Our ceremony was outdoors in a gorgeous park. We got to use the space and a beautiful castle-esque (yes, I just made up a word) stone structure for a mere $25. Score. Our reception the following day was at a vineyard owned by a family friend and cost us $0. Again, score. Both spaces were already pretty amazing on their own, and we really didn’t want to over decorate. The things we chose to include were all lovingly handmade and brought such a personal touch to both days.
Below, I’ve included 8 Simple DIY Wedding Decorations that will hopefully inspire you – whether for a wedding, shower, or other special event!
Hanging Wine Bottles and Old Window Frames
I love wine bottles (and also, the wine that comes inside of them). To this day when I finish a bottle I feel as though I should create something with it. We used plain wine bottles to add some additional decoration to our space by tying them to tree brances with ribbon and jute and setting them in groups. We did the same with a few old window frames that my parents had from an old house that had been torn down in our neighborhood (farming communities have the best old stuff!). We used both to make the outdoor ceremony area feel more like a “room.”
Antique Table and Old Parlor Doors
Speaking of making the outdoor space feel like a “room,” we brought a few more “indoor” elements outside. The memory table for my grandparents and other family photos was an antique table that my parents own. At the ceremony, it was nestled under a little cove of trees. At the reception, we set it up next to the main tent.
Perhaps my favorite of all of the DIY ideas we made a reality for our wedding was the parlor doors my father set up at the beginning of the aisle. They made the space feel like a room and gave me the grand entrance every bride deserves! If anyone is interested in a specific tutorial for that particular project, please comment below! My dad did all the planning and implementing for that DIY – I just got to enjoy it!
Handpainted Signs with Favorite quotes
My mom handpainted and hand created all of the adorable signs we used. We placed them in the windows of the stone building, by and in trees, on tables, and as props in photos. Choose quotes or sayings that are meaningful to you and stencil, freehand or use vinyl to make your signs! We used barnboard and other wood scraps, and mom had most of the paint already – so this DIY was almost completely free. AND as a bonus, we now have these awesome signs in our home as a reminder of our perfect day.
Hand Crotcheted Flowers
Flowers are expensive. Our wedding was most definitely on a budget and we were really concerned about using up a ton of the budget on flowers. SO, we thought outside the box and asked hubby‘s Grandmother if she would be willing to crochet flowers. She, of course, agreed and made us the most beautiful flowers. We used these as centerpieces in ball jars for the head and family tables and as additional decorations on the wine bottle and ball jar decorations. They worked out so well for us because live flowers would have been difficult to keep healthy during our two day celebration, and we got to give them away as special favors. Not to mention I have a bouqet of happy live-forever-flowers on my living room shelf!
Jute Wrapped Wine Bottles
We wrapped so many wine bottles in jute. We used medium sized jute and hot glue to wrap wine bottles as decorations for table centerpieces. After you clean off the labels (and on some, I wrapped right over the labels), you just dot some hot glue where you want to start and begin wrapping. Adding a dot of hot glue every few trips around the bottle helps prevent slipping and shifting, we found. Some bottles we completely covered, some we just used a little jute to add some texture. We added ribbon, crochet flowers, and wooden hearts to some. Each wine bottle was different, and made for unique decor. We also gave these away as favors, and I have several left. I’ve used some as decorations in my home and am turning some into tiki torches for our deck.
Repurpose and Reuse – I didn’t want anything to be just a one time use item!
Lace, Ribbon and Bell Wands
My mom created these adorable favors that we gave out at the wedding instead of rice or confetti. The kids at our wedding throughouly enjoyed these as well! She wired the bell onto a small dowel, then tied and glued a grouping of thin lace and ribbon in our wedding colors to the dowel. She even handpainted wooden hearts, added our names and the wedding date and placed that at the top. SO. CUTE. I’m telling you, our wedding was a labor of love.
Chalkboard Picture Frames
I love chalkboard paint. And I love words. SO, I created several signs to use at both the ceremony and reception. Some were used to lable guest tables (with songs instead of numbers), others were used to direct guests to the guest book and memory tables, and others had the evening’s events or meaningful quotes on them. I purchased frames in a variety of sizes at thrift stores (on the cheap – think $2ish a frame). After taking the glass and the frames apart and cleaning them, I spray painted primer on both. I then spray painted the frames white (You could do any color you want, of course!) and use chalkboard paint on the glass. I read several tutorials on pinterest (It’s been long enough that I am not sure which was my final inspiration, but there are a lot of different tutorials!) and ended up not using spray chalkboard paint. I painted it on with a brush, waiting several hours between coats (brushing top to bottom first coat and left to right second coat). They turned out great, and again – I use them as decor in my home!
I hope some of these ideas inspire you to make your special day your own!! And no matter what DIY project you are working on, think about a way to give it multiple uses. An item that can be used only one way limits you – something that can be given new life over and over with minimal effort – THAT is the best form of DIY!
All our amazing wedding photos were taken by Carson Thacker. Go check out his work!
Did you make anything for your wedding?