Easy, DIY Decorations for a Wedding or Party

  Hi, everyone!  I just returned from spending the day with my newly married sister.  I can't believe my baby sister is a WIFE!!!  Anyway, while we were visiting at my mom and dad's house I snapped some pictures of decorations that she and I made for the wedding reception.  I wanted to share these photos with you (even thought they're not the best quality, sadly) to show you how easy it is to make inexpensive decorations for a wedding or party that look, in my partial opinion, like a million bucks!

   First up is an H.  The country club where my sister had her reception had a pretty fireplace and mantle.  We wanted to personalize it with the newly married couple's initials.  So we bought three large letters from Hobby Lobby to pitter and glink.  We painted the letters a pretty turquoise color to match the bridesmaids' dresses.  They looked good then, but, come on, more is MORE!!!  My sister suggested we stencil the letters.  (GREAT idea, sis!)  So we stenciled the letters using a cheap stencil I happened to have around the house.  They were still just kind of "eh."  So I decided we should distress them a bit.  I got out my black ink pad and rubbed it over the edges of the letters.  They were ALMOST fabulous, but I thought they needed a little sparkle, of course.  We hot glued rhinestones to some of the circles in the middle of the stenciled designs.  I wish I had a picture of the finished monogrammed mantle to show you, but, alas, the photo of the one letter will have to do.  The letters were only a few dollars a pieces, and the paint, ink, stencil, and rhinestones were items I already had.  Don't think these can only be used for a wedding or party, though.  My sister is going to put the letters to use in the bedroom of her apartment!

  Next is the card box.  You can spend A LOT of money buying a card box if you want a nice one.  But my sister didn't want to pay a lot of money for a box to PUT CARDS IN!  We bought a paper mache box from Hobby Lobby, and I pittered and glinked it!  I painted the bottom of the box the same way I did the letter above.  I cut a slit big enough for cards on the top of the box with my craft knife.  I initially painted the top of the box with craft paint, but it was too matte looking, so I spray painted it.  I bought some pink satin ribbon from Walmart and wrapped a strip around the box and hot glued it where I wanted my bow to be.  Then I made the bow.  (Don't tell anyone, but I cheated on the bow.  I didn't know how to make one like that, so I wired three separate loops and then hot glued the loops together.)  I bought a brooch from Hobby Lobby that I put in the middle of the bow.  I printed a tag on the computer that said, "CARDS," backed it with some black paper, and stuck it to the box with double sided tape.  My sister didn't want the top of the box to come off easily, so I put one Velcro dot on each side of the box under the lid.  Then she had a finished, inexpensive card box.  Altogether, it probably cost less than twelve dollars.  Once again, this doesn't just have to be for a wedding!

  Last but no least are the reception table centerpieces.  Buying enough glassware or flower arrangements to make a bunch of six foot round tables look "decorated" can be costly!  So my sis and I came up with these little babies!  We bought big D's for her soon-to-be last name and an H and M for her and her soon-to-be husband's last name.  We treated these letters the same as the other letters I told you about minus the stencil.  We glued them together and added small flowers with rhinestone centers.  Then we realized we needed something to make the centerpieces stand up.  We bought two different sizes of unfinished round wooden plaques and small wooden candlesticks from Hobby Lobby.  As you can see in the photo, we made a cake-stand-looking pedestal by sandwiching the small candlestick between the two different sizes of plaques.  (I used a combination of hot glue--for immediate hold--and Gorilla wood glue--for super hold.)  We then spray painted the stands black.  When all the pieces were finished and ready to be assembled, we hot glued the monograms to the pedestals.

This is what the finished product looked like, minus lit candles and a BEAUTIFUL bride!

   As you can see, it's pretty easy and inexpensive to make beautiful and affordable wedding or party decorations!  Imagine something like these for a pink princess party, family reunion, anniversary party.....I could go on and on imagining....;)