D-I-Y Starfish Details

For me - details are uber important and they really add the special touches to make every wedding reflect the personality of the bride and groom! But, for the every day bride having a wedding planner/designer do everything for you is not always an affordable option. This was the case for our wedding! I wanted a lot of unique touches but I wasn’t going to shell out tons of cash on the little details Brent and I could do ourselves! So I googled beach weddings and came up with a list of DIY projects using starfish and shells that I wanted to incorporate in our wedding…. And here is how I made them! Once again Cat did an amazing job capturing all the details!

~Starfish Boutonnières~

Materials:

2” Sugar Starfish

Hot Glue Gun

Silver Pin Back

Super easy! Hot Glue the starfish onto the pin back and let dry. I would suggest making a couple extra incase the starfish break.

~Starfish Aisle Decorations~

Materials:

6” Sugar Starfish

2” Satin Ribbon

1.5” Satin Ribbon

Double Sided tape

Hot Glue Gun

Cut both sizes of ribbon into 34” strips. Use the double-sided tape to secure the 1.5” onto the 2” ribbon. Fold one side over the other to desired loop for your ceremony chairs. Secure loop with a hot glue and let dry. Once dry, you can hot glue the starfish into the center. Use enough glue so the starfish won’t fall off due to weight.

~Starfish Program Fans~

WARNING: This project took forever! you will want to have your bridesmaids help!

Materials:

Straw Fans (order off internet)

2" Sugar Starfish

1.5" and 5/8" Satin Ribbon in wedding colors

Pearl Cardstock

Hot-Glue gun

It took my bridesmaid Jess and I about 3 hours to wrap all 46 fan handles with ribbon 1.5" ribbon and set it with a drop of hot glue. My husband (then fiance) spent about an 1.5 hours hot glueing on starfish. Then my wedding planner Kelly put holes in all the programs and tied them on the fan with a piece of ribbon. I had pre-designed the 4x6 programs in photoshop then had them professionally printed. Pearl Cardstock needs to be used with a laser printer.

~Shabby Chic Starfish Wedding Signs~

Materials:

Wood

Acrylic Paint

Starfish

Shells

Ribbon

Sandpaper

Chocolate Brown spray paint

#2 pencil

Paint brushes in different sizes

Day 1: Cut wood to desired size or buy wood pre-cut from craft store. Sand down edges if needed. Coat entire surface with chocolate brown spray paint and let dry.

Day 2: Paint 2 coats of light ivory acrylic paint and let it dry overnight.

Day 3: Sketch on wording and designs with pencil and paint design with desired acrylic colors. Let dry overnight

Day 4: Lightly sandoff edges and sides to the desired “shabby chic” look is acquired. Hot-glue on starfish and shells for more character.

Here is a link to the youtube tutorial we used: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5OCDMsGvJM

Warning: Brent and I spent 2 weeks working on our wedding signs. I would paint wording and designs and then not like it so I would wipe everything clean with 2 coats of light ivory acrylic. It took a few tries to get them exactly how I wanted them. However, the night before were leaving Atlanta to drive to Key West, Brent used a finishing clear coat on all the signs and it turned most of our signs yellow and dingy (all but 2). ALWAYS use a test piece for each new can of clear coat before spraying your signs especially if you have a light colored base. The first can didn’t turn anything yellow but the second can did.

I was able to find most of the materials for all my projects at Michaels. Check http://www.michaels.com/ for coupons before you go into your local store! Be patient with you projects… and realize that sometimes they don’t work out. If that happens, pop a bottle of cheap champagne and celebrate that you are still getting married to your best friend. ( yes- popping a bottle of cheap champagne was my solution to every piece of wedding planning drama!)

For more info on my wedding vendors including discounts and a chance to win a free engagement session in June - visit the following posts:

Detail's & Discount's

The Amazing Bridal Giveaway!

Julie's Do's and Don'ts for Destination Brides

Cheers,