Finding decorations for the wedding reception was pretty tricky. Everything was so expensive so I decided to either borrow or make it myself. The only thing I rented was tables and chairs and I found those here for super cheap! (At least way cheaper than other venders.) Thank goodness for the most patient mom and wonderful bridesmaids. So I thought I would share some things we made! Hobby Lobby was awesome and usually had really great deals on things. Anyways here are some easy things you can make!
First off I used a lot of pallets. We found different businesses trying to get rid of some and used them to make quite a few different things.
Here's one of first things we did. My bridesmaid Heather found a very similar idea on Pinterest and so we decided we would try it! We put it right inside the gate people walked through and stood in line. Not only do I love the wood/pine contrast but we were able to put different things onto it that described Zach and I.
Here's how we did it. We found a few picture frames from my brothers wedding and the dollar store and then I decided on a few different pictures or sayings that I felt best described us and our relationship. We used twine and looped it through where a nail would hang. Then, to keep it in place, we took about a two inch long piece and tied it around where the twine was looped through. This kept the picture frame in place. We had to hold up the picture frames and kind of adjust them to where we wanted them and they could slide a little bit if we needed to but it turned out to all fit really well. To keep it on the pallet I would wrap the twine around the end of that wood piece and then tie it. We then used some extra burlap and lace to add some texture. Heather had the amazing idea of getting fake weed flowers? I don't know how what you would call them but we used little clothes pins as you can see in the picture below.
We also used pallets to make little signs we put on the corners directing people to the reception. My father-in-law is really good with wood so he was able to cut the planks in half and the use the back of the pallet for what we stuck in the ground. Zach and I were going to spray paint them but then that was a bad idea. We were also going to do a cute saying but realized there wasn't enough room. Putting these together was quite hilarious, but it worked! We made three of them like the one below and then other one was at the entrance of the gate and said #ZachandJan it really turned out a lot better then we thought. It was so easy and cheap! People sell these for like $45 on etsy. Maybe I'll start a business.
The next idea that we did I got on Pinterest and then added my own kind of flare. Hobby Lobby always has these great sales on glass jars and bottles. My mom and I had to go a few different times to get all that we needed for the center pieces on the tables but it was just fine. Zach spray painted the mason jars a soft gold/champagne color that we used for flowers (as pictures below). We also found these bottles that you can see below and filled them with sand to hold twigs that we just used from trimming our trees, to hold pictures. We also used some twine around the bottle to mark how much sand we needed but also just to make it tie all together more. Since I wanted to use hints of gold throughout decorating I decided to put Rolo's on all of the tables. I was a little worried they would melt and get gross but since it cooled off a little for the evening they ended up being just fine. We also borrowed the burlap and navy squares from my mom's aunt that I refer to as my fairy god mother. She has everything wedding.
Here's another view. The above one didn't have the wood piece under it yet. We borrowed these as well. You can also see the candles in the picture below. These are just battery candles that we turned on. It gave it a nice warm feel.
For little favors we did burlap bags that we found in bulk online with Hugs and Kisses Hershey's. Then we printed out the saying, cut in squares, and tied with twine.
Since the reception was held in my backyard we had to figure out a way to keep everything lit up. I wanted the light to look natural though. Not just lots of spot lights. Again my mom and I went to Hobby Lobby and found some lanterns we could hang in the tent! (We borrowed the tent from Zach's sister's in-laws). Setting this part up was a whole lot of chaos. We needed to be able to do all the draping before hanging the lanterns and people were trying to set up tables and chairs and we had this huge latter that we were trying to move all over, it was crazy. BUT it turned out PERFECT! We used thinker twine to tie the lanterns in the tent. We then also borrows lights from Zach's uncle and strung them across the yard. You can see that in the following pictures.
Here's another shot of the side of the tent. We used burlap and navy ribbon to tie the fabric around each pole of the tent. Also the chars and tables are all from the link given at the beginning of the post. They were AWESOME to work with.
Another little DIY project we did was with large tomato juice cans. We used tomato juice because it was the cheapest. We washed them and set them outside to air out for a few days before using them. We also had a few tiny lanterns so we decided to line where the line would go. We filled each can with a little water, drilled hole into the side and the used twine (of course) to hang it from each rod. SUPER easy.
The above picture led to a table (pictured below). The chair and table rental came with two long tables and a high table. Plus all linens. Here's how we used one table.
We used the other long table for gifts. We found these letters again at Hobby Lobby for a really good deal. We put them on the gift table along with a little bird cage thing for cards.
For our sign in book I wanted to remember and see the faces of the people who were signing our book! So we did a little polaroid picture area. We made the sign (in the picture below) by getting the little flags at party land (for like a dollar) and then my cousin cut out the vinyl for us! This is where people stood as my cute cousins snapped their picture. (isn't my husband the most handsome guy ever?)
I think I'll stop there and not bore you any further :) but if you weren't able to make it to the reception here is basically a tour of how it all went. I wish I could relive this day over and over. It was one big party with great music, amazing food, and lots of love.
Hopefully this helped get your creative juices flowing. If you would like to borrow something let me know! We still have all of it I believe. If you have any questions about other things I would love to answer them so don't be shy!
And with that I think I'll wrap up the wedding blog posts and wish to relive the best day ever.
All photos taken by Alixann Loosle Photography.
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