Wedding DIYs #2 Decor

The second instalment of our wedding DIYs (which neatly coincides with the fact that we've now been married for 9 months - it's a tenuous link but let me have it) and this was the big one: Decor, wherein I bit off more than I could chew...

We were v.keen on a venue that would let us decorate it ourselves (I already knew that I wanted a lot of bunting). This proved to be not as straightforward as I'd thought. Practically all my initial searches turned up venues which wouldn't allow you to add anything to their "one size fits all" idea of wedding reception decor. So, along with a few other factors (not wanting our venue to pick our food or charge us and our guests a shit load of money for a bar) we realised what we needed was a completely empty shell that would, essentially, let us do whatever we wanted. It was hard work planning and organising everything but I wouldn't change this for the world, I would definitely have started making stuff earlier though!

Bunting
I knew that I wanted a lot of  bunting and Mitch, being the most laid back person ever, let me go a little bunting crazy. I, along with the much appreciate help of my mum, made over 50 metres of bunting - I lost count how flags we used. We had some in the main hall and in the marquee to cheer it up a bit, which did the trick I think. You can't be sad when there's bunting. I also made some mini-bunting to go on the backs of some of the chairs.

Flower garland
Interspersed bewteen the bunting and made from tissue paper, my mum and I made these together, cutting out and arranging the layers then sewing a thread through the middle which was then tied to a piece of string. Super straightforward and rather pretty I think.

Flowers
Although we wanted some real flowers in the hall, and in the end opted for eight vases of beautiful wild flowers on the window ledges, we weren't overly fussed about having them on the tables. This was mostly due to costs - flowers are seriously expensive (much like all things connected to weddings) - so we turned to a much much cheaper but still effective alternative: tissue paper! I made around 80 for the tables, extra small ones for the bridal and groom party, and 12 large ones which formed my own and my three bridesmaids' bouquets. I'd been collecting glass jars for a while - we mostly used them to put candles in - and they, along with a little bit of ribbon and string here and there, were perfect for the table flowers, not to mention they cost us nothing.

Photographs
A rifle through our parents' photos turned up some gems of us both looking a lot smaller and cuter. We stuck them in some frames (£1 each from Tiger - that shop is the bees knees) and displayed them either side of the vases of flowers. A really simple bit of decor but I saw lots of people wandering round looking at them.

Arch

Probably our biggest decor splurge (apart from hiring the lights). Mitch found the arch on Ebay and I bought some artificial flowers to decorate it. 

Tables - place cards, hearts, cranes
The centre piece on each table consisted of two jars of the tissue paper flowers, two origami paper cranes (which aren't just beautiful, apparently they have a symbolic meaning of luck, love and longevity) and three love hearts. The love hearts were all made from scratch thanks to a friend of my parents' who made a plaster cast and then a mould, which my dad then used to make around 30 of the love hearts before painting them in the colours of the original sweets. A few of the guests took one home and I've saved a few which we can one day display when we buy our own place. Also on the tables were the place names - made in InDesign by me and printed by my dad. That advice about asking friends and family and using your connections could not be more relevant if you're planning a DIY wedding!

Read all about our wedding here and you'll find the first instalment of wedding DIYs here.