Saturday 20 July 2013

DIY Wedding Ideas

After a little thought I decided to do our next piece on how to do it yourself. This may sound strange as we are a theming company, and would like nothing more than to do it for you! However I really wanted to show you how, with a little creativity, you can achieve a lot, from not that much.


So here we are, the following Items I have made completely from scratch, at little to no cost.....

1. Vintage style vase or candle holder

I am sorry to say that I am a complete coffee addict so this one was a tad selfish, as I got to drink lots of coffee to complete the task! Take an empty coffee jar, or another similar jar (to be fair it doesn't have to be coffee) clean it and remove all the labels.
Raid your craft supplies and find.....

  • A length of lace 
  • length of ribbon
  • Super Glue


Cover the outside of the jar with glue, enough to make all sides tacky, and then roll the length of lace round the jar. Leave to dry for around 30 mins, and check it is all secure, touching up if any segments that are loose. Once dry, tie the ribbon round the top of the jar to hid the lid rings.
And there you have it, with a candle inside the light glancing through the lace looks beautiful and romantic, it also can act as a vase if you prefer. Or if you are doing it in an office environment (as I am) a very fancy pen pot!





2. Unique table numbers

This one was a lot of fun, the first thing you need to do is find a girlfriend and split a bottle of fancy wine, the kind that comes from a really nice shaped bottle! This is the hard part, you must finish the whole bottle.....
Once you have an empty bottle you may want to wait until the next day to start the real crafty aspect, depending on how wobbly you feel after drinking the bottle. I did not wait and a happy 15 minutes was spent making an absolute mess, but the end result was pretty good so I wont complain!
Raid your craft supplies and find.....

  • Black board paint
  • wide paint brush
  • chalk

To start with make sure the outside of the bottle is clean and the labels removed, then paint the black board paint onto the bottle, covering it from top to bottom. Wait 30 minutes and then pop another coat on for good measure and leave it somewhere warm to dry over night. Once dry you can literally draw whatever you want onto the surface in chalk, my thought was to use it as table numbers. You could even leave a small pot of chalk on each table and ask guests to write messages or doodles as a keep sake. My only warning with this would be you may get addicted to black board paint, my partner is not impressed by the amount of items round the house and garden that have now become black boards!



3. Quirky vintage style ring holder

This may be my fave craft project although it was quite fiddly and time consuming. I would advice practicing this on a book you don't care about first, and then do the real thing with a book that has a little meaning. The first time is always the hardest and this project needs a little practice.
Raid your craft supplies and find.....

  • Old antique style book
  • Craft sharp scalpel (be careful please)
  • Gold Pen
  • Pencil
  • A piece of card
  • Glue

Once you have all your items, take the piece of card and draw a stencil of your choice, I am doing this for one of my brides next month, so I chose her wedding logo which is two love birds. My one piece of advice would be keep the shapes simple. Once you have your stencil open your book, and go about 10 pages in, pencil round your stencils onto the 11th page in a design of your choosing. This next bit is the hard part, and as I have said please be careful at this stage, take the scalpel and cut your shapes deep into the book.
Once you have reached about half way through the book, stop, and dig in a central line in the remaining depth of the book to create a ridge for the rings to sit in. I added a little hard shape, with a shallow depth and filled it in with gold pen for a little glam. Once all the shapes are finished glue the first 10 pages together, and leave to dry.
And there you have a lovely ring box to present to the bride and groom at that crucial moment. You can also, afterwards, glue into the book your order of service, any readings or pictures as a lovely memory book of the day.


4. Garland

So if you have made the ring box you may find you are left with a lot of shapes cut out from a book, and nothing to do with them. Well I am not a big fan of waste, so I decided to put them to good use. This is a quick and simple way to create a pretty garland.
Raid your craft supplies and find.....

  • A length of lace
  • A reel of cotton
  • A whole punch
  • Scissors

Take each shape and punch a whole into a central point, thread a length of cotton through the hole and tie it off cutting away the surplice. Once you have all your shapes on threads, lay out your length of lace, the wider the better for this use. Tie each shape in intervals along the lace in varying lengths, and cut away the surplice.
Now you have a garland, it looks lovely hanging in greenery, which is what I will be using it for at one of my weddings next month. But you can use it as your wish, and that, as they say, is that.



5. Fun chair design

If you are an avid reader of our social forums such as twitter, facebook and pinterest, you will know that I have a slight obsession with wedding chair designs. I recently had my whole team up until sillyaclock in the morning, hand sewing a sash design I dreamed up for a wedding we had earlier this year. One of my organizers asked why I have to make everything so complicated, which is what sparked my thought process for this particular design. I wanted to get an effect that was full of impact, but didn't take a year to make, or and arm and a leg to buy! So I came up with this,
Raid your craft supplies and find.....

  • Long scraps of material

This is so simple, but will only work in vintage style wedding with no particular color scheme, more a theme or style. Take a chair with a back made up of a ladder like shape, my fave to use is a Chiavari chair, but it can be any type even a simple kitchen chair. Take each length of material, and thread it through the back of the chair. With each new length of material, thread a slightly different way, to expose the wood at differing intervals. I made mine symmetrical because I cant have anything too haphazard (its a sickness!), however don't let me stop you from making it as mismatched as you like. You are left with a lovely effect, different fabrics will hang slightly differently, and the look would be full of impact with lots of chairs.



Well that is my inspiration for craft projects at its end, I have actually had a lot of fun putting this all together, and its quite satisfying seeing something come from a little effort! I'm not nearly as good as our prop maker, but I surprised myself with my crafty skills. I hope that reading this may inspire you to make something for your own big day, and surprise yourself, on the other other hand, you know where I am if you need help. As that is what we at Theme-Works Weddings do!














Thursday 4 July 2013

Warming Up Your Smile

I don't know about you, but I hate having my photo taken. Why is it that as soon as someone gets a camera out I seem to turn into a hideous ogre, whether it be a weird squint or an horrible double chin situation , the camera by no means loves me.
However after asking round the office I am not alone in this, and almost everyone has the same fear of the camera lens. The questions is do you?

This is on a good day! :(



One of my brides did a practice run, and definitely got into the swing of it, warming up her smile for the big day.




The thing is, are you ready to basically be stalked all day by a stranger, on the most important day of you life, would it not be nicer to know them? Sharing romantic moments, trusting them with your keepsakes for the future, & making sure the double chin monster doesn't raise it's ugly head?
If you share the same kind of nerves that I have, then my next series of tips might just calm them.

Tip 1: Friendly
When you are choosing your photographer it is really important that not only are their pics good, but that you get on with them. It is so important in my mind that you create a good relationship before the wedding, and are able to relax. A relaxed bride and groom create stunning photo's, when they almost don't even know the photographer is there!



Tip 2: Engagement Shoot
The best way in my mind to get to know your photog is an engagement shoot, this may seem like an added cost and luxury, but trust me, you will never regret it. You have a chance to get to know your photographer and more importantly they get to know you. They will start to understand what makes you tick and what gets the best results with the smallest amount of direction. This will result in much better wedding pics and a nicer experience for you.



Tip 3: Relax (Easier said than done, I know)
It also gives you a chance to practice being a celeb for the day, having the paparazzi around can be disconcerting, and you want to be able to switch off from it and relax and have fun together. If you are able to do this, your pics will be amazing, and your photographer will be able to catch true moments for you to look back on. Try slowly breathing out for each shot, your body tends to automatically relax.



Tip 4: Location
Pick somewhere familiar to you for the engagement shoot, somewhere that can sum up both of your characters, or somewhere you both spend a lot of time. You will feel more comfortable on your own turf, and this will show through in the pics. It is also a nice gallery to keep & look back on your younger selves in the future, & what you were up to before you took the big step together,




Tip 4: Have Fun!
Enjoy yourselves, don't take it all too seriously, happiness shines through much better than a strained smile. The amount of articles that are out there that tell you how to smile, how to angle your head, how to stand, if you buy to much into this & over-think it, you will have some weird looking shots!!
Half awkward model / Half awkward bride!
Just be yourself and any good photographer should handle the rest for you. Just enjoy each others company and have a giggle about the whole thing.



Tip 5: No Worries!
Once you have the engagement shoot done, you will feel so much more relaxed about this aspect of your day. You will of seen the great pics your photographer can take of you, and have a little taste of having your photo taken all day, giving you more confidence. So you can look forward to the big day with one less worry,  and lets face it, the less a bride has to worry about the better.




Now I don't claim to be a photographer, I have just seen a lot of nervous brides & grooms.  I believe anything you can do to relieve some of that stress on the day is a only a good thing. Most photographers can build this into your package for you, so ask the question, and warm up that smile!


I would just like to finish by thanking Pam & George for letting me use these amazing pics. What a truly inspiring couple they make, a true, real life, fairy tale in action. Watch this space for their wedding later this year!

Happy Planning!