Just because I sew, doesn’t mean I ‘craft’. I’m not sure when it became a ‘thing’ to have a crafty DIY wedding, but after reading wedding blogs and message boards, it’s clear to me that it’s the current trend. Maybe it’s always been a thing? After having spent many family weddings bagging candy or rice or bubble blowing kits (or serving food), I SWORE I wasn’t going to get sucked into the vortex of making ‘stuff’ for my 15 person wedding planned in six weeks. I just wanted to walk in and everything be ‘done’. But, Pinterest and the proliferation of wedding blogging sucked me in. I spent several nights at A.C. Moore and Michael’s getting craft supplies and even more nights crafting.
While our wedding was moved up, I wanted to make sure it felt like a thoughtful/ not rushed service. Also, I’m a photo nut and wanted to make sure there were lots of details for our photographer to capture.
We used Scrabble as the motif in three of our projects. My parents and I used to play Scrabble weekly after church. My parents love that game. I gave them the nice anniversary edition a few years ago. And, the first time Jordan met my dad (you know, back when I didn’t give him a title. Just, ‘Dad, this is Jordan’), we played Scrabble together. Jordan, to be polite, kicked our collective butts. He told me he wasn’t very good at it because his Mom and brother used to play and beat him regularly. Turns out his brother and mom are Scrabble fiends.
I also liked the idea of using ‘words’ since I was a journalism major and he was a creative writing major. Yo, I found a hetero, alpha, male who likes the theater and considers Le Mis his favorite musical. #MarryHim #AlreadyDid
The first big craft was this banner we had our guests hold up for our ‘announcement’ photo. I totally got the idea off of Pinterest. I used thin plywood tiles at $1.99 from A.C. Moore , varnished them for color accuracy (I don’t know why. Varnish is so not needed. I did it because I am a glutton for punishment) . I also modgepodged them in my living room. I had to crate Linus because he wanted to be in everything I was working on. The letter templates and directions are from here.
We also made these seat names for folks using scrabble tiles. Mine was ‘bride’ and his was ‘groom’. Just a glue gun and tiles from ebay and etsy. There were some glue gun injuries. That stuff BURNS. Most of our guests left theirs behind. That’s okay. I’m going to make them take them at our post-wedding party. I’m using mine for a paperweight in my office.
Our final Scrabble themed item were our favors. I found the idea at Project Wedding. I like how I think favors are a total waste of time and money. Yet, I still spent two days making them!
The only thing different I did was mod podging the tops and just printing our tags rather than letter pressing them.
Crazy Saturday night plans.
I recruited Liz to do most of the work with me while my then fiance was in Philadelphia for his bachelor weekend. As you can see, tulle for my veil and vodka for sustenance.
Non Scrabble related, we did a L-O-V-E sign by painting these wood letters in our wedding colors. I can’t even tell you how hard I resisted having ‘colors’. But, I kept getting asked by the florist, guests, the planner, etc. Finally, I just settled on pastel versions of the wedding invitation (which mirrored the website).
This photo is super backlit. But, you get the gist.
Liz, because she’s crazy and actually crafty, continued crafting after I left for Florida. She made these incredibly cute signs for the wedding that we used in our pro photos. The wait for pro photos is TERRIBLE. I mean, we were lucky to get a little teaser within 48 hours. But, the next four weeks will try my patience!
The other nice thing we did was ship all this stuff to Florida. Along with my shoes, other props (vintage cameras), the programs, gifts for my parents — all of it went via Fed Ex. I just schlepped my dress. Which, I would have mailed but didn’t get it back in enough time to make the shipment.
Miss Celie's Pants 
OK, I love all of this stuff, but then Scrabble was huge in my family also when I was growing up. We used to take an old set on vacations and my mom used to kill everyone (but this was also a woman who did the NY Times crossword every week, IN PEN). The DIY wedding has been around for a while, actually – the night before my wedding, the DH, the MOH and BM and I were slaving away in the kitchen making salads (we ate potato salad for WEEKS afterwards). Our wedding was at a county park and we had a picnic afterwards. Doing your own thing builds memories, seriously – and yours looks so wonderful!!
I think you’re right. It’s the different details that set your wedding apart from others. There was one year I helped serve food at a family wedding. And, a guest tried to tip me! I laughed so hard.
Love and weddings always make you do things you swore you would never do, but in a good way! Your wedding was lovely, and more importantly, it was a perfect wedding for the two of you. It feels good to be happy to do things for love, doesn’t it?
These are off the charts awesome. I had a DIY wedding too and I did NADA. Zip. Zilch. I am so impressed with how put-together your wedding was, in such a short period of time. You and Shreya can plan any event of mine anytime. P.S. Backlit or not, you look beautiful!
Well, back 21 years ago :-O when I got married I had a diy wedding. Like you I made my favors. I also made napkin rings, cross stitched a Victorian bride with our wedding date and with the help of my maid of honor and mom made my hairpiece and beaded veil. I loved all the details in your wedding celebration; it was special and completely you =)
Everything looks beautiful and fun.
I think the specific idea of coordinated theme or personalized weddings have become trendy and Martha-fied in the past ten or so years but the plain truth is that unless you are affluent or been saving for years there have always been do-it-yourself elements to weddings. From having the dress made by the bride or a family member to potlucks, homemade cakes/pies, and gathering multiple anythings for table decor, this dates from as far back as people wanting to keep weddings affordable, which I think is always a good thing. I for one, love your commitment to wanting your tiles to look as accurate as possible by varnishing them. Great job!
Oh my god, I’m so glad someone else hates the crafting part of weddings. Mine is looming and, while trying to avoid it, I’ve somehow decided to make bunting for the reception. Why do we need bunting? No idea, but 100 yards of bias tape winging its way across country thanks to Ebay says we’re going to have it. Yikes. Also, for the first six months of our engagement people asked me our colors and I stared at them blankly. I finally just chose some, so people would stop giving me concerned looks, when they asked.
Your crafts are fabulous, though! I really like the Scrabble theme…and can’t believe you varnished those tiles. That’s dedication to a project!
Yes! THIS! I started totally blank at the dress shop when she asked me my colors! I was tempted to say ‘blush and bashful’ but kept my mouth shut. My melt down came when I was trying to order a cake and they asked me what colors I wanted and told me I couldn’t have the cake I wanted with cream cheese frosting. Fondant only. I turned over cake ordering to my good friend Julia because I could’t take it anymore. I’m so glad you are getting bunting. I thought about making some. But, ran out of time and steam. I will have bunting vicariously through you!
I told my florist, etc. I wanted “Spring” colors.
You are a genius, Mrs. Rosenfeld!
I absolutely LOVE your theme, and all of your crafts! And congratulations 🙂
What a fun (and personal!) theme! I can imagine it would be hard not to get caught up in the whole wedding crafting thing! I got married quickly, without much money, and without much planning at all. It was really simple and fun, but I do wish that it had been a little more personal and less “get ‘er done”, so to speak. Nothing wrong with a little crafting, right? 🙂
I’m so glad my wedding was pre Pinterest otherwise I would have gone nutso! I think it’s nice to have little details like you have even if no one else notices
All of your special details are so wonderful. Getting married was so much simpler when I did it in 1978! Cherish your memories 🙂
OK, Blush and bashful, I’m amazed you all got this done! So glad you upped the date, too. ~kisses~
Congrats! I know the feeling about party favors. I’m not married but I was part of a committee to put together items for my friend’s wedding, including a candy bar and many of the items were small details that the guest forgot about. Sometimes giving a friendly reminder is necessary to limit what items you have to clean up and bring back to you. You could possible sell them online on ebay or etsy, maybe a future bride wants a similar theme.
You really did have a great wedding. I’m just glad I was unaware of Pinterest when Hans and I got married last year or I’d have been all over that Scrabble theme. As it was, I did make my dress (simple sun dress that I’m pretty sure doesn’t fit anymore), got my cake and flowers from Publix, picked up some smoked fish from a local restaurant and headed into the bay on our boat with our guests for the wedding. My wedding ‘album’ was printed at Walgeens and I’m lucky to have that as my camera died, Hans’ brother’s camera got stuck in Canada with Brother’s partner, and the only pictures taken came from my high school friend’s husband’s iPhone (and it was a complete accident that she was even in the area and came along at the last minute!).
Your wedding was perfect, it really was, and in the years following you’ll realize this even more so.
You two make an adorable couple.