I had a DIY wedding. I made the wedding favors (handmade soap and CDs), the wedding programs, and my sister-in-law made the invitations and place cards. With help, I even made my own bridal bouquet and centerpieces.

I know the pain and I know the pride of having a DIY wedding. In fact, I share some of those ups and downs today in a guest blog post over at DIY Bride. Come on over and check it out.

My husband and I spent the morning digging in the dirt. We’re making raised beds in our backyard to plant veggies and berry bushes. Hauling wheelbarrow after wheelbarrow of topsoil can cause a sudden craving for watermelon. Thankfully, I had some on hand.

Watermelon is fruit of the gods. There is nothing better than a cool piece of sweet watermelon after hours of manual, outdoor labour. Nothing better, except maybe a cold drink, served right out of a fresh watermelon!

When I stumbled on this DIY watermelon keg tutorial on evite.com, I couldn’t help but think that this would be perfect for an outdoor wedding – or any outdoor party for that matter!

Here’s what you need:

• 10-pound seedless watermelon
• Sharp knife
• Big spoon
• Big bowl
• Drill with a 1/2-inch drill bit
• 3/4-inch ball-valve faucet with a handle that’s easy to turn with one hand
• PVC-to-faucet adapter that will screw into the back of the faucet
• Rubber O-ring that fits the back of the faucet
• Blender
• Sieve
• Pitcher
• 1 1/2 cups rum
• 4 limes

The project takes about 90 mins and costs $20 (not including alcohol).

Read the full tutorial to make your own watermelon keg here.

Or you can learn to make Lemon-Mint Vodka Spiked Watermelon over here. Sounds dangerous.

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Want hip, fun and earth-friendly envelopes that will be sure to impress your friends (i.e. wedding guests)? Make your own out of vintage books! Here is the full DIY wedding envelope tutorial. These would be perfect to send your save-the-dates or your thank you notes.

You will need: Bone Folder, Glue Stick, Scissors, Rounded Corner Punch, Pencil, Ruler. (The Bone Folder and Rounded Corner Punch are not mandatory.)

Step One: Find a vintage book at a resale shop or garage sale. (I have a thing for children’s books.) Make sure that the book is big enough so that the template will fit over the pages.

Step Two: Print out the envelope template on card stock. This template will make 5.5″ x 4″ inch envelopes.

Step Three: Find a page that you like from the book. (If you want all the envelopes to be the same, simply make a copy of the page.)

Step Four: Position the template over the page keeping in mind the location of the top flap. Trace the template.

Step Five: Cut out the envelope. You can use a rounded corner punch for the corners if you want.

Step Six: Fold. (A bone folder does a good job.)

Step Seven: Glue the edges with a glue stick.

Step Eight: Presto! Your envelope is complete. When you are ready to send, simply get out the glue stick and seal the top flap with the glue stick. Below are some other examples from another vintage children’s book.

If you love the idea of these envelopes, but don’t have the time for DIY, check out Etsy’s adnagam.

These marvelous letterpress, boom box invitations really caught my eye. Bright, fun, unique and what great color.

Letterpress stationery designed by Adam Ramreth at Lark, printed by Studio on Fire and found via   D*lsh.

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I love these sewn DIY wedding programs by Merriment. But I do not sew. I envy people who can sew.

A couple of years ago I went out and bought myself a really cheap sewing machine from Canadian Tire.

I had a big idea that I was going to make book purses and sell them on Etsy. Well, my husband’s aunt, who happens to be the Sewing Queen, had the patience to sit me down at her big, fancy machine and show me how to sew. I felt like a new woman –  that is until I got home and sat down at my really cheap sewing machine. It didn’t take long for me to realize that it would be a monumental feat if I got through even one purse.

But I was determined. I wanted to make a book purse and I would let NOTHING stop me. Even a really cheap sewing machine that couldn’t sew a straight line wouldn’t get in my way. (Okay, maybe it was me that couldn’t sew a straight line.)

And guess what? I did it. And I never did it again. My really cheap sewing machine sits idle in the art room.

If you’re like me and you’ve never mastered the sewing machine, but you love the look of these DIY wedding programs by Merriment- don’t fret! There’s bound to be someone in your circle of friends and family members who can sew – or why not take them to a seamstress?

The only supplies you need for these programs are:

• 8 1/2 x 11 cream luxe text-weight textured paper
• A2 size chocolate folded cards
• Yellow thread
• Sewing machine (or somebody else’s sewing machine)
• Program templates: name, pages 1-4, page 5 (PDFs open in Adobe Illustrator CS3 with Spoleto and Copperplate fonts)
• Paper cutter (or ruler and box cutter or scissors)

Want the full tutorial? Check out Merriment’s step by step instructions for sewn DIY wedding programs.

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