Less than a year ago I graduated college, got engaged, and got married. I know I'm crazy for navigating through all that within a matter of 8 months. Did I mention my husband and I were long distance at the time? YEAH! Talk about stressful. What I can say, is that when I have my mind set there is no stopping me! My husband and I had a limited window of time and a limited budget, so we had to get creative with bringing our ideas to life.
As I began the journey of getting wedding inspiration through pinterest deep dives and window shopping in the wedding sections in stores, I started to get the reality of how expensive things were going to be. I don't know about you, but decorations and all the little details at weddings or events mean a lot to me. This was what I was most excited for when embarking on all things wedding. Wooden signs, card holders, and guest books can be really pricey even when you are going to the right stores and getting good deals. I shopped around both Michaels and Hobby Lobby, as well as other wedding stores and even with discounts it was adding up way over our budgeted amount. Lucky I'm a pretty crafty girl and I like a challenge. Instead of paying $40-$60 for individual signs with scriptures or cute phrases, I decided to make my own. This way it would cost less, be exactly what I want it to be, and a little more personal for our wedding.
Fortunately my mom had scrap wood in her shed and I had old wooden signs so I spent a total of $15 on wood. I got some paint stripper for the old signs I had so I could repurpose them. I bought white and black paint and some paint markers at Hobby Lobby and two chalkboards that were on sale at Michaels. I also purchased a hula hoop from the Dollar Tree. I made a total of 10 signs that were all different sizes and one of them functioned as our guestbook for an approximate total of $50, that's the price of ONE store bought sign decoration. If we would have purchased each of these it could have cost somewhere between $400 to $600. That is a HUGE difference! And trust me my husband is very grateful for how crafty and frugal I am. Here are some pictures of the final products on the big day.
I love making things so this was a fun project for me, but I understand it's not achievable for everyone. However, I'm sure you could find a friend or local Etsy shop and save a few bucks if your looking for wedding decor or even just decor signs for your home or dorm room.
I hope you enjoyed reading and maybe got inspired to create something yourself. Let me know if you like hearing about wedding planning or the DIY projects I've done!