Quick and Easy DIY Direction Signs

Like many others in the wedding world, I was obsessed with the beauty that is wedding directional signs.


Image via Mrs. Ostrich, Photo by  Max Wanger Photography



Image via Mrs. Bunting, Photography by  Bryan and Mae Photography

 Knowing that our chapel was a part of a much larger building, made them almost a necessity. Unfortunately this task was one I left to last minute, and I needed to craft an easy fix. Then I remembered a post from Mrs. Ferris Wheel, showing off her DIY speech bubbles. With her method as my inspiration, I had a simple solution.

Supplies:

• cardboard
• box cutter/exacto knife
• sharpie
• chalkboard contact paper
• twine

Using a large flap of a cardboard box, I drew an outline of an arrow, and then cut it out with the box cutter.

Then I used my cardboard arrow to cut the proper amount of contact paper. I tried to leave a bit of an edge on all sides so that I could fold the paper over and stick it to the back. (Sorry I didn't take a picture of this step, but it took four hands to make sure the contact paper applied to the cardboard smoothly and to eliminate all of the wrinkles/bubbles. You've been warned: you may need help with this step!)

To finish it off, I simply tied the twine around the slim part of the arrow, creating a hook to hang my sign. My bridesmaids had fun with the chalk markers and helped me display them around campus pre-ceremony.

Photo by Valerie Demo

They must have worked. We didn't have a single lost guest!

Did you leave any projects to the last minute that worked out better than expected?

DIY Mr. and Mrs. Signs

When Mr. Hawk and I first got engaged, one of the first things I obessessed over was beautiful wedding signs. Direction signs, reserved signs, it really didn't matter. I bookmarked an obscene amount of "Mr." and  "Mrs." as well as "Bride" and "Groom" signs on etsy. More recently seeing the posts by fellow bees like Miss Mink and Miss Coyote did nothing to quell my obsession. But as our budget slowly rapidly started to dwindle away, I decided that it was a project I could definitely tackle on my own.

Materials:
2 wooden plaques
Ribbon
Sawtooth hangers
Paint brushes
Primer
Paint

First, I primed and painted the plaques and let them dry. (You may have seen this coming from my table numbers post!)

Then I printed off "Mr." and "Mrs." in dimenstions to match the plaques. The font I chose was Freebooter Script. To make a transfer of the letters from the paper to the plaque, I started by shading the back of the "Mr." and "Mrs." printouts with pencil.

Then I placed the paper face up on the plaque and centered it. I traced the outline of the letters (shaded side down) to create my outline.

The last step was the most time-consuming: paint! I learned the hard way that it's not a good idea to paint after drinking a gigantic cup of coffee. (Not my finest or brightest moment.) I was incapable of keeping my hand straight, which didn't exactly translate to optimal painting conditions. For touch ups, I used a little of the cream paint and if necessary painted the edges again in black.

I could've stopped there, but I wanted our signs to be able to hang from out chairs at the reception, so I attached sawtooth hangers. Then I tied ribbon on each hanger, so that they will be adjustable when I attach them to our chairs at the reception.

I am really happy that I did these myself. Spending only about $12 to make both, I certainly saved myself some money!

Was there a project that was a big money saver for you?