Wedding Sign Tutorial

If you feel a little deja vu, you're right. I did a tutorial for a rustic wedding sign here. The ones I want to show you today are a little more traditional. I actually like them better. The rustic signs are a lot easier, since mistakes give it character! :p

Wedding signs are awesome. They can be informative as well as a perfect decorative element. Here's a really inexpensive way to make the signs & no power tools required! :-) 

I made these signs for my friend, Jessica, who got married last weekend. You can see the post about her bachelorette party here & her wedding weekend here. I used one of the signs from my reception (you can see that post here) & made an additional one. 

This was the sign from our reception. 

For the second sign, I got a board from Home Depot in the scrap pile & had Home Depot cut it down for me. My total came to $1.07. And no need to own a saw or risk cutting off my hands (I'm kinda clumsy like that. It's a miracle I can walk in heels & even that is up for debate).

The first step is sanding. You can use regular sand paper or...

Use this! 

This is my one & only power tool & it's my pride & joy. ;p I know...that's sad, huh? Mike got it for me last summer & I heart my sander. It is seriously the ONLY tool I used on this project & you don't even have to use it for your signs.

After you get it sanded, you can use primer if you want. I didn't but it definitely took more coats than usual. I simply used some purple acrylic paint from Michaels that I got for 40% off. Holla for Michaels coupons! :p

After the boards were painted, I wanted the word "wedding" to look really pretty & fluid. Since it wasn't a rustic sign, I didn't want to just free-hand it myself. In my mind, I imagined making my own stencil but it ended up a little differently. Here's what I tried & failed at - 

* Using my Cricut - I know usually that's a sure thing. The font cartridge I had just didn't produce the style I wanted. 

* I then tried the regular printer. I printed out a Times-like font, even painted it on the sign but didn't like how it turned out. So I had to repaint the whole sign. Ahhh. ;p 

FINALLY...I found a font called "Snell Roundhand." It was perfect. 

You can see from the picture above that I printed the word on cardstock, then cut it out. 

I used a pencil to trace "wedding" onto the sign. 

I started to just paint inside the stencil but that wasn't working too well. I realized I could use a white paint pen to be a better guide. I went over the pencil lines with the paint pen then filled it in with white paint. 

After the paint dried, I used a yard sale sign stick we had in the garage (you can get a bundle for a few $ at Home Depot). I didn't want to deal with nails & hammers & yada, yada so I opted for wood glue. 

Once you put the wood glue on the yard sale sticks, place one of the boards on top & weigh down with something heavy. When that dries, turn it over & place wood glue on the other side of the sticks, lay the board on top & again weigh it down. 

Once the wood glue is dry, you can show off your beautiful signs. Here's the finished project. 

I did finish it off with a clear gloss coat. 

These are great to pointing people in the right directions & giving instructions. Not to mention, they look cute! ;p

Even if you're not getting married, these signs make a great contribution to someone you know who is. If you want to help but can't afford to help monetarily or time-wise...these would be great gifts to a bride to be.

What has been the neatest thing you've seen at a wedding lately?

Hope you have a great week! I've got a REALLY special party I'm throwing this weekend & I can't wait to share with you all the juicy details! :-)