DIY Favours for under £1...

Like the sound of favours for under £1? Take a look at this simple DIY favour box...simple yet effective!

This favour box was made by wiring the crystal flowers around the paper roses, stiking on the bow and attaching it to the box. Voila!

There are lots of great wedding craft items on the Celebrations Plus website so you won't be short of something to fit in with your colour scheme or theme.

25% off Coast!

Coast have an amazing 25% off all their full price items....great for bridesmaid dresses but also for those Christmas parties!

As always, there are some beautiful dresses in stock.

The discount code is grazia348 which is valid until midnight on Friday 29th October.

Charity Wedding Favours

Charity wedding favours are a great idea....they dont cost a bomb and the money goes to a good cause.
If I were a guest at a wedding, I would be very pleased knowing that the money had gone to a charity and not cost the bride and groom lots of money. The suggested donation is £1.50

Cancer Research UK have a variety of pins. Wedding dress designer Jenny Packham created the exclusive cupcake pin badge for Cancer Research UK.

Tips for DIY Brides...

...*sigh* that I no longer am!!

I’ve learnt lots of do’s and don’ts along the way but all the fun is in the learning!

Anyhow, I thought I’d share some tips that I learnt whilst being a DIY bride:

•  Inspiration, inspiration, inspiration! Get as much as you can by using Google images, checking out wedding blogs, magazines, wedding stationary sites etc to get together some ideas
• Create a theme and colour scheme and stick to this throughout
• Invest in some good wedding craft books; you’ll find some recommendations in posts within the ‘Inspiration’ label
• Go to as many wedding shows as you can to get ideas of things that you could recreate yourself such as flower displays, stationary, favours etc

•  Try to let your personality and interests shine through in your projects
• Shop around for craft items; I got bits from all over the place and found it to be much more cost effective. You’ll find plenty of online craft websites and eBay is fantastic for all sorts of wedding crafts but don’t skimp on quality

• Give yourself plenty of time for your projects – other aspects of your wedding can also take up a lot of time so make sure you don’t end up having to rush things
• Have a helping hand if you need it! Have friends or family round and make a day of it! I roped in a couple of friends, some wine and chocolate and had a great time getting stuck into making bits and bobs – get a little production line going!

• DO remember how many guests you are making for and make a few spare, just in case
• Remember, not everything has to be 100% perfect!! You’ve made it yourself and that s the main thing – people will be thinking about how nice and personal that is, they won’t notice the little flaws here and there!
• Lastly, enjoy, enjoy, enjoy!! That’s what it’s all about after all!

Free Book Preview

I just wanted to share the link to this fabulous book preview of 'The DIY Bride: 40 Fun Projects for Your Ultimate One-Of-A-Kind Wedding' By Khris Cochran available from this link at Google Books.

It shares some wonderful wedding craft tips and projects as well as a project planner - I wish I had this book when I was planning my wedding!

The book gives step by step guides for save the dates, invitations, table planners, favours and lots more!

Its also available from Amazon at a really good price

Final Centrepieces & Sweetie Bar...

Here are our final DIY centrepieces, sweetie table and decorations from our UK reception (you may have seen the 'practice' ones a few months ago in the blog).  We used the mini topiary trees as balloon weights.

Much to my disappointment, the photographer didn't take any professional pictures of these so please forgive the not-so-great images!!!!

Here's the kiddie's table, which kept them all occupied - although they did spend more time in the sumo suits and bouncy castle!! We had balloons on the table too.

The sweetie bar...unfortunately these pictures don't show the 'final' table, which had a voile backdrop, tealights and table jewels to finish it off

Thank You Cards!

I couldn't resist making our thank you cards....now the wedding is over I still need to keep myself occupied with craft DIY projects!!



I was going to do them all the same but decided it would be more creative (and fun!) to make each one different. It also meant that I could use left over bits and bobs from the wedding such as ribbon, self-adhisive pearls and gems, and the hearts and  fabric ribbon that I used for the sweetie dispenser for our sweetie bar.  So this way worked out much cheaper than going out and buying a shed load of new bits!

Thank you cards...

So I finally got round to making our thank you cards. Feeling a bit lost after all the wedding preparations being over, I decided I wanted to make the cards myself. It also adds that personal touch!!

I was going to make all the cards the same but I decided to be more creative and make them all slightly different.  This meant that I could use left over wedding craft bits and bobs such as ribbon, pearls, gems, and the fabric ribbon and hearts that I used for our sweetie bar.  Worked out a lot cheaper than buying everything again!

Here's a small selection...I made 50 similar variations.