work with non-the-less.
 A "P" to hang above the fireplace- their last name initial. We were trying to think of things to decorate that area and I suggested this and the groom really liked the idea. I made it by cutting out the p shape from 4 layers of cardboard. Then I hot glued them (just minimally) together and then wrapped them with strips of the peach fabric. Then Megan and I had made some ribbon roses which I attached along with some loops of turquoise ribbon. The turquoise pins in the center of the flowers where some I bought for another wedding and had oodles left-over - but  I very rarely use them.
 We wanted to add a little height to the mantle piece so I took some branches and spray painted them turquoise and put  them in a jar that was filled with glass marbles and had a peach ribbon wrapped around the top and a ribbon flower on it. I had 3 such jars (that were decorated in various ways with ribbon and hand made flowers) on the mantle and then another over by the cake.
 This "Love" was part of a craft kit that had been given to us. It was made to make into a wall hanging but the stabilizing part had broken and I had no idea what I would do with it anyway. I had almost tossed it but was glad I hadn't when I found it to use for this wedding. I stabilized it with some cardstock and then added flowers and ribbons to it.
 Megan made a tissue paper flower which we tucked in for some color. The tulle was some that was leftover (and had already been used before) from other events.
 We added bows onto the cande sticks. The peach and yellow ribbons were some I had gotten very cheaply years ago and had nearly 100 yards of it. So I was quite willing to use as much as the bride wanted.
 We added tulle and bows to the staircase where the bride would come down.
More bows went on the ends of the chairs.

  It was a simple and inexpensive wedding and I had a bunch of fun helping with it and using "what I had in my hand".

 Have you found creative ways to use what you have in your hand this past week? I would love to hear about what you have been doing?

  How about when you got married - did you do any creative and economical decorating?

I am linking this to Frontier Dreams - Keep Calm, Craft On.

4 comments:

  1. This is wonderful, I had a very simple wedding. Very very simple and I have been married 35 years now. Not once did we regret having a simple wedding. My dress was borrowed, my mother in law purchase my bouquet, maid of honor flowers. Just a maid of honor, best man, flower girl. A young man sung one song for us. Three tier cake, Mints, nuts, sandwiches and punch. That was it very simple. For a craft project this week I am making four columns for my Sunday School room, I am creating the upper room. (Teaching on Jesus final week.) Have a wonderful evening

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  2. The decorations were beautiful, sounds like it was a lovely event. We also had a very frugal wedding and have been married 31 years now. We always said that it is the marriage which is important !

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  3. So simple and beautiful! - I wanted a small simple wedding but it was very important to Mark to have all of his family there. We ended up having around 70 people in the little chapel of my home church. We served a light dinner in the church basement with a special friend playing piano music. My favorite thing was that my Mama and I used all of our family tablecloths to decorate the tables in the Fellowship Hall. It was so special to walk around and to see the work of so many ladies in my family on display.

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  4. Thanks ladies! I totally enjoyed hearing about your frugal weddings as well. My wedding was also very much on the frugal side. I don't think I have been to any other that had quite so much Do-it-yourself stuff done for it. We sewed all the dresses, I arranged all the flowers and we gathered all the greenery to use for decorations, my sister and a friend made and decorated the cakes (we only had cakes (3 types with one being a tiered one), nuts, mints and rootbeer floats), We sewed the guys' vests, my Dad and brother used their welding skills to make candelabras, Ken's uncle made the invitations and friends and family provided all the music.

    As you all pointed out though - the wedding isn't what is truly important - it is the marriage.

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If you have a question please feel free to ask and I will attempt to answer it (if I can!) as I have time.

Abbi