This is Chapter 10 of an ongoing series following the journey of a couple throwing an intimate, DIY wedding in Washington, DC. Be sure to check out the earlier chapters from this series for some great DIY tips & inspiration!
Have you heard “rice will kill the birds” and “you aren’t allowed to throw confetti“? Plus, who wants to attract a million seagulls with bird seed? And, you can’t afford releasing doves or butterflies. But, I of course still want a celebratory burst of exciting movement in my photos! So, what else is there?
AHHH-HAAA!!
Wedding streamers or wands. What a great way to add excitement to your day without the mess and waste of those microscopic particles of useless stuff.
It is also a very uncomplicated DIY project.
Step 1: Grab some dowels at a hardware store (I found mine at Lowes for >50 cents each).
Step 2: Then I cut them in half cause they were too long (essentially making them 25 cents each).
Step 3: I painted them with brown paint (*tip*: Don’t use spray paint. It will waste a ton of paint because the dowels are too small & round).
Step 4: Buy some of those tiny eyelet screws at the same hardware store and hand screw them into the top of the dowel. (*tip*If they are too difficult to screw in at first, stick a thumbtack in the top of the dowel to start a small pilot hole.) Be careful not to split the dowel.
Step 5: Then take a small piece of ribbon and tie it around the eyelet making a bit bigger loop.
Step 6: Finally, tie any remaining ribbon anywhere between 2-6 pieces in your colors in the length you want to the loop. I bought all of my ribbon on sale at Micheals for 50 cents per spool.
I think the total cost of each dowel was less than $1!!
I also took an extra step and printed at-home name tags in the shape of a cherry blossom and laminated them.
I punched 2 holes at the top of each name tag and stuck a safety pin through the top. Then I attached the name tag to the eyelet. Claude an I intend to push the entire dowel into the ground so that it tells people where their place to stand is at the ceremony (since we won’t have chairs). It is like a place card, but for standing! Then, once they find their spot, they can remove the name tag and attach it to their clothes so it is really double duty!
I think the guests will have a lot of fun with these!!
Be sure to send us any of YOUR DIY wands or streamers!
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