DIY Escort Card Tree

It’s been a little while since our last DIY post, and I know you are all itching for a new project.  Well, the wait is over!  Snazzy brought this fabulous idea to us for a tree of colorful round escort cards.  Using colored paper and paint chips allows you to develop your own color palette, and  the results are really charming and will be unique to you and your wedding.

Here’s what we used for this project:

• A package of multicolored heavy weight construction paper  (about $10 for 87 sheets of 5×7)
• a bunch of paint chips from Home Depot (or maybe it was Lowe’s or maybe it was OSH, but it definitely was not the mom and pop paint shop down the street who we love and support)
• Paper Shapers Nesting Punch, we used a round one but there are lots of different shapes out there ($15ish)
• an endlessly useful fine point Sharpie, of course, you can use any pen you like
• some decorative branches (prices vary depending on what type of tree, but start around $8 a bunch)
• a small hole punch
• ribbon or string to hang the place cards from the branches, although we opted to put them on the tree without either

Once you have your paper and/or paint chips, just start punching out shapes.

Also, at this point you should punch small holes at the tops of your circles (don’t wait until you’ve done the handwriting, lesson learned)

Hopefully, you have someone whose handwriting you are fond of to help write the guest names and table numbers on your circles.

Arrange your branches in a vase, basket, bottle…  however you wish.  Then begin hanging your escort cards.  As I mentioned before, we just put the branches right through the little holes, but you can use string, ribbon or whatever you like. Our choice gave a more austere look to the final tree, but ribbons or twine might make it look more romantic, nostalgic, pretty…

We have a couple more great DIY projects in the pipeline here are ZG HQ, so stay tuned…  or just put our RSS feed into your google reader.

Beautiful Tablescapes by Huckleberry Designs and Bellissima Vita- part 2 of 5

Today we have another one of the amazing tablescapes brought to you from the minds of Huckleberry Karen Designs and Bellissima Vita Weddings Like the previous wine country table, this set up uses non-typical chairs to distinguish itself, and these chairs actually cost less then Chiavaris with cushions.  I’m loving the colors- blue tablecloth, the copper place mats and the orange florals.

Photo Tips: Time of Day

As everybody seems to know, when your wedding is over all you will have are the memories and the photographs.  So, you will look at dozens of photographer’s websites, meet with several of them in person, exchange a thousand emails, talk on the phone, post on the forums, wonder if you are choosing the right person, sign a contract and pay a retainer.  In other words, you will probably spend a lot of time and energy choosing the photographer who will capture your day the way you want. But don’t stop thinking about your photography once you choose your photographer!  There are many things you can do that will help ensure great photographs of your wedding.  I’m going to start a series of posts on what you can do to make the most of your pictures and, in the process, make your wedding day less stressful and more beautiful.

Photography is all about light and light makes all the difference between good photos and great photos.  Keeping this in mind and arranging a schedule for your wedding day which takes advantage of the best light of the day will do wonders for your pictures.  In general, the best light of the day is the hour before and the 20 or so minutes just after sunset.  Here are some examples:  Carrie + Brian at BR Cohn following their sunset ceremony.

Teri + Robert, Playa Del Carmen, Mexico, 15 minutes after sunset.

You can see the difference, sunset is warm and dramatic and just after sunset is soft and colorful.  Both are beautiful in their own way and timing your day to take advantage of this “Golden Hour” is a great way to make the most of your photography.  As a bonus, you and your newly married love of your life will have some time to be together to enjoy your first sunset as husband and wife.

More to come…

Beautiful Tablescapes by Bellissima Vita and Huckleberry Karen- part 1 of 5

The ladies who brought the world the Lovely Details Showcase showed off their design skills yesterday with 5 amazing tablescapes.  We’ll start off with one of my personal favorite themes, a wine country harvest table.  Take a look and imagine your guests under the olive trees on a warm evening…

More to come soon…

DIY- Glass Bottle Cutting

Our First DIY project is full of charm and fraught with danger! Well that may be overstating things a bit, but there was a *little* danger and a bit of anxiety. In the end, all was well.

The idea with this project is to turn last night’s wine and beer bottles into tomorrow’s functional works of art, such as flower vases, candle holders, drinking glasses, chandeliers…  Don’t believe these can be cool?  Check out Jerry Kott’s work.

It all starts with a bottle cutter.  We used Ephrem’s Bottle Cutter which can be easily found online for $30-40.  The kit comes with:

• the bottle cutter- to cut the bottles, of course
• a candle- to heat the line which the cutter makes in the glass
• sand paper- to file down those dangerous edges after you cut the glass
• carbide polishing powder- to smooth those edges even more so you don’t cut your lips if you’re making a glass (ouch!)

Our first bottle was the scariest, with cries of  “I think I cracked it!” and “Oh Shit, things are flying at me!” being par for the course.  But, once that first bottle is cut, the experience becomes really satisfying (especially the ‘POP’ when the two pieces of the bottle separate).   Here’s the breakdown of the process:

Step 1: Set your bottle in the cutter and turn it ONCE, slowly, with even pressure.

Step 2: Place your candle in a candle holder (we learned about the candle holder the hard way, with a waxy mess and concerns about burning a hole in the rug), light it, then slowly turn the bottle around 3-4 times, about 1/8″ from the flame.  This heats the score line that the cutter made in the glass. This is the step where the “Oh Shit, things are flying at me!” came in.  Little puffs of black smoke came up and there was some soot left on the glass (which was easily wiped off later).

Step 3: Rub an Ice Cube (not included with the kit ) along the now hot score line.  Don’t be afraid of any cracking sound that you may hear. Rub the ice around the bottle 3-4 times.

Step 4: Pull the bottle apart.  I know you’ve got some muscles from that bridal boot camp you’re doing, but don’t use them here.  Just a bit of force is all it takes, and you’ll be rewarded with the satisfying ‘POP’ of a job well done.

Step 5: Sand those nasty edges down VERY CAREFULLY with the sand paper provided in the kit.  Keep sanding until you have really evened things out.

Lastly, mix the carbide powder with a little water on a surface that can be scratched up (so use an old flat plate or pie pan…something that you can stand to ruin) and gently rub that now smoother edge of your cut glass around in the powder/water mix (sorry no picture!).

There you have it!  Take a look at the image gallery below for more detailed photographs. I believe some of our examples may be used on a tablescape at this weekends Lovely Details Showcase, so look for them if you go (and you SHOULD go!).

Read on for even more details and photos… more