DIY Vintage Paper Wedding Projects

By on February 23, 2012 in Daily Scoop, How To

sheet-music-wedding inspiration, alexandranicoledesign.com

 

DIY paper crafts have been quite popular in recent years.   And who wouldn’t love a craft that is as cheap as a piece of paper to transform into a beautiful accessory or decoration?

Paper crafts aren’t limited to kid’s birthday parties, there are countless thoughtful and well crafted ideas for wedding favors, accessories and decorations.  These aren’t cut and paste kids crafts or on the other hand complicated origami creations;  there is a happy medium.  With the right ideas, inspiration and tutorials you can construct beautiful, artistic  and the best of all inexpensive DIY paper wedding projects.

Today we are going to narrow our DIY wedding paper projects to vintage paper crafts, perfect for a romantic or rustic theme wedding.  Pick up vintage books, dictionaries or sheet music at local thrift, second hand stores or at estate or garage sales.  With one or two books you’ll be able to create fabulous wedding favors and decor items for pennies a piece!

Vintage paper music cones, pinterest.com user upload Lisa May

Music Cones

Create these vintage music, paper cones by simply cuttings a square out of sheet music and rolling it into a cone shape.  To get a cone shape, turn the square so it sits like a diamond and then roll the edges across narrowing it at the bottom and securing it with a dab of glue or tape.  Leave it just as a cone or attach a piece of ribbon to hang.

The vintage music cone can be used at reception place settings as shown adorned with flowers or use it to hold a favor like chocolates.  Make larger cones out of whole sheets of paper to hold silk flower arrangement, hang them as chair back decorations at the ceremony or make one for the flower girl to carry down the aisle.

 

 

Vintage music paper flowers, etsy.com

Paper Flowers

Paper flowers have been a recent trendy DIY craft, due in part because there is just so much you can do with them.  Styles  and methods to create paper flowers range from rolled, folded to layered.  They can be used for arrangements, decorations at reception place settings or escort cards and accents on cakes or favors.

The flowers shown are available on etsy.com from seller smilemercantile, they are large stemmed flowers made of vintage 1880s sheet music.  If you’re looking for a similar look and up for the craft project weddingchicks.com had a great tutorial with step by step photos.  Create a layered paper flower with a scalloped paper punch, your choice of paper and a few other miscellaneous tools.

Vintage paper heart confetti, etsy.com seller ddeforest

Confetti

Confetti is cheap and versatile, DIY vintage paper confetti has several possibilities for uses at your wedding.  Break with tradition and have the flower girl toss handfuls of heart shaped confetti cut from vintage sheet music or romance novels as she walks down the aisle.  Use music sheet printed confetti with soft pink flower petals for a true touch of romance that will grace the ceremony aisle.  Heart confetti can also serve as a unique table accent, scattered at the base of the reception table centerpieces or along the cake display table.

Use a craft, heart shaped paper punch to make this not only a cheap but extremely easy DIY project.  And if your really watching your budget or just like being frugal save your scraps of vintage paper from other projects like the music paper cone and punch heart shapes out for your confetti.

diy-wedding-pinwheels, oncewed.com

Paper Pinwheels

Pinwheels are fun favors and whimsical decorations.  Using vintage music sheet to keep with the classic, romantic look you can tie the wands with soft pink ribbons or strings of lace.  These would be a fun, different favor to hand out after the ceremony transitioning into the wedding reception.

Oncewed.com had a fabulous, easy to follow tutorial showing how to make your own beautiful and affordable wedding pinwheel favors.  You’ll need large 12″ X 12″ paper, wooden dowels, push pins and miscellaneous tools; all easy to find items and to by in bulk to save you even more money.

Fall in Love with Vintage Paper Favors

I love it when you can find smart, crafty DIY projects that allow you to transform cheap, everyday materials into beautiful, custom wedding or party decorations.  While realistically you aren’t going to craft your entire wedding look out of paper crafts, a few DIY wedding paper projects can provide you with the right cheap, affordable wedding accessories to bring together your whole look.  It’s about the little and personal touches you can put into your wedding day to make it special and memorable.

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Wedding Bridal Accessories

By on December 24, 2011 in Daily Scoop, Wedding Design Ideas

wedding white rose, afloral.com

Accessories are a girl’s best friend.  While diamonds might not be your thing, I’m sure you have an accessory in your closet or jewelry box that is your favorite.

Accessories can make a look or outfit.   They are let you show off your personal style, and provide the right finishing touches to pull everything together.  Shoes, jewelry, purses, hats take your pick, whether you’re a classic pearls with flats or a little rock and roll with rhinestones and platform wedges.

Accessorize! Make sure and line up the right wedding accessories for your bridal look; your gorgeous wedding gown needs the right accessories to complete the whole look.  Today we’re going to go over a few of these wedding accessories that you should think about when customizing your bridal look.

If you plan ahead and play your cards right you can get a few great deals and use some DIY wedding projects to save money. With a few inexpensive wedding accessories you’ll be able to afford one area to splurge.  So let’s get started.

wedding handbag

Handbags

You might not have thought about having a purse to go with your wedding gown.  But a small clutch or handbag is the perfect place to store some lip gloss a few bobby pins and what not as you go from your ceremony to reception.  Dress it up, find something formal, sparkly and detailed like this satin clutch with ornamented pearls and rhinestones.  This would be the perfect complement to your white wedding gown that looks dressy and classic.  Or go for something fun like sequins or animal print.

Etsy.com is filled with great custom handbags are reasonable prices.  This is an ideal wedding accessory to save money on keep it under $50 and you get the bonus of being able to use it again after your wedding day.

wedding pearls, silverandjewelry.com

Jewelry

Now you are about to get the most important piece of jewelry you’ve ever had.  Your wedding ring, which will be a symbol of your new matrimony and love for one another.  You also need to plan you’re other jewelry pieces you’ll wear down the aisle and throughout your day.

This is a great category to consider something old.   Take a queue from the Royals, Prince William used his mother’s ring to propose to Kate,  perhaps you or your inlaw’s side have a special piece of jewelry you could use for your special day.  Grandmother’s pearls would look stunning and hold sentimental value for any bride on her wedding day.   Added bonus something borrowed will cost you nothing.

wedding shoes, oncewed.com

Shoes

Shoes, you’ve got to love them.  I am definitely a shoe girl.  The right pair of shoes can make you feel like a million bucks.  Whether you want to dress up with a pair of heels or keep in casual in flats.  Wedding shoes are an area you can have a little fun.  Oncewed.com states “brides are chic, practical and budget conscious”, when it comes to shoes they want “an array of colors, styles, heel heights, brooch accents, platforms, bling, animal prints and avant garde look”.

Wedding shoes have so many options.  This is a great area to go trendy or really play up some personal style.  I love animal prints, these zebra print heels would be the perfect look for any bride to live on the wild side a little and show they can have fun with their wedding look.

wedding hair piece, afloral.com

Hair pieces

I hope you saw Thursday’s post, DIY wedding hair accessories.  We featured 3 DIY wedding hair accessory looks that all cost under $10!  They are a great easy and affordable wedding project that let’s you put a little personal style into your look.  A hair accessory adds just the right finishing touches to help pull your whole look together and draw a little extra attention to your wedding hairstyle.

 

 

Well I hope this run down has left you ready to get set and accessorize!  Have some fun show off your personal style but don’t blow your wedding budget over your bridal look.  Use some great finds and look for deals within certain categories like our clutch example, save by using a piece of borrowed jewelry and cash in on savings with an easy DIY wedding hair accessory project.  If you’re still looking for a few more ideas theknot.com has an accessory and finishing touches section that will allow you to search to find all the right accessories to complete your look.  Have fun styling!

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Non Traditional Wedding Desserts

By on December 10, 2011 in Daily Scoop, Wedding Design Ideas

wedding dessert bar, atyourservicecaters.com

 

Let them eat cake!  Or not.  Marie Antoinette might eat her own words if she knew today all the delicious alternatives to the traditional cake.

While Marie might have been a naive royal, blind to why her people were starving, don’t be naive in thinking a wedding cake is your only wedding dessert option.

Dessert options have really expanded in recent years to include cupcakes, dessert or candy bars, pies, cookies and other treats. Cheapwaysto.com reports that with the “exorbitant cost of traditional tiered wedding cakes have given way to nontraditional desserts”. The death of the wedding cake has made way for fun alternatives that show off a bit of personality for the bride and groom, while also saving them big costs on their wedding budget.

Now I’ve never met a cupcake I didn’t like, but this latest trend has definitely been a bit overdone; leaving you with the sense you’ve seen it before.  Today we’re going to explore a few different dessert options that promise to be tasty and original.

 

macaron wedding dessert, projectwedding.com

New Bit Size Trend

Macarons are replacing cupcakes as the trendy bit-size treat at any party.  A french sandwich cookie made out of egg whites and sugar, macarons are an elegant finger food that will melt in your mouth.  “In the realm of wedding desserts, macarons are the belle of the ball,” stated by emmalinebride.com.

They are available in all sorts of colors and flavors to customize your wedding menu.  Macarons have been popping up all over the wedding blog scene as a favorite new treat.  They look gorgeous arranged on layered cake stands at your dessert table or packaged up as take home favors for guests.  One of the hottest new DIY wedding project ideas is the Macaron tower, assembling an assortment of macarons vertically up a styrofoam cone with toothpicks.  Projectwedding.com gives a complete how to project guide with great step by step photos.

 

cannoli wedding cake, ruffleblog.com

It’s Amore

I fell in love with this layered cannoli “cake” because honestly, cannolis are simply to die for.  Cannoli’s are an Italian, specifically Sicilian pastry; it is a fried pastry dough shaped as a tube cone filled with a mixture of ricotta cheese, sugar and chocolate chips.  It is the perfect combination of light, crispy dough with smooth, sweet insides. Yum.

Cannolis come in a variety of sizes.  Layer cannolis as seen in our example from ruffledblog.com to create a non traditional wedding cake with a bride and groom topper, and serve a smaller size cannoli for guests to have a bit size treat.

mochi ice cream, chicagonow.com

More Mochi

Like the macaron dessert choice, mochi is a new upcoming trendy dessert option on the wedding scene.  Chicagonow.com listed it in it’s top 5 unique wedding desserts for 2011,” Mochi ice cream is a Japanese confection made from mochi (pounded stick rice) with an ice cream filling”  It comes in a variety of flavors like strawberry, green tea, chocolate, mango ect.; serve this unique dessert in cocktail glasses guests can taste test and mingle throughout the reception.

Get to Work

As you can see your wedding dessert choice is an ideal opportunity to show off some personality, whether you go with something fun and trendy, a traditional, romantic cake, or a sentimental family favorite.

Talk this wedding category over with your groom to see where his taste buds are leading.  Once you’ve narrowed down your choices, have a taste-testing evening.  Make up a few recipes on your own, or stop by your local bakery and bring home a few options.  My mouth is already watering……

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DIY Wedding Cake Floral Ideas

By on December 8, 2011 in Daily Scoop, How To

Today we are going to feature 3 easy ways to decorate a wedding cake with silk flowers, to cash in on big savings.

“The wedding cake is one of the focal points of the wedding reception.  Used wisely, flowers can make a plain cake look spectacular”, from wedding-flower-guide.com.  While your cake can be the belle of the reception don’t let your wedding cake be the focal point of your budget.  You can get a truly beautiful cake without having to skimp on your look with a few DIY decorating ideas and silk wedding flowers.

flower petal wedding cake, francoiseweeks.com

Showered in Petals

One of the simplest, easiest and most inexpensive ways to decorate a wedding cake is with silk flower petals.  They come in a variety of colors from traditional reds, pinks, peaches to lime green, blue and eggplant.  Afloral.com offers 100 petal bags or containers of silk petals for around $3 each.  Can you picture decorating your entire cake for around $3-$6?

Silk petals can be sprinkled down a tiered cake, as seen in the example from francoiseweeks.com.  Strategically placing a cluster on top, around each layer and then letting them scatter down.  Silk petals also work to decorate individual cupcakes, sheet cakes and the surrounding cake table.  They provide a soft, beautiful pop of color to a white iced cake.

 

 

 

 

square tiered cake with flowers, dexknows.com

Beauty in Each Layer

Wow guests with a modern, squared tiered cake, showcasing beautiful, lush silk flower blooms in between each layer.  This is another easy DIY wedding cake option, that uses large flower blooms like roses, gerbera daisies, tiger lilies, calla lilies or even bold dahlias. A couple dozen stems at $2-$4 a piece will create a gorgeous look; save even more by purchasing sprays with more then one bloom on a stem.

The wedding cake shown here, is a square tiered cake with each tier on a cake stand.  You could simply trim your silk flower blooms about 3-4 inches on the stem and insert them in between the space provided by each layer.  If your cake is a traditional layered cake insert the silk flower stems right into the cake along the base of each layer.  The great thing about using silks is you can pre-trim all your stems and set them aside without worrying if they’ll wilt.  And they can go right into the cake without worrying about inedible pieces of real flowers getting on the cake.  Visit dexknows.com the source of this gorgeous tiered cake to find out just the right way to cut a square tiered cake, insuring all your guests get the right size piece.

wedding cake with floral topper, jamaallison.wordpress.com

It Takes the Cake

Our final DIY wedding cake project gets a bit more involved but surely will leave you with a showstopping look that will take the cake at your reception.  Creating your own floral cake topper is similar to arranging a bouquet.  You will need a piece of dome floral foam to fit on the top of the cake, use a half ball piece or sphere foam cut in half, wire cutters and your choice of silk flowers. Trim your silk flowers to  about 2 inches on the stems and begin arranging them in the floral foam, don’t forget to add greenery or baby’s breath to complete the arrangement.

With the right floral choices your DIY wedding cake topper will have all eyes on your delicious dessert.  Finish off the look with ribbon to wrap around the base of each layer on a tiered cake and, or trimmed flower blooms to scatter at the base of the cake.  Purchase all your DIY materials, silk flowers, foam, ribbon ect. for around $20-$30, with a little bit of your time you’ll have a custom arrangement at a great budget cost!

A Great Look, at Affordable Price

These great DIY decorating ideas will equal into big savings for your wedding day budget.  Get the right look with afloral.com silk flowers and a little bit of your time.  Something to keep in mind cake floral choices should pull from your bridal bouquets to carry your wedding theme throughout the day.  Get working on your silk bridal bouquet and while you’re at it order extra silk flowers to set aside for the cake.  Two things to do combined into one!

Not sure where to start on your wedding floral choices?  With a few color ideas in mind email mindy[at]afloral.com and she’ll make you a custom wedding inspiration board, a great place to start when planning your memorable day.

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Elegant White Wedding Theme

By on November 19, 2011 in Daily Scoop, Wedding Design Ideas

afloral.com Elegant White Rose Wedding

Elegant is defined as effective, simple, tasteful and refined grace.

An elegant wedding is tasteful and sophisticated.  It is a formal occasion for the bridal party and guests.  While they are dressed in their best they will be greeted by beautiful, tailored wedding decor.

Elegant decor is not overdone, it is simple and effective with eye catching centerpieces, refined table settings and just the right accessories to accentuate and balance the whole look.

You must be thinking that this kind of look can’t come without a high price tag.  I’d like to prove you wrong.  Get the most for your money with afloral.com silk wedding flowers, inexpensive accessories and a few DIY wedding projects.  With the right wedding ideas and tips you can get a beautiful, elegant wedding at an inexpensive wedding cost.

A white wedding is the ideal palette that will keep decor simple yet beautiful and timeless.  Pair with the classic look of a white rose for the perfect elegant wedding.

The Bride’s Accessories

white rose bridal bouquet

 

All eyes are on the bride throughout her wedding day.  Make a stunning statement with elegant bridal details like this satin wrapped bridal bouquet and open white rose hairpiece.

Both bridal accessories are simple yet effective in relaying a sense of timeless, elegant beauty.  The white rose hand tied bouquet is soft and elegant, white satin ribbon accents the white sophia roses with a bouquet jewel.  Opt to use  grandma’s brooch for a special accessory with meaning.

 

white rose bridal hairpiece

 

The open rose hairpiece is a beautiful accessory, soft, lush petals resting in the bride’s updo.  The size of the single rose is a showstopper without overpowering the bride’s own beauty.  Create this DIY wedding hairpiece with a 26″ sophia rose, hair clip and floral wire for $5.  A custom wedding accessory at an affordable price for any budget bride.

After you’ve created a stylish, elegant bridal look don’t forget to include the groom.  Last week’s DIY boutonniere post is easy, affordable and a great way to add style to your groom’s look.

white rose centerpiece

The Main Stage

Setting the stage for an elegant wedding the reception tables are a main focal point.  Centerpieces and table settings need to be exquisite and sophisticated.  Afloral.com shows us how to get this high end look at a budget pleasing, affordable cost.

Afloral.com’s white rose wedding theme achieves a beautiful and classic look.  White rose centerpieces are not overdone 6-8 white sophia silk rose stems, ranging from $3-$5 a stem, are trimmed and arranged in a glass cylinder vase. Their stature and beauty catch your eye while leaving room for a few stylish, sophisticated details.

Crystal crushed ice fills the bottom of this white rose centerpieces adding a touch of glitz and glamour.  The perfect accent for an elegant or white, winter wedding.  Another accent to talk about is the faux diamond runner, gorgeous.  Awe guests with this glamorous table accessory and make your special day sparkle.  Round out the whole look with a wedding essential, votive candles to set a romantic atmosphere.

white rose chair back

Reception Details

Make sure your table settings are set to impress.  Keeping with the elegant, refined look use real plates and silverware.  Simple white china or vintage plates with a bit of trim.  A charger plate will set the stage for your delicious meal, accent it with a folded linen napkin holding the evening’s menu for guests.

Last but not least.  When you’re at the mercy of what your venue  has to offer a great way to dress up the space are DIY chair backs or covers.  Featured on Thursday’s how to post, the DIY white rose chair back is easy to assemble and affordable at under $6 a chair.

 

Bringing it All Together

You don’t have to rack up the dollar signs to achieve an elegant wedding look.  Using afloral.com silk wedding flowers, inexpensive accessories and DIY wedding projects you can keep your wedding budget realistic.

Make a stunning entrance to your wedding with afloral.com’s affordable and elegant bridal accessories.  Set the stage for your special day with simple, sophisticated white rose centerpieces featuring afloral.com’s silk sophia white roses and complete the whole look with inexpensive accessories like crystal ice, faux diamond runner and white rose chair backs.

Your elegant wedding day will hold guests in awe and provide a memorable occasion that will leave people talking; while you’re secretly smiling because you achieved this show stopping look at an affordable and inexpensive cost.

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