DIY Centerpieces

Weddings are expensive, which is all the more reason to do as much as you can on your own. My sister is getting married in May, and even though she lives in Florida, the land of flowers, her centerpieces are going to cost about $400. I can't imagine spending that much on cut flowers that will end up dead and unappreciated, so I wanted to share an alternative for those looking for "greener" (and cheaper) options.

Last summer, my friends Coleen and Beth had a commitment ceremony at the lovely Full Moon resort in the Catskills. Though most of the details were taken care of by the planners at the resort, the ladies came up with some great, living centerpieces on their own.

First, they found small metal containers at Ikea, and baby palms at Lowe's.

Because they chose very small plants and containers, the centerpieces were able to do double duty as take-home favors for the guests.

The addition of some inexpensive vases filled with river rocks and candles (all from Ikea) emphasized the peaceful, natural atmosphere of the resort.

If you want to be both greener (ecologically-speaking) and more colorful, consider using plants from your local NYC Greenmarket.

All in all, Beth tells me they spent about $120 on centerpieces/favors for fifty guests, which is reason enough to skip the flowers (no offense to my sister, whom I love and adore).

--Ashley
nycrochet.etsy.com
nycrochet.blogspot.com

How to Elope with Style

Lots of little girls dream of their weddings. All I ever fantasized about was the dress and the jewelry. So when my now-husband and I decided to get married, we quickly dispensed with the notion of a shin-dig and decided to do it on our own terms.

Niagara Falls called to us, so we booked a room with a gorgeous view and came up with excuses to get away for a few days in April.

The mayor of Niagara Falls, New York performed the ceremony. Rather than the boiler plate we'd expected, we got his take on the wedding vows, which were much sweeter and more heartfelt.

Although our nuptials took place in the dark ages before Etsy and the {New New}, they did include many handmade and DIY elements.

My dress was custom made at a local shop called Kimera. My cute capelet also came from a local shop that carries lots of handmade goods, Rapisarda. My husband worked with jewelry designer Lady J. to create an engagement ring based on one that had been my grandmother's. We got custom wedding bands from the Original Titanium Workshop.

As a gift on the day we got married, he got me a beautiful handmade purse from Refinery, a local pioneer in handmade retail.


Afterwards, we let our friends and family know we'd gotten hitched by sending out this card:
which we made by taking a picture of some public art near our house that we thought kind of looked like us. With each card we included a cd of the theme song to Laverne and Shirley, "Doing it Our Way."

If I were to do it all over again, I'd still elope. We spared ourselves a great deal of stress, and to this day we still feel justified in splurging on travel since we saved so much money by not having a a wedding.

The only thing I'd change is I'd definitely do a lot of my shopping from the {New New}!

Stylish elopement necessities from Ikyoto, bluestitch books, metalicious, groundsel, jesswitaj and Lingua Nigra.

-MaryAnne
wabisabibrooklyn.com
wabisabibrooklyn.etsy.com

How-to: DIY Wedding Favors

When my mother remarried nearly 10 years ago, her wedding was all about DIY from her dress to the wedding favors. That's where the inspiration for this blog comes from too! It's a fairly simple, yet sweet keepsake for your guests to remember your union. To honor her 10 years with her husband, Frank, I bring you:

Wooden Heart Magnet in an Organza pouch

Gather:
Wooden heart cutouts (available at most craft shops)Magnetic self adhesive tape (ditto)Paints/paintbrush and/or metallic paint pens.Other embellishing paraphernalia (trimming, glitter, sequins... you get it)Small organza bags
How-to:

1. Lay the wooden heart on a flat, protected surface.

2. Put a piece of magnetic tape on the back, but not too much that it extends beyond the surface of the heart.

3. Draw, paint or otherwise embellish the heart (this one was sort of 'tie-dyed' and used silver metallic paint pens) and Voila! You have a sweet little memento for your guests to recall your special day, and it hold coupons, to do lists or childrens' art on their fridge!

-Lorina Ladrillono of The Original Beadscarf

How-To:: DIY Wedding Save the Date Cards!

We all want our wedding to be the most memorable that we can while sticking to our budget. A great way to set the tone for your wedding and really make it unique to you is to create your own save the date cards - take a look at this video podcast from ThreadBanger on making your own DIY save the dates!



-Kimm
KimmChi.etsy.com

A DIY Wedding Story

Finding the perfect spot to be married is no easy task. My husband and I were lucky enough to be invited to host our wedding at a beautiful old summer house in Maine, where my husband had spent his childhood summers. Who could pass up this house, with a breathtaking view over the Atlantic?

With a limited budget, lots of energy and no wedding planners on this tiny island, DIY was the only way to go. The end result was a fabulous, fairy tale weekend that is still talked about amongst family, friends, and locals from the island.
Here's a few ideas that we learned from experience:

1. Get help! Don't be afraid to ask family and friends to help. Don't try to do it all yourself!

2. Seek out good people to do the things you can't. If you don't know the first thing about paper, find a creative paper person and trust them with the whole thing from save-the-date cards to thank you's.

3. Handmade gives you exactly what YOU want. There are amazingly creative talents out there. Seek them out! For example, talk to a dressmaker. You can get the exact dress you want, with the perfect fit, and usually at a much more reasonable price than rack and designer dresses.

4. Think outside the box. For example, we hired a professional photographer, not a wedding photographer. He was an amazing artist with the most incredible eye. We received the film (pre-digital days) which we had to develop but we have THE most amazing photos.

5. Use local talent. We hired a local gardening guru (not a florist) for the flowers. She cut all of our flowers locally the morning of the wedding, both from fields and cutting gardens. They were magnificent - and fresh!

6. Look at what you already have that you can use. I carried an antique fan from my grandmother in lieu of flowers. Also, our tables were decorated with items from our home. We added some candles and flowers to make it cohesive. The tables were beautiful and much more interesting.

7. Consider a weekend wedding. I mean the whole weekend. For our wedding, people came up early, helped put up tents, decorated tables, ran errands and generally helped out. Each evening, when the work was done, everyone gathered on the deck for wine, ocean views, and conversations. My husband and I received loads of help and everyone has four days of incredible memories!

Some {NewNew} shops to help with your wedding:

Both Waisze (top) and Fubabee (bottom) have beautiful designs for all your wedding stationary needs.

DewonaPetalHome carries fabulous candles that burn for hours of dancing and general wedding fun!

Winsomehollow has fabulous creations for centerpieces.

Both Wishbyfelicity (top) and NatureManipulated (bottom) have gorgeous handmade jewelry for your wedding day.

Search on newnewteam for more handmade goodies for your DIY wedding day!

Beth

Third Floor Designs

Design It Yourself -- A Comparative Book Review

This Christmas, two books from the D.I.Y series edited by Ellen Lupton found their way into my household: The D.I.Y Deck and D.I.Y. Kids. Both were published in 2007 and were designed to follow up on the successful initial book of the series D.I.Y. Design It Yourself published in 2006.

Design and Layout
The design of the D.I.Y Deck is interesting because it is a collection of 25 cards reminiscent of recipe cards with each featuring a particular project. The card set is subdivided into the categories Invitations, Housewares, Totes, Stickers, Shirts, and Gifts. Handling the cards is kind of fun; you can sit on the floor and spread them around to sort through projects you might want to attempt. Some of the cards have more than one page, though, which makes it easy to miss the flip side pictures. All the projects are rated by cost and time required to complete them.

D.I.Y. Kids follows the traditional book layout. Its main categories are Graphics, Toys, Home, and Fashion. Within these areas you find a wealth of cool ideas, and suggestions. Pop-up cards, book art, book plates, doll clothes, stuffed animals, architectural models, magnetic games, decoupage purses, fashion design, reverse applique, graffiti furniture,... you get the idea. I don't know if it's because this book is marketed towards kids instead of stodgy grown ups, but the projects and ideas are a lot more inspiring than those of the adult D.I.Y. Deck. As with the adult set, for each project D.I.Y. Kids includes an estimate of the cost and time required to complete a project and how much help and mess may be involved in creating a masterpiece.

The Craft-Off
For this review Liz (7) and I teamed up to test the "books" in a craft-off. Liz followed the instructions for pixel icons in the D.I.Y. Kids book, while I sorted through the Deck to decide on a project that could incorporate her work. Judging by the proliferation of pixel icons on my desktop, the instructions in the Kids book were very clear. If anyone is in the market for 1 inch stickers of bunnies, let me know. The instructions for the clock re-design were also straightforward. Hints like "the clock has to be made from two distinct pieces of plastic" and "keep the clock hands in order to make it easier to reassemble the clock" may seem obvious, but were very much appreciated.

Here is the merger of our efforts. My husband brought this kitchen clock into our marriage. I hope he appreciates the re-design.

In the final analysis. D.I.Y. Kids is the better value with more interesting, creative ideas that easily translate into a D.I.Y. adult world.

Simone
groundsel.etsy.com