Wedding DIY: Distressed Window Seating Chart

Cutting a few corners, without cutting style and vision, was the key to making my wedding day everything I wanted it to be. I’m a nurse- I’m one of the most practical people you will ever meet, but I do love my style. As I show you some of the DIYs I tackled for my big day you will see what I mean – I didn’t see any sense in unnecessaries, but I also had a vision of a rustic barn wedding that I wasn’t going to let go of either.
One of my favorite pieces of the day was my seating chart. Escort cards or reception cards averaged between $100 - $150, even at the lower price scale. I though maybe I could make my own, but I wouldn’t be saving a whole lot more… and would be buying myself a lot more time consumption. On random Monday whilst browsing at ReStore for inspiration for new projects, I stumbled upon a bunch of old windows and paned doors – with the price written on the panes in chalk.  LIGHTBULB. I found a window (actually it’s an old half of a French door set) with enough windows to fit 120 names… and I bought it for $35. Actually, I bought two because I wasn’t sure how much writing space I would need. See Instagram:

I went to Amazon.com and bought some liquid chalk pens in white and started doodling. I was lucky because my window was pretty distressed already, I didn’t need to do much to it. BUT if you find a window that needs a little loving, take some sandpaper and rough it up a little. I didn’t use the big orange door – but I had big plans to paint and distress it if the smaller window didn’t make the cut. In fact… I may use it as a door to my dining room….
I digress.

Things to note:
- Wash the window/door thoroughly before writing
- Get more than one chalk pen – you WILL run out as soon as you almost finish
- Make sure your window will not be up against a light background – it will be hard to read
- Have a wet paper towel ready for when you mess up, it will save you some frustration
- TAPE A PEN TO THE BACK. Please… save yourself a headache on your wedding day… if for some reason something rubs off, a pen will be right there to fill it back in. We had no issues with rubbing or smudging, but ward off the evil spirits and attach a pen. From one bride to another, you don’t want to think about things like this on your wedding day.
This window WILL get reused – I’m thinking of putting pictures in each window pane and hanging it in my craft room… oh, the possibilities are endless! sigh.

Thanks for stopping by!
Cheers,
Bridget
xoxo

CraftyBridge is back!

Hello September! What an awesome, whirlwind Summer – I got married at the start of August, went on an amazing honeymoon to St. Lucia for two weeks, and have successful depleted all bank accounts and maxed all credit cards. I’m on a role. But it has all be so worth it. My incredible husband will attest (although very biased) that we had the wedding of our dreams – we were surrounded by love, joy, and lots of laughter and we couldn’t have asked for more. Our family and framily is the best part of our lives and the love was palpable on our wedding day. We are blessed beyond measure.
This all being said, I can FINALLY blog about some of the DIYs of my big day – some incredibly simple, others a little more involved. But none of them costing very much money (which was the key). I found that if I DIYed everything, I would have spent even more money than buying some stuff, as well as creating more stress and pressure. So I picked and chose what to DIY and it turned out great.

Tutorials to come:

Pie/cake Bunting
No-flower Centerpieces
Distressed Window Seating Chart
Flower Crowns

 

I can’t wait to get back to blogging and sharing all of these awesome tutorials with you – and Fall is right around the corner!
Thanks for hanging in there with me during this exciting, busy time!

 

Thanks for stopping by!
Cheers,
Bridget