My friends, Leon and Heidi, are also getting married this year, next month in fact. Many props to Heidi, as she is taking DIY to a whole new level. She has purchased some things to make it easy for her and Leon, but for the most part has taken a hands-on approach to her entire wedding. Here’s a few things she’s done:
- Invitations: First, she purchased very nice cream-colored blank wedding stationery from Target. I believe she got them on sale for under $15. Then, being the artist she is, she carved her and Leon’s faces into a wooden stamp which she pressed onto the invites as a letter head. Finally, she printed out the text of the lower half of the invites, as well as the addresses on the envelopes, on her own printer. They looked fantastic – cute, personal, and humorous.
- Food: Heidi and Leon are also on a budget, so they decided to cut out a huge cost, yet also allow the guests to contribute to the wedding in an important way, by making it a potluck wedding. Everyone brings a dish or two of their choosing!
- Alcohol: While they may be purchasing a keg or two of their favorite beers, Heidi makes her own wine in many different flavors, that I am sure will be included in their reception.
- Decorations: Heidi’s always been crafty and seems to really value a homemade gift. Everytime I talk to her, she’s created yet another adorable decoration for her wedding. While these aren’t photos of her decorations, they are close in resemblance:

Instead of asking her friends or female relatives to wear matching dresses, Heidi opted for felt flower pins. Much like this photo, yet Heidi also included hand stitching. A beautiful decoration and keepsake for her female guests.

Though not quite what Heidi made as her cake topper, this is a fitting example, since she and Leon love mushrooms. Instead, Heidi took a small mason jar and inserted a happy picture of her and Leon taken at a special place they visit annually. Behind the picture, she stuffed the jar with reflective dark purple strips of paper.
Finally, I want to discuss a really cool decoration Heidi is currently working on: Glow-in-the-dark lace lanterns. The fact that I cannot find an exact picture online to reference this idea either means I’m not calling it by the right name, or this is a completely original idea of hers. First, she is wrapping a filled balloon with paper mache to create a large sphere:

Here’s a helpful link on how to make paper mache pulp:
http://familycrafts.about.com/cs/papermache/a/blpmpulp.htm
Once the paper mache had dried and hardened, you pop the balloon and you have a hard sphere to work with. Now, I’m not sure exactly how she’s doing this, but here’s what I imagine: spray or brush the paper mache sphere with glow-in-the-dark paint
Then, find a piece of lace or some type of fabric with multiple decorative holes and wrap the sphere with it.
Cut a small hole into the structure and attach a string or rope, so you can hang it off a ceiling, overhang, or tree!
Here’s a close idea of what it may look like, but without the creases and instead of a light or candle, imagine that cool green glow-in-the-dark color shining through the lace:
I love it! Can’t wait to see how it all turns out!