Chronicle Books have released a brand new book and it’s quickly becoming one of my favourites for inspiring ideas! Handmade Weddings, written by Eunice Moyle and Sabrina Moyle of Hello Lucky and Shana Faust is the newest DIY book to hit the shelves and I was lucky enough to receive a review copy.
What I loved about Handmade Weddings and what makes it different to some of the other crafty wedding project books I have read, is that the projects are attainable but incredibly stylish. There’s everything from simple chalkboard paint table numbers to dyed coffee filter pom poms – nothing too glitzy, too hard or too glam, all just delicious little projects you can use to add your personality to your day.
If you’re a DIY novice, help is at hand. The book kicks off with ways of sourcing your own inspiration, tips on what you should DIY or buy, and a guide on how to use the book. There’s a glossary and time line included so you’ll be able to figure out the terms and timing without feeling the littlest bit stressed,
Handmade Weddings is broken up into six sections with the projects reflecting the style – ” Retro Homespun” filled with bright citrus colours and projects like Felt Bud Boutonnieres, hand stitched pocket squares and vintage plate table numbers.
“Girly Romantic” is all about the sweet and decadent with projects like fabric flower veils, ruffle roll purses sand teacup centrepieces. “Happy Graphic” taps into one’s love of bold pattern and features projects like decal table numbers and silk-screened place mats.
“Organic Minimal” taps into the rustic eco mood with rubber stamped confetti bags, and stylish Kraft paper menus. “Modern Classic” is for the timelessly elegant bride – there’s calligraphy, ribbon drink flags and bow tie napkins and finally, there’s “Found” where up-cycling, recycling and creating items (including fabric pennants, flower paper wreaths and peg-board seating charts) are included in each project.. Each brings with it a colour palette, suggested fonts and suggested styling ideas as well as a handy ‘pulling it together’ guide.
Each project has a rough guideline so you know how long before the wedding you might start it, a budget, time, and the difficulty level. it even notes whether the project is a solo one or one you can talk your girlfriends into helping you out with.
I love that Handmade Weddings is filled with attainable and modern projects – items that you see filling pages of magazines and wedding blogs are yours for the making – stylish and attainable. The photography is beautiful and the styling guides? Well they’re just the icing on an otherwise inspiring cake! Handmade Weddings is a beautiful choice for a couple who is a little stuck with their DIY projects and wants some inspiration – or if you’re wanting more guidance on your DIY plans.
The girls put together this sweet little video for the book which is so much fun!
Handmade Weddings is available online or at your favourite bookstore now.
I have one copy of Handmade Weddings to give away! To enter, simply leave a comment on this post telling me your favourite DIY project you’re undertaking for your wedding and why!
Entry closes January 28th 2010 5pm AEST. Entrants must be aged 18 or older. Competition is a game of skill, chance plays no part in determining the winner. This prize is not transferable.
I am not engaged but I am a regular visitor of your site for DIY project ideas and styling inspiration! Having just completed a degree in Graphic Design and Visual Arts, I find myself constantly building a catalogue of wonderful projects to try and to save for my special day when it comes. My favourite DIY project, and one that I am saving for my wedding, involves screen printing the invitation of the wedding onto vintage handkerchiefs. I think this DIY project is amazing and the examples I’ve seen have been so beautiful. It truly creates a highly personal invitation that can be kept as a memento for years to come.
I have lots of overly-ambitious DIY projects in mind for my wedding… hopefully I can do just some of them! But my favorite is one that my partner and I are going to do together – he is going to make a wooden bench/seat and I am going to design an monogram with our names and wedding date that he will carve into the bench. We hope to use it in some of our photos and then we will have something nice we can put in our backyard after the wedding =)
I’ve got lots of DIY projects up my sleeve, just need to get organised! We are making a lot of wooden signs for ‘chapel’ ‘fun and games’ ‘wedded bliss’ ‘dinner and dancing’. I’m making lots of burlap bunting and table runners and collecting vintage leather and cloth boan books for the centrepieces. Our favours are going to be homemade jam so we are collecting lots of jars and freezing our berry crop at the moment 🙂 I am also collecting 10 assorted vintage chairs to paint white to go on our bridal party table, which my fiance is making out of recycled red gum from our farm.
I’m happily married but this book makes me want to renew my vows, if only it was here a couple of years ago 🙁
If I’m lucky to win I’ll share it with all my friends and will certainly use all the great ideas for coming events. At my winter wedding, I created my own beaded bag inspired by organic forms, instead of flowers and my bridal party had pinholes made from feathers and beads.
Hubby and I were married 4 years ago on a tight budget, so many parts of our wedding were handmade, the invitations, hairpieces, table decorations, wine bottle labels, cake stand (very easy, roses in upturned champagne glasses and lamingtons instead of cake!) and so many other bits and pieces.
If I win this book I would love to share it and use it to help all my friends and family who are getting married over the next couple of years.
What an awesome book and great timing – we’re getting married later this year and we’re planning on doing a lot of DIY. I’m a bit of a crafter and am looking forward to decorating our reception space for the wedding to go along with rustic setting of the farm. I think designing the invitations may be the favourite part for me. I love stamping with wooden stamps, and am thinking of dark ink on brown paper… I think my partner’s favourite DIY project for the wedding will be making a CD for each guest containing songs from gigs that he and I have been to together over the time we have been together. We’re going to design a cool looking cover and provide details of each song and the gig venue etc.
Oh cute! This is just adorable – I’m always helping friends brainstorm ways to make their wedding celebration that little bit different. Love the book and would love a copy!
oops, deleted this before I finished it. Currently I’m helping my friend make tissue paper pom poms and we’re collecting loads of jars and bottles to decorate with ribbon, string, doiles, etc to use as vessels for flowers and candles on the day. Gorgeous.
Such a gorgeous book! Definitely a long needed accessory for brides who seek to add a personal and creative flair to their special day (and creative grooms too of course). I have just finished making some gorgeous bunting with my sister-in-law (to be) which we are going to share between my engagement party and her 21st – and we are just in love with it! Next on the cards is string chandeliers… I am planning a gorgeous rustic country wedding for the end of 2011 and am hoping to save as many costs as possible (hubby is still in uni, which makes being able to afford all of our dreams hard)… I love that there is so much inspiration available for creative weddings these days!
I, with the help of my bridesmaid am making our invites… They involve fabric, paper, twine and a sewing machine to sew it all together!!! It is SO time consuming but we are having a ball doing it even with all the mistakes we make and in the end they will look gorgeous and have been made with love so we know how much they mean to us…
Due to very tight budget constraints & perhaps an overly ambitious home-spun vision, our wedding venue is a cute little Scout hall. My sister is crafty extrodenaire, so we’re totally revamping the walls with quilts & fabric hangings. Making it less about ‘Cub-of-the-year’ trophy’s, & more cosy & intimate. Any ideas we can source to help bring the old building to life ourselves would be most appreciated!
I made our own aisle runner as I wasnt happy with renting a normal ‘red’ carpet which didnt match the white elegant theme we had chosen. I enlarged and printed our monogram (with our initials and wedding date), and then painted this onto a lovely white cotton fabric so when we walk down the aisle we start off on our names with our wedding date and when we leave we see our surname joined as one 🙂
I’m most looking forward to the fabric based projects we’ll be incorporating into our woodsy wedding. Heart shaped cushions for the chairs, strings of bunting to tie between the trees and colourful flags for our guests to wave about! This is such a great giveaway! x
I’m looking forward to our weeding day as the entire day will be a DIY project.
Quite daunting as we are not designers and are solely relying on our ‘good taste’ :))))
We will be transforming an art gallery space into a vintage/art deco sit down style venue.
Table decorations, stationery, styling-all done by ourselves….we just want to ‘own’ the entire day and to make it personal, relaxed and memorable for us and our 70+ gusts. So fingers crossed!!!
I’m doing DIY for a lot of aspects of our wedding! My mom and I are hand making alllll the flowers out of vintage fabrics/lace. That includes our bouquets, centerpieces, and even hair pieces/shoe clips for the bridesmaids. Also, one of my bridesmaids designed the invitations, which are also made of the same fabric we’re using for the flowers.
My mom’s also making my birdcage veil and a doiley table runner for the head table.
I’m still looking for a cute DIY cake topper.
I love doing projects with my fiance, family, and bridesmaids. We’re going by the idea that “it takes a village to pull off a wedding”
Being a budget conscious bride, many of our details are being handmade. Friends and family are taking part in the fun and excitement. We started off by ordering our rings on etsy. We feel its important to support the handmade community.
Bridal shower invites were also created, using print offs of maps of the wedding location. No amount of double sided tape was spared, as decorations for the party began, including little Australian flags for the cupcakes, and a cake in the shape of Australia made by a friend (I am american and my fiance is Australian)
The invitations for the wedding were designed by my fiance and I, which includes our photos on postcards. For the actual wedding day, I am making many of my accessories, including the veil. My sister has been busy stitching up cloth napkins for the reception, and I am collecting glass bottles of all sorts to make the centerpieces and decorations for the reception.
We have been working on our programs, I have designed a logo for us out of our name and hearts. My future sister-in-law is making our wedding cupcakes. We are thrilled to have so much input from our loved ones, and spending quality time together to accomplish it all.
Although a date has not been set, so i dont have time frames just as yet to start (were currently focusing on the birth of our first child together before we worry about the wedding). My fiance and I plan to go DIY as much as possible to keep costs to a minimum. Im a Grafic Designer and hes a joiner/cabinet maker so im sure we will find some project to set ourselves on. Currently im looking at making all the invites, save the dates, table decorations, favours, place cards and other decorations ourselves, weve even designed our cake already (although we wont make that one ourselves). But anything that can be hand made, most likely will be, as we both love using our hands and creativeness. And although no projects are in motion, i am constantly keeping an open eye for ideas and inspiration for when the time comes to knuckle down and start creating.
Wow isn’t that book amazing for a bride on a budget,
Those pink pom poms look fantastic!
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