Free Wedding Graphics
Since we are a website whose primary focus is helping you to create a stylish wedding within your budget, we certainly need to talk about how you can find some “free” things, so today let’s look at Free Wedding Graphics. Clipart and photos can be a great way to embellish wedding-related items, and whenever we can find something for free, that makes it that much better, but keep in mind that for something as simple as clipart to be appealing and professional, you need to be careful about which images you use and how you use them.
“The Internet is full of places for you to find free wedding graphics for all your do-it-yourself wedding projects.”
You should choose clipart that appeals to your tastes and also coordinates with your wedding’s formality and theme. A brightly-colored image of ducks in a tuxedo and wedding gown may be funny, but it is not suitable for formal wedding needs. Similarly, a classic, elegant bride in a high-necked, long-sleeved antique gown holding hands with a groom in a top hat and tails may be a lovely image, but it could confuse your guests if you are having a casual beach wedding — but you knew that already!
Whether you’re looking specifically for bride groom free clipart or free wedding graphics that have a variety of clipart, the Internet is full of places for you to find “clipable” art for all your do-it-yourself wedding projects. However, while finding free wedding graphics and clipart online may seem like a simple task, many websites feature the same common images with little unique to offer. However, we found the following websites that seem to offer extensive collections: Webweaver, Cool Clips, Wedding Clipart and Microsoft Office Clipart Gallery
From invitations to programs to creating a wedding website, all of these are the type of items you can create yourself to save money. However, it will save quite a bit of time if you hone in on a type clipart you are looking for instead of typing the very generic keyword search of “free wedding graphics”. Be more specific as to what wedding clipart you are looking for, such as some of the ideas below, and you will find what you want quick:
- Wedding cakes or cake slices
- Wedding and engagement ring images
- Limousines or “Just Married” signs
- Floral bouquets and centerpieces
- Hearts — of every shape, size, and design
- Pair of doves
- Bells, with or without ribbons and flowers
- Champagne glasses
- Churches, Crosses, Bibles, and other religious imagery
Wedding invitations are one of the more expensive printed items for a wedding, but if you have the time and just a little computer know-how, they don’t have to be. You can purchase some lovely invitation paper from stores like Kelly Paper or even some office stores, like Staples. There are a couple quality online stores that offer blank printable stationery that are worth looking into as well:
www.Rexcraft.com — Go to their “Do It Yourself/Print your own invitations” section
InvitationsbyDawn.com – Go to their “Do It Yourself Invitation Kits”
With your free wedding graphics and some classy paper, you can print your own wonderful wedding invitations, save the date cards, engagement announcements, etc. Just be sure you choose an appropriate wedding graphic for your invitation – I mean if you’re looking for bride groom free clipart, mostly what you will find are caricatures of couples, which if you are going way informal could work.
An Option to Using Clipart
Another great idea to add “free” art to any of your projects is just to use photos of you and your fiancé. You can “jazz” the photos up using a simple Photoshop technique like smearing to create something really unique and interesting for your wedding programs or wedding save the date cards (maybe not invitations). I just clicked on “Neon Glow” in my Photoshop to create the picture to the right.
So, as you see, free wedding graphics aren’t just the ones you find on the web, but you can do a variety of unique techniques to personalize your wedding stationary that isn’t costly. Creating a thank you card using a collage of pictures from your wedding on the front and printing on cardstock is a great idea. I did the collage style postcard below for our catering company . . . I know, it’s for a caterer not a wedding, but you get the idea, and I just happened to have this one handy to show you.
I’m sure you already have in mind what you want to use your wedding graphics for or you wouldn’t have typed in the keyword “free wedding graphics” and found this article, but maybe the following gives you some ideas you hadn’t thought of yet for the use of your free wedding graphics clipart:
Engagement announcements * Wedding favor tags * Save the date cards * Wedding programs * Casual wedding invitations * Wedding thank you notes * Wedding website graphics * Wedding newsletters
Not Creative, Need Help?
Whether you are the creative type or not, we can all use some help from examples and samples, and that is what you will get from The Artful Bride: Wedding Invitations: A Stylish Bride’s Guide to Simple, Handmade Wedding Correspondence
But lastly, if all the above is not for you, and time is more valuable than money, or you’re just not the do-it-yourselfer type of person, YourWeddingDollars is very comfortable in recommending you take a look at the Wedding Invitations by Wedding Paper Divas. They are of great quality, offer many style choices, and their prices are reasonable when compared to other companies with similar quality.
Whichever way you choose, from free wedding graphics or touched up photos that you place on blank stationery with your special wording to ordering it all done and ready to just add your address and postage, so long as you keep to what the style of your wedding is and keep within your budget, you are bound to be happy with the outcome!
By Cheryl Cox, Editor of YourWeddingDollars.com. See “Note from the Editor” for more information on Cheryl and her credentials.
“Create Your Own Wedding — Own Your Style, Not Someone Else’s — and do it all while keeping money in your pocket!”
How to Decorate a Red Wagon for a Wedding
Ah, this can be fun and is so quaint! Let your imagination go! When you think about how to decorate a red wagon for a wedding – specifically YOUR wedding, let’s talk “personalization” – How about painting it white with your names in red all around it – like: Cheryl Loves Jim . . . Jim Loves Cheryl. Well, that’s one idea; here are several more ideas not only on how to decorate a red wagon for a wedding but what to do with it:
Ideas for Ways to Decorate a Red Wagon for a Wedding, Fill your Wagon, Display your Wagon or Use your Wagon:
- How about decorating it with ribbons all around, placing a ribbon covered pole in the center with long ribbons hanging from it for the kids to dance around
- Looking to add more color to your ceremony or reception, fill the wagon with flowers that complement your wedding theme colors
- Want to add a little “sexy” to your wedding, fill the wagon with water and have rose petals floating in the water
- For a beach themed wedding, fill the wagon with sand and seashells
- Would you like to smell your favorite fragrance at your wedding, place scented candle arrangements in the wagon
- What about creating a romantic corner, fill the wagon with tons of little votive electric candles (safety first)
- Fill it with food — how about exotic fruits or your favorite treats! Or a candy buffet on wheels! This is a great twist to the traditional candy buffet; just arrange the jars of candy it in a little red wagon and assign one of the older children to take the wagon from table to table during the reception.
- Lay grass and twigs (greenery) in the bottom and put an ice carving on the top sitting it near your buffet table
- Are you into horticulture or landscaping? Create a mini-garden in your wagon by putting flowers, pebbles, and rocks, or have beautiful plants of all heights emerging from the wagon
- Have it sitting right next to the ceremony arch
- Have it center stage when your guests arrive at the reception location
- Have someone pull the wagon down the aisle with your dog in it; and of course s/he should have a color coordinated ribbon as his/her collar.
- Does the bride or groom have children? Have your children sit in the wagon; well, this obviously works best with children who are too young to walk or still young enough to be too shy to walk down the aisle alone. This will help them remember your day!
- Fill the wagon with wedding favors and take home gifts
- A wagon is a unique photo prop. You could have a large sized photo of the bride and groom in the wagon or display your engagement photos and photos of you as children
- A great ring pillow alternative – have your ring bearer carry the rings in a decorated little red wagon; it’s so much more fun for him and for your guests especially if you are having a garden or beach wedding.
- Other ways to cover the wagon is to use a small table cloth, some tulle or a length of fabric in a color or pattern that matches your wedding theme and drape it over the edge of the wagon.
- Decorate it like a float – Use decor elements like garlands, tulle, flowers, etc to cover the sides of your wedding.
Wedding wagons add a unique and interesting addition to any type of wedding and you can see from above that there are boundless ideas of just how to decorate a red wagon for a wedding, but one really great idea that is not listed above is NOT to decorate it all. If the bride or groom have a little red wagon that they’ve had since they were a kid, putting something in it is one thing, but changing its look – I’m not so sure I would do that. Maybe just “snuggle” in it for a photo op!
By Cheryl Cox, Editor of YourWeddingDollars.com. See “Note from the Editor” for more information on Cheryl and her credentials.
“Create Your Own Wedding — Own Your Style, Not Someone Else’s — and do it all while keeping money in your pocket!”
Unique Ideas for Wedding Party Gifts – Photo Bound
You probably have a few very important people on your list that you would like to give a special gift to. Whether it is wedding gift ideas for children of parents getting married, maid of honor gift ideas, gift ideas for your parents, bridal party gifts, or that someone special that stayed by your side through the whole planning process, deciding what memorable gift to give can be an over-whelming task – especially if you are as anal as I am and want it to be perfect!
So, I believe the key word here is “memorable,” and add to that other keywords such as “keepsake,” “personal,” and “unique,” and I believe the answer to unique ideas for wedding party gifts is to be “Photo Bound” – give gifts made with personalized photos you pick out specifically for that special person you want to give a wedding memory gift too.
Some of my favorite gifts I have received revolve around photos – from a wedding photo scrapbook given to us by our daughter to a wonderful photo book of a family vacation given to us by our daughter-in-law and coffee cups with a picture of our newly built house on them from a dear friend – I cherish these gifts!! And remember by using photos you can make each gift personal and unique for the one you are giving it to. These types of personalized “homemade” wedding party gifts take time to think about and the time you take to put them together shows the recipient that they really do mean a lot to you!
There are so many ideas where gifts involving photos can create the ultimate perfect gift. For instance, let’s say you are the “combined” children of parents getting married – a blended family about to be. What a wonderful idea it would be for all the kids to bring some of their favorite photos of themselves with their mom or dad and put them together in one “blended” album. Or, if you are one of those lucky brides who have a very special relationship with your father, what about putting a photo bound book together of your favorite pictures of you and your daddy through all your years – from birth to the picture of him walking you down the aisle. And then there is that very special someone, whether it is your mother or best friend or sister, who has stuck with you through thick and thin of your wedding planning process – think about this one ahead of time and snap pictures throughout the process of everywhere you go, all the errands you run together, from looking at venues, to trying on wedding dresses, to her hanging out with you helping you organize your checklist, and all the great lunches in between and create a special memory book of all those moments for that very special person!
And it doesn’t have to be just photo bound books, they can include calendars, posters, mugs, stationary, key rings, mouse pads, mugs, golf towels, neck ties, playing cards, tote bags, and so on.
There are many places you can go to for these “photo bound” personalized unique ideas for wedding party gifts, but my favorite when it comes to the best price for the quality (after all, the main focus of YourWeddingDollars.com is about being smart with your wedding dollars!), is Snapfish.com by HP
. You can find out more about Snapfish in our Resources & Reviews section.
By Cheryl Cox, Editor of YourWeddingDollars.com. See “Note from the Editor” for more information on Cheryl and her credentials.
“Create Your Own Wedding — Own Your Style, Not Someone Else’s — and do it all while keeping money in your pocket!”
How to Make Wedding Centerpieces in 5 Easy Steps
Many folks believe that unless you have some magical or mystical artistic talent, creating flowers for your wedding or special event is something beyond their abilities. That is simply not so. Just as you can learn to drive a car or speak a foreign language, flower arranging is a skill that can be easily learned. It does however, require a little instruction. If you have the desire and time management skills to juggle flowers plus the other demands for your very special day, do it yourself centerpieces for your party or event can be fun. It can save you a lot of money if you can do it yourself, and it can be emotionally quite fulfilling. There is a lot to be said for the bragging rights you earn when you can tell your family and friends that YOU made those designs!! In this brief article we are going to teach you how to make wedding centerpieces; well, one simple one anyway. I believe that you will really enjoy this brief mini lesson in floral designing.
For Homemade Wedding Centerpieces, ideas from Rittner School can help you create beautiful do it yourself centerpieces. Let’s get to it. How to Make Wedding Centerpieces in 5 Easy Steps:
Step #1 – You will need:
- Container-Glass Cube (approximately 4″)
- Foam
- Ti Leaves or Aspidistra Leaves
- Baker Fern (3-4 stems)
- Roses (9-10)
- Mini Sunflowers (6)
- Carnations (4-5)
- Alstroemeria (6)
- Daisy poms (two or three stems)
- Miniature carnations (two or three stems)
Step #2 – Choose your container
Every vase arrangement starts with a container. The choice of the container is very important for it sets the entire mood of the design. Will the arrangement feel contemporary? Classical? What colors will be incorporated into the container? This becomes especially important when planning flowers for wedding reception centerpieces. Your container could be the same color as the linen or a contrasting color. It could be part of a color harmony that you are trying to achieve. It could incorporate some of the colors of the flowers, or it could simply be achromatic or neutral. For these do it yourself centerpieces, we are going to use clear glassware. The use of a clear cube gives the clean linear look of today! Although we are using glass here, we could have just as easily created this design in a silver revere bowl or other opaque kind of container. The flower part would remain the same. The visual effect of the completed design would vary depending upon the base.
Step #3 – Put the foam in the container
For homemade wedding centerpieces, ideas are flowing in this design where we are going to play with a neat illusion. We have taken some foam, in this case a third of a block for our 4″ cube, and wrapped it with some foliage.
Step #4 – Add foliage
The foliage used here could be Ti leaf, or alternatively aspidistra. On the other hand other kinds of foliage (eg. croton) would give other really neat looks to your design. Sometimes the container will hold the foliage in place. If the foliage does not easily stay for you, you may take florist wire in a #20 gauge, and make little upside down U shapes. We call these hairpins. A couple of hairpins through the foliage into the foam will easily hold the leaves as desired. Pouring water around the foliage/foam provides a magnifying glass effect to the base! Play with this effect. It is fun to experiment with different shapes and sizes of glassware, and with different foliages. The overall shape of this arrangement will be a roundy, moundy, hemispherical shape, so popular in both arrangements and bridal bouquets. One quick and easy way to achieve that shape is to first create it with foliage and then fill in with flowers. The foliage that we are using here is baker fern or leather leaf. It is a very popular foliage and quite easy to use to cover a lot of space quickly. Start by placing smaller pieces in a circle around the top of the container. The stems of the baker fern may be inserted into the foam above the large decorative leaves, or right through them. Then place more pieces of fern on the top of the foam to create that gentle moundy shape. Don’t fuss about covering every single inch of foam. Plenty of flowers will be used to fill in should there be any small areas of foam showing.
Step #5 – Add your flowers of choice
You never can go wrong with roses. They are one of the most popular flowers and are available in so many varieties and colors. Take five of them and make a diagonal line from one side of the top of the arrangement to the other as shown in the photograph.
The next step for how to make wedding centerpieces is to place two more roses in front of the first five as shown in this photograph. Place two or three more roses on the side of the arrangement facing away from the camera in a similar configuration. This gives us a “backbone” to the design. All other flowers will go around this center core.
Three mini sunflowers, bright and cheerful, add contrast as they fill in the bottom section of the arrangement. Add three more to the side of the arrangement facing away from the photograph.
Carnations are enjoying renewed popularity and a great choice for do it yourself centerpieces. They are now available in a rainbow of colors. They fill space quickly and easily and are reasonably priced. It is a great flower to mix in with more costly materials to present an expensive look yet control costs. Four or five carnations are placed in close, one facing towards the camera, several upwards, and several over towards the other side of the design.
Alstroemeria are one of my favorite flowers. Like carnations, they are also available in a wide variety of colors. There are usually a number of florets on a stem, meaning that one stem cut short can fill in a design like this very quickly and efficiently. Distribute two or three alstroemeria on both sides of the arrangement you see here, and on the opposite side of the design.The roses looked dominant in the beginning, didn’t they? Notice as we fill in with all of the other various flowers, that everything blends well together like pieces of a puzzle. When it comes to figuring out how to make wedding centerpieces, you really can’t go wrong with these kinds of designs.
Daisy poms have multiple flowers on each stem. This means that you can get great value from this flower as you prune the individual stems and distribute some of the flowers through the top and sides. It really does give a rich effect, and the cost is minimal!
The overall look that we are seeking here is that of opulence and abundance. Miniature carnations, like the daisy poms feature a number of flowers on one stem. This means that you can get great coverage from only a few stems of flowers. Randomly place a few miniature carnations as shown, on both sides of the arrangement.
A final thought about content, as you begin creating your homemade wedding centerpieces, ideas will flourish! Remember, you may use a wide range of flowers in this kind of design. Using carnations, poms and miniature carnations can save you a lot of money. However, this design can be made much more elaborate and more expensive depending upon your budget. Substituting hydrangea or lilies can make this kind of design far more upscale, but will add to your total cost. If you’re looking for more information on how to make wedding centerpieces, please visit our school. You might even find a career in there somewhere, but that’s another story.
Dr. Stephen Rittner is director of The Rittners School of Floral Design in Boston. Rittners School of Floral Design attracts students from all over the world with a wide variety of courses in Floral Art. If you want to learn floral skills, or if you want some well deserved fun and reduce stress, consider taking a course at Rittners. Rittners Floral School also has a number of inexpensive Distance Education Lessons available for purchase online. See www.floralschool.com
Homemade Wedding Centerpieces Ideas To Save You Time & Money
In these tough economic times, you are probably keeping a close eye on where every penny goes, even when it comes to that most cherished of events, your wedding day. You want nothing but the best for the occasion, but at the same time, you have a budget that you need to stick to like a bumblebee on a wedding flower. That’s why exploring homemade wedding centerpieces ideas will not only save you money but you can also create a memorable decoration that will remind you of that special day for years to come.
Homemade wedding centerpieces ideas will allow you to put a personal touch on your wedding that a professional decorator may not be able to duplicate. You are limited only by your imagination, and your own flair for decorating. And even if you have never made or designed a centerpiece before, or you don’t feel you have the ability, the good news is that you don’t have to be an expert to come up with one that will create a buzz among your wedding guests. All it takes is a little time and a few basic supplies to make it happen.
“Exploring homemade wedding centerpiece ideas will not only save you money but you can also create a memorable decoration that will remind you of that special day for years to come.”
One example of inexpensive homemade wedding centerpiece ideas that add a personal touch includes creating a monogrammed container, such as a white wooden or plastic pail. Just paint your monogram on the pail and fill it with a bunch of flowers such as daisies, and surround it with candles. In little time, and better yet, at little cost, you have created a work of art. To personalize your centerpiece even more, place bride and groom photos on a stick inside the pail. The more of your own personality you put into your centerpiece, the more unique and memorable it will be.
Floating candles also make for great homemade wedding centerpiece ideas. Just fill bowls or vases with water and place the candles inside. To make it more decorative, you can add food coloring to the water, and/or flower petals. And if time is an issue, or you don’t want to put a lot of effort into the project, baskets or bowls of fresh fruit can make a beautiful centerpiece, and you can even purchase them already packaged if you don’t want to do it yourself. Don’t let the expense keep you from having a wedding that your guests will envy. A little imagination can go a long way.
By Cheryl Cox, Editor of YourWeddingDollars.com, See “Note from the Editor” for more information on Cheryl and her credentials.