Jillian spotted this adorable gift on A Field Journal that Livy made for her BF’s birthday. Isn’t it so cute and thoughtful? We thought it was perfect inspiration for the gentlemen out there! After all, attending a royal wedding requires a fancy style necktie, don’t you think? Her design is so beautiful!
We thought we’d start Royal Wedding week off with a yummy idea for favors fit for an English wedding. Buttery delicious shortbread, of course!
The excellent thing about shortbread is that it keeps for a really long time when stored in an air tight container. And it’s extraordinarily simple to make. So you could potentially make enough for your whole wedding a few weeks or even a month ahead of time, and then package it up the day before. Or skip the packaging and leave a few platters and a stack of cute bags next to the door for people to grab on the way out.
We made our own bags by stitching unbleached parchment paper together, and trimming the edge with pinking shears. We’re definitely not suggesting that you need to hand stitch your own favor bags! But it’s actually really easy if you’re up for some extra DIY and/or are having a small wedding.
Parchment turned out to be a good material for stashing shortbread because it doesn’t soak up the butter from the crumbs. BUT it is not reliable when it comes to things sticking to it. Like the stickers we made. Just an FYI for anyone who might consider doing this. It might be better to finish them by stitching each bag closed with a paper tag for your note.
We designed a quick circular sticker in illustrator and printed them on full sheets of label paper. Then punched each sticker out using a 2″ circle punch. (Same idea as our date favors from ages ago.) We added a little ribbon twist under the sticker for a fun bit of color.
Wouldn’t these be cute in a shallow wooden crate, all lined up together with different ribbons? Perfect midnight snack after a night of dancing! Kristina posted the shortbread recipe on her personal blog this morn too, for those of you in the mood for a little baking.
Lots more Royal Wedding posts coming this week!
The traditional, Mexican version of these paper flowers isn’t necessarily earth-friendly, but we thought we’d share them this week anyway since they’re so fun! We made a recycled option too that we thought might inspire some of you to use recycled materials for the same project.
We love the idea of re-creating folk crafts from different cultures (or your own) to give your celebration a sense of timeless charm. These flowers would make any event feel festive, light-hearted, and joyful. They’re super super easy to make (we always say this, but it’s true!) and will last as long as you need them to before your event. Start making them in the months before your wedding and you won’t have to scramble at the last minute.
Here’s what you’ll need:
Tissue paper (we bought a multi-color pack from Michaels, but you can find it on Amazon, Dick Blick, Paper Source, Paper Mart, and lots of other places)
Scissors
Stapler, floral wire, or string
The basic concept is EXACTLY the same as the ever-popular “poof”, except you use more than one color and you only pull the tissue paper sheets to one side, instead of both. Instructions below!
1. Cut tissue down to the size you like. 10 x 10″ square (or 12 x 12″) is a good size. Choose three colors, using approx 3 sheets for the middle color and 5 or 6 for each of the other two. Stack ‘em up in the order you’d like the colors to appear in the finished flower.
2. Accordian fold the stack of tissue (just like the poofs).
3. Staple the center of the folded paper a few times so the layers are securely held in place. If you’re using too much paper for your stapler, you can always use floral wire or even just some string instead.
4. Now just like in the poof tutorial, gently pull each piece of tissue towards the center one at a time. Be especially careful with the first few as those seem to be most likely to rip. If you do rip one, don’t worry! You’re going to scrunch the paper up anyway and a ripped sheet will be plenty hidden in the end.
It actually works best if you scrunch the tissue as you go. So maybe finish with the first color and scrunch it up so it looks small and circular enough, then move on to the next color, stopping periodically for more scrunchin’.
That’s it! You can see that you can use any color combo you want for a different look. Create pretty soft flowers using pale pinks and whites, or more traditional flowers using bright colors. You can even create anemones by using black as the center color, or just plain monochromatic poofs for texture around your reception or ceremony space.
For those of you curious about the recycled newspaper version (or maybe better, pages of old books?), just know that newspaper is thicker than tissue so you don’t need quite as much per flower and it’s a bit harder to work with. We might also suggest wearing gloves if you plan to make a lot of these! Newsprint can be pretty dirty.
If you want to get hardcore with recycled material, start saving the tissue that shops often wrap articles of clothes in when you buy them. You could even ask your friends to do the same to save lots more trees and a bunch of money! Wrinkly paper will work just fine, especially since you’re going to wrinkle it yourself in the process of making the flowers.
Fun, no? These flowers are like insta-theme for your event. Just add a bucket of cold beer and a vat of homemade guac and you have a guaranteed good time. Who says weddings have to be super complicated? Sometimes the simplest ingredients make for perfection.
Laura and Adeel live in Pittsburgh, but they met and went to school in Columbus. They decided it would be the perfect place for their wedding since it holds many fond memories of their early years together.
Laura is seriously working her J Crew taffeta number, isn’t she? That’s a hard dress to wear and she looks amazing! As a bonus, she loved it because it was super light and comfy even in what ended up being one of the hottest days of the summer. Plus she kept her lip gloss and camera in her pockets! So handy and chic.
They worked with Rose Bredl for their bouquets and boutonnieres, but Laura and her mom planted all the little succulent centerpieces themselves. The succulents were (and always are) great because you can plant them a month in advance and they’ll wait patiently for the wedding with little upkeep.
Laura bought the billy balls herself at wholesale and put them in little vases on all of the tables. And she wrapped asparagus ferns in burlap with tied ribbons and twine and hung them on the chairs at the ceremony.
Laura and her mom made the invites and paper goods themselves. Her mom makes all of her own cards and it was her dream to help Laura with her invites. Well done, mom!
One budget tip from Laura: She loved using burlap and twine anywhere she could because it’s cute and super duper cheap.
Congrats Laura and Adeel! What a fun, sweet day. So happy that you’re still so excited to talk about it, almost a year later!
Photography: Red Gallery Photography / Reception Venue: Franklin Park Conservatory / Dress: J Crew / Headpiece: Clarissa Boutique / Bolero: Etsy / Cake: Jan Kish, La Petite Fleur / Ice Cream: Jeni’s Ice Creams / Flowers: Rose Bredl / Makeup: Mukha Spa.
In honor of earth week, we thought we’d show a cute project Jillian came up with using vintage/recycled cupboard drawer knobs. Reusing something for a different purpose than it was intended is always earth friendly!
When you’re pondering creative projects a trip to the flea market to can be super inspiring. Jillian spotted these glass knobs at the Brooklyn Flea and was instantly taken with them because they come with a hole in the center. Perfect for acting as a little stand for place cards or signs around your reception!
This project is super super easy. You will need:
Vintage glass or other drawer knobs (or anything you’d like to use as a stand)
Small wooden dowels to fit the hole in the center of the each knob
watercolors
Jillian made a quick flag template in illustrator and printed it out. She gave each flag a brush of color and then cut them out. Next she cut the dowel into 4 inch pieces, then glued the wide end of each flag to one end of the dowel and stuck the other end into the knob.
If you find drawer knobs you like, remember that you can always haggle a bit for a deal when buying in bulk. If you don’t have a flea market close to you (or an architectural salvage shop), try Etsy and Ebay. Just remember that the knobs need to have a hole for the screw that goes all the way through. And of course there are all sorts of cute knobs out there made from materials other than glass.
Two bonuses: 1) you can purchase the knobs Jillian used for her project in our Marketplace right this moment! and 2) you can download Jillian’s little flag template right here.
