We’re back with TNWC Real Bride Vicky today, catching up with the final details she created for her wedding. Having a super handy Mr, they put their skills to use with wood and metal and paint creating all manner of fab wedding things. And that bar – definitely a keeper for the garden post-wedding I reckon!

Over to Vicky…

The handy thing about having a fiancé who is a builder is that you can talk them into making a lot of the things you’ve seen on websites. They have all the tools, know people who can get them things and various mates who can wire things up. It’s very very handy!

On my wish list were – a bar, various signs, big letters spelling out ‘wedding’, a photo booth of some sort, a giant frame to hang photos from and an illuminated “S” and “V”. Steve rather sweetly agreed to all of these things.

The best thing he made were definitely the illuminated letters. We scoured the internet for ideas on how to make them and had no luck, meaning that we had to muddle through on our own. After we made them, another brilliant illuminated letter DIY appeared on this blog from another TNWC groom – if only we’d waited! Like Jon, our only worry was where on earth they’ll go after the wedding – they are massive!

If you fancy having a go but are worried about wiring them up then I can’t recommend highly enough the kit we used. We decided to use LED bulbs as they don’t get hot, making them a bit safer, and bought them online from We Love LEDS. They send everything you need – bulbs, wires, transformers and plugs.

All you do is screw the bulb holders in, shove in the wires into special grips and turn them on. No electrical skills are required at all. Making the “S” was a nightmare compared to the straight sided “V” so if you have a curvy letter I’d think carefully before commencing. I’m sure it’s possible to make all of the letters but I did keep well out of the way as Steve tried to attach the aluminium to that one!

The other major project was to make the smaller letters. Again I wish I’d read Jon’s post first! I hand drew all the letters which Steve then cut out using a jigsaw. Using a template would have been a 100% easier. After the cutting they were sanded and then painted white. I then marked on a pattern and hand painted them in a variety of colours.

They were also given a quick spray of varnish in case it poured down. We found that one sheet of MDF made six letters so we needed two and used the left overs for other projects.

The bar was built out of pallets which Steve sourced for us. Most building yards will give these away or sell them to you quite cheaply if you talk nicely to them. It’s worth having a good look round as they come in different conditions and you want something quite strong. We used three to create an L-shape which Steve then bolted together. We have topped it off with a plywood top and put a frame above it to hang lights from.

We sanded it to make it safer and it made the colour a lot softer, meaning we didn’t need to paint it. If you are planning to sand them you really need a heavy duty electric sander or you’ll be there forever. Other pallets were broken up and used as signs as the older wood gives them a nice aged look. I used white acrylic paint on them and they looked quite good. We even made a “bride” and “groom” one to tie on the back of our chairs with lots of ribbon.

Another pallet was painted with blackboard paint and had the timeline of the day chalked on it. At the time of writing we were also half way through making the photo booth. This was an idea shamelessly stolen from Pinterest. I loved all the guest books that used polaroid cameras, but couldn’t afford to buy one, so we loved the idea of creating a giant polaroid frame that you stand behind.

I think ours turned out rather larger than expected, but it created some laughs with all the fancy dress and props we collected. It certainly cheered my mum up after a day helping us! We planned to tie a camera to a stool and then people can snap away to their hearts content. Now we just need to think what to do with it all after the wedding…

Images: All brides own pictures