Dudley's Dos & Donts of DIY: Ceremony Decor!

The wedding ceremony. The time has come to marry your honey, and the guests will all be there to watch. But let's face it.. the guests are eager and excited to watch you get married just as much as they're also wanting to see your decor and what you did exactly to dress up your ceremony space. For the most part, ceremony decor should be relatively simple. No need to go over the top because going simple goes a long way. Que Billy Idol's "White Wedding!"

DIY Ceremony Decor - Dos & Donts

Whether you're getting married indoors or outdoors, there are a number of things to consider when you begin designing the layout of your ceremony. So I've compiled ideas for both. Now let's say you're having an indoor ceremony. Imagine with me, if you will, your guests are walking up to the doors to enter. You have a few options, in terms of decor, on how you could potentially spruce up those doors. Decorating the doors are by no means mandatory, but let's say if you were going to..

DO: Be clean and uncomplicated.
No need to go overboard since your guests will just be walking through the doors and will see the decor for roughly 5 seconds. Hanging door letters like these are just the perfect touch.

DON'T: Hang anything resembling a woolly mammoth
with a pink bow.
AHH! Too much! You don't want to scare people do you?!

So now your guests have entered your ceremony space.  Do you have anything lining the aisle? More than likely, yes, but you don't need to. Depending on your space, sometimes very little ceremony decor is better. For instance fellow knottie, Brie of Brie-Fit, held her ceremony in a large beautiful church with tall, colorful windows..

Photography by Danielle Aquiline
Brie chose to keep her ceremony decor minimal, which was perfect considering the church already was an immaculate decoration on its own.

Now, let's say you're having more decor..

DO: Design the aisle, don't destroy the aisle.
Another fellow knottie and blogger, Ashley of Bride on a Budget, took a different approach when it came to decorating her aisle by creating "S" petal designs on the grass that lined the aisle. Gorgeous!

Photography by Micha Everett.

This bride chose to use an overlapping ring design.


DON'T: Use rose petals to design anything resembling alcoholic beverages or anything provocative.
Whether this bride decided to have her aisle decor in the shape of a martini glass, we will never know.

DO: Non-traditional decor to line the aisle.
Laying out traditional rose petals to line the aisle with a runner is no longer a must for every wedding. Brides are taking to new heights and modernized ideas to line their aisles.

 Photography by Meredith Rogers

 Fruit! Candles! Centerpieces! Lanterns! Pomanders! OH MY!
...Just don't do them all.



DON'T: Balloon Arches. Just don't.
Keep in mind that this is a wedding. Not your high school prom or Disneyland. Balloon arches are OUT. 
She's a beauty isn't she? Even in the shape of a heart!

 Balloons inside balloons are still a don't. But you have to see my favorite...







 
Balloon arches that line an entire aisle. 
I'm speechless.




DO: Incorporate a monogram or design into the aisle runner.
A trend among weddings are monograms/logos. How you choose to incorporate the monograms is completely up to you, but one way to carry it out in ceremony decor is through your aisle runner. Fellow knottie, Jennifer of Vogt Stories, creates these beautiful monograms on aisle runners. Make sure to check out her Etsy shop!

Photography by Angela Laird


Another major part of your ceremony decor is your bridal party. Believe it or not, bridal party members are there to support you, but they also can help carry out your wedding color scheme and/or theme.


DO: Coordinate your bridal party well. 
 If you don't want them to match, then they don't need to. But just remember that not only do you want them to look good, but they want to look and feel good too.
Coral dresses with coral ties. Done. Nothing major

DON'T: Making your bridesmaids identical and perfectly matched.
Having them all wear the same dress is one thing, but to go as far as make them wear matching shoes along with matching accessories and similar hairstyles... Major don't. Your bridesmaids have personalities so let them express it.

 Here is a great example of a bride who told their bridesmaids to choose their own green dress or a dress with a green embellishment.

They look great! Each can express her own personality, and feel comfortable.

So modern and fun!

DO: Providing beverages.

 Cute and personalized water bottle labels are a hot new trend right now in the wedding world. Providing beverages are not a requirement, but definitely a nice gesture for those ceremonies that will be held outdoors or extra long.

Photography by Meredith Rogers 

A lemonade stand is a unique and fun idea too!

DON'T: Getting flower and color happy.

You don't want to overload your space with color or flowers.

Hello red!

Did red rose petals throw up? =)

And there you have it. My Dos & Donts of DIY for Ceremony Decor. 

I do have one more question though..

Why when I was searching for wedding decor, did this picture show up? 

Here's a better question, WHY IS A DOG STANDING ON CHEESEBURGERS?

I'll leave ya with that!

Made A Married Bio!

Hello everyone! I was up late last night, so I decided to make a Married Bio! I've shared some pictures on here with you all already, but the bio provides more pictures for you all to see more details of our wedding. Feel free to check it out: http://dudleygetsmarried.weebly.com/index.html

Dudley's Dos & Don'ts of DIY: Invitations

When you begin planning your wedding, you begin scavenging through photos for inspiration for your own big day. Whether it be your dream wedding gown to those modern invites that you must have, I think it is important to stress that DIYing items for your wedding definitely can have its limits. So I have compiled my own, "Dudley's Dos & Don'ts of DIY," which I plan to incorporate as a new feature!

Invitations. The first impression that your guests will receive of your wedding. With many wedding invitation vendors charging as much as $4-$5 per wedding invitation, it has become more common for brides to opt to design and create their own. You don't need expensive calligraphers or diamond-finish cardstock to make your invitations spectacular, but there are a few key guidelines that you should follow when it comes to DIYing your invites.

DIY Invitations - Dos & Donts

 DON'T: Be sloppy.

The use of different sized fonts can be perfectly fine for your invite, but do it the right way. An array of text, sizes and colors will have your guests dizzy before they even realize exactly what they're being invited to. Be more orderly when compiling your words.

DO: Clean and simple can go a long way.

Simple use of color, clean lines, simple graphic, and proper alignment will give your invitation a more professional look. Think modern.

 DON'T: Attempt for cheap laughs and corniness.

A wedding is a union between two people joining their lives together. Not a circus. Yea, just don't ever do what the couple did below.

DO: Be Organized. 

Organization is key when it comes to compiling the final product, whether that be with a pocket, ribbon etc. When your guests open your invitation for the first time, they don't want the little extras to fall out of the envelope.

 DON'T: Pretending to be fictional characters instead.

No "Romeo & Juliet," "Bella & Edward," or "Elvis & Priscilla." Be yourselves.

DO: Be creative.

Add color. Add a vector. Now don't go nuts, but the days of plain, floral wedding invitations are GONE.

 DON'T: Adding too much and being too busy.

No need to put three pictures of you and your honey on the invite, one will do. Your entire invitation doesn't need to be covered with something. Like I said previously, think clean and simple.

DO: Think outside the norm.

Belly bands are becoming more and more popular in the wedding invitation market, but who says that they have to be plain? This couple opted to incorporate their first names into their belly bands.

 DON'T: Incorporating your registry.

Major no-no. Weddings are parties, but gifts are by no means necessary. By adding your registry information to your invites, you're suggesting to your guests that you expect a gift. Registry information should be told by word of mouth or can be displayed on your wedding website.

DO: Create a theme to carry out.

Themes are by no means mandatory, but a cute detail like this beaded band can be used in many different ways throughout your wedding. It will give your wedding a more chic and modern feel.

 DON'T: Misspell or be grammatically incorrect.

Spell check everything, and then have a few friends or family members check everything again. Typos can be quite embarassing too, so make sure to double check and re-check everything!

 And there you have it.

Don't go crazy with your invitations, but by following simple guidelines like these, you will make your invitations something to remember and treasure.

Do you have any "Dos & Donts," to share?

Any pictures of past weddings where there was a major DIY do or dont?

If so, email them to me! I want to see them! They may be featured!

diy.bride@yahoo.com

DIY We Love: Back To School Themed Weddings!

With schools gradually beginning their fall semesters, I began thinking about weddings and how school could become a potential theme for your nuptials. If you and your sweetie are teachers, or if you're high school sweethearts (like my husband and I), school-themed weddings would be a creative and innovative way to help your wedding stand apart from the rest.  Let's check out exactly how this could be achieved!

DIY Ideas

For starters, you will probably want to incorporate more school-themed decor into your cocktail hour and reception decor, but you could introduce your theme to your guests with your invites and subtle ceremony decor as well!

Mini tabbed file folders could be used to hold all of your wedding invitation materials pinned with paper clips, and your invitation could have a lined-paper look to pull the theme together. This bride used an "Attendance Report," to track her RSVP's!

The guest book could incorporate a more spiral-bound notebook look along with some doodles and a No.2 pencil. This wedding party posed with a vintage name board to make it look like a class picture!

How about the cocktail hour?

How about milk served by the pint along with cookies, small sandwiches and apples!

A desk could be used to hold apple escort cards!

A new trend among weddings is incorporating chalkboards. I shared with you all previously, Chardonnay's DIY chalkboards, and how they can be made quite cheaply with a little chalkboard paint.

How about using chalkboards for your table numbers? Cute, simple and unique!

Also, you could make larger chalkboards that you could use to share the wedding meal menu with your guests.

Now what about those centerpieces? Why not.. books!

Books can be dressed up in an array of ways or dressed down if you want to go for a more vintage feel.

Flower arrangements could even be placed on top of books to give your reception a more elegant look.

No matter what theme you want to create just remember that a little can go a long way, and always think outside the box. Ya never know, it could end up on my "DIY We Love," feature!

Do you have an amazing theme to share? Did you have a DIY wedding? If so, feel free to email me at diy.bride@yahoo.com to be featured!

LinenTableCloth.com Sale!

Still in need of linens, napkins, chair sashes or chair covers for your big day? Check out linentablecloth.com for their awesome sale going on right now through 8/31!

All of their most popular tablecloth sizes in White, Ivory and Black are now 30% off our

already low prices! Sale ends 8/31/2010.

DIY We Love: Non-Floral Bouquets!

It's no secret that many brides are seeking out new and innovative ideas to replace traditional floral bouquets nowadays. Whether it be for lack of funds, flowers aren't your style, you want to be different etc., non-floral bouquets are gradually becoming more and more popular. Possibilities are becoming virtually endless when it comes to deciding which approach you want to take.

Fellow knottie, as well as the fabulous graphic designer of our wedding logo, Bec (BecW2Be) decided to make button bouquets and bouts instead:

Click here to learn how to make these on your own!

Another favorite of mine was found on the OffBeatBride's website, where she featured bride Sandy's ornament and paper bouquets!

Check out the entire feature here!

Sandy created these paper flower bouquets by purchasing Wild Magnolia paper flower kits from Paper-Source. Click here to view all of the other great paper flower kits that can be purchased from paper-source.com!

Feather bouquets are a new trend on the rise as well!

These can be dressed up with color, different style feathers (peacock feathers perhaps?) or even jewelry! The above bouquet has been accented with a simple pearl brooch.  Looking to create these on your own?

Follow my simple tutorial on creating your own toss bouquet except replace the silk flowers with feathers!

Are you looking to really think outside the box?

Etsy seller, REFINERII, sells aluminum wire bouquets in her Etsy Shop!

How about candy?

Click here to learn how to make these candy bouquets!

Or perhaps you could create your own Tootsie Roll Roses!

The blog, Dabbled, shares her tutorial on how to make your own Tootsie Roll Roses.

If you don't want to create these for the wedding, how about making simple Tootsie Roll pop bouquets for the Rehearsal!

How about forgetting the idea of having a bouquet at all, and carry parasols!

Think outside the box when creating your bouquets, and really create something that you truly love. No need to settle for flowers if you don't want them and if you can't afford them, you don't need them! Just have fun with it!