I met Michael-Vincent and Kelsey in October 2014 through my fiancé. This past November 2015 M.V popped the big question, she said yes!
I was so excited for these two and even more when they entrusted me with their wedding invitations and graphic design needs. By far the easiest couple I’ve worked with yet and they gave me creative freedom.
Kelsey picked out some designs she like, and provided me with a photo they wanted to incorporate in their invitation. They could have chosen any photo of them, they have many, but they chose this photo as it represented such a magical time for them. The photo was taken right after Kelsey said yes, and in front of the Harry Potter castle at Universal Studios in Orlando, FL. From there the wedding invitation design carried out to Kelsey’s rustic theme.
The Table Numbers
These were not only fun to make but cheap and easy. There isn’t anything special about the wood, its just old pallet wood and you can find them for free in the industrial business areas in your city. Businesses usually leave them at the side of the road free for you to take away. Once I found one that I liked I took it apart. I cut the boards down to about 6 or 7 inches tall. I put a little stand on the bottom of mine so they would stand alone but you can lean them up against the centre pieces on the table too.
How to get the rustic look? There’s a few ways, you can stain to the wood to a desired colour or use a blowtorch. In this case I went with the blow torch. Be careful when doing this, wear gloves to protect your hands from the heat and from getting black from the soot. I suggest doing it outside in an open area. I posted a short video on Instagram showing it in action.
Once all my boards were torched I took sandpaper to rough it up a bit and to clean up rough edged to avoid splinters. Next I printed and cut out the numbers to use as stencils. I picked a font that was skinny and fit with the invitation fonts. The last step, paint! I painted numbers on both sides as mine stood on their own and you could see from both sides.
Voila! 27 of those bad boys all done and ready to go. Dang they turned out good, eh? They’re now available for rental.
The Seating Chart
Oh the seating chart. I think this has been my favourite project so far. So much creativity, and hard work went into this one.
Again I started out with two pallets of wood. I tried to find two the same but didn’t have luck that day. So, I took one apart and rebuilt it to be the same width as the second one. I stacked one on top of the other. Doesn’t sound so safe does it? These things are heavy too. On the top pallet I added two 2×4’s in the middle. These slide into the bottom pallet and it makes for an easy setup and take down and safe to be stacked. I wasn’t sure where exactly this was going to be set up as I had never been to the reception hall so to be safe I added two pegs to the back that wedge in to the pallets can lean and stand alone with out having to be leaned against a wall.
Once I had that figured out the fun began. I took a wire brush to get all the dirt and gunk off and wiped it down with a dry cloth. I bought a gray stain from Home Depot. Try to use a water based stain so it doesn’t stink. I used oil based and did it outside and let it sit outside to air out for a week. The key with getting the right colour and to not make the wood too dark, or loose the “rustic” part of it, is to wipe it down using an old t-shirt after you brush two panels. I didn’t let the stain sit too long or else it would be too dark. I suggest trying it out on a scrap piece of wood first.
Onto the creative part. Burlap. You can buy it from the fabric store, or you can get a roll about 4 or 5 inches wide from Michaels. I cut and stamped the burlap, sewed the burlap onto twine and boom, done! I spray painted tin cans from Dollarama, and began to make the flower arrangements. Avenue16 make “Pinterest Projects” go right. That last and final part was organizing this big guest list alphabetically and matching the design theme from the wedding vitiations. Send to print. Done.
I couldn’t be more happy with how these projects for the Cuviello wedding went. Congratulations Michael-Vincent and Kelsey! I love you both, here’s to years of love and happiness.
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