My 100% DIY Wedding Build

I thought it might be a good idea to upload my complete design package I did for a recent wedding as it was all 100% designed from top to bottom by myself DIY.

I can't unfortunately give that many steps as it was all done using my design skills and photoshop but I can go into better detail and explanation of how we pulled off a free live-stream photobooth was pulled off for guests! That was the trickiest hurdle as renting a photobooth from a company is stupid expensive...but after a little research, I found our complete DIY solution!

Included:

1) Save the date - Original photoshop design and we put self-adhesive white beads on the finished printed cards.

2) Invitation - Original photoshop design and printed on perforated paper as to resemble a movie ticket. We then used a Martha Steweard circle cutter measured to fit the corners of the invites to snip away corners giving it even more of a movie ticket feel.

3) Table number cards - Original photoshop design and circle numbers printed out on silver gloss circles (staples) to fit within the printed cards placeholder design. The table cards had detailed written instructions of how to live stream photos to the pig projection screen we had at the wedding.

4) Menus - Original photoshop design

5) Escort card holder - Made from a suitcase's bought at Micheals ($15) and jewelry display risers. Each card had a white self-adhesive bead and feather coming from its corner.

6) Gift card holder - Made from a recycled old bird cage and painted white

7) DIY photo booth - iPad mini, power cord, tripod, props, custom foam board printed monogram sign, high definition projector, pull down screen, and an account setup with http://eventstagr.am/

8) Re-designed classic movie posters with our faces/wedding party names: Original photoshop design.

9) Center pieces - 3 different sized glass cylinders with 12 hour floating candles.

The monogram was most important as it would be featured on everything else that I designed DIY. It features initials of the bride/groom and a treble clef as they are both in the performing arts industry.

The main background of every piece within this DIY wedding build is the exact same as the wallpaper that was at the reception venue. It is repeated again and again on all of the invitations, menus, and other designed parts.

All Photoshop designed the envelope seal featured the art deco background of the wallpaper where the reception was held and the monogram. The save the date featured the same wallpaper, all information (website cut off from bottom of image) and they were then bedazzled with white self-adhesive beads.

The wedding invitations were designed with the same wallpaper design as everything in the build package (matching the reception venue's art deco style wallpaper) and they were designed to be a fully functional tear away admission ticket. They were printed on card stock that had an already created perforated edge to easily tear away the RSVP card for guests to return to the couple. On one side of the RSVP was the general response request, and on the other was a song request spot...Some of the songs they received were hysterical!

The entryway to the reception hall had a cool subtle nuance that when only closely observed by the guests became clear. I redesigned classic movie posters with the faces of the bride/groom and all of the names on the poster were replaced with the names of their wedding party. The posters are Casablanca, Rear Window, and Follow the Fleet.

The table number cards were created with the same repeating wallpaper background to match the reception venue and I measured out a placeholder spot for a glossy sticker that would have the numbers on them to be stuck to the cards after printing. The cards themselves were on simple silver card holder sticks that popped up out of the tables centerpieces. They included instructions of how to get the pictures they take using their smart phones live streamed to the projection screen on the stage visible to all guests using a specific hashtag. The menus had the identical background, monogram, and were designed to match the rest of the build. Same goes for the church programs.

The escort card boxes where made from suitcases purchased from Michaels, jewelry display risers, and an adhesive white bead with feathers. They looked stunning alongside the 500 pairs of fake bay-ban sunglasses that where handed out to each guest as they arrived. The theme of the wedding was art deco and "The future's so bright, I gotta wear shades!"

The gift card cage was an old bird cage painted white.

Perhaps the funnest part of this complete building was finding an affordable way to create their own DIY photobooth. The solution...an instagram hashtag live streaming Photoshop. There was a double sided mirror room that contained an iPad mini with instagram, a tripod, a curtain and monogram foam board, and large and assorted props. They hired someone to man the iPad and take pictures of the guests, as soon as they were snapped and uploaded to instagram using their custom hashtag another program pulled them and live streamed them from a computer to a projection screen and the were live projected in a rotating playlist in the reception room on stage. Additionally, as instructed on their invitations guest were uploading pictures from the wedding all day to instagram and were surprised to see their images already in the gallery rotation upon arrival to the reception hall!

The site that they used for the live streaming gallery was http://eventstagr.am/

You can see in a couple images how the screen looked at the reception in the background. It had the instructions also next to every image that popped up in the live rotating gallery.

So that about wraps it up! A complete DIY themed wedding! And...its not a wedding without the groomsman being chased by a dinosaur (another one of my photoshop designs for the bride and groom).

Hope you enjoyed, now get hitched and get creating!