I'm going to attribute this DIY trend to the rise of Pinterest as a major influence in wedding planning. Women can now brainstorm ideas for their wedding before they are ever engaged (another great reason to get my eBook about how to create a wedding planning binder - it's never too early to be prepared!).
I was absolutely a victim of this DIY movement. Most of my decor and other wedding ideas came directly from Pinterest. It was so much cheaper to do things myself than trying to pay for stuff premade. Some things completely backfired, like spending weeks creating monogrammed champagne flutes for the guests to take home. No one ended up taking them, even with my note on the table. Now I use my champagne flutes in place of red Solo cups at all family parties. Other things, like my chalkboard signs, worked out perfectly.
Pinterest is full of pictures for this beautiful, simple-yet-chic chalkboard trend. For years before I got engaged, I pinned these beautiful chalkboard signs as a simple decor option. The problem was you either had to learn excellent calligraphy or hire a professional sign maker to accomplish this look, neither of which I was willing to do.
Then I found this pin that taught me how to do my own chalkboard signs. You buy chalkboards, stencils, chalk, and a chalkboard marker (found at your local arts and crafts store, like Michaels) to create these signs. Sharpen your chalk to a point and use the stencils to trace the letters you want. Fill the blank space with the chalkboard marker and Voila! It looks like you had an expert calligrapher create your decor.
Of course, no DIY thing on Pinterest will ever go perfectly. I couldn't find the chalkboard size I wanted anywhere, so I wandered around Michaels until I came up with a alternative. I bought a four pack of canvas prints, black chalkboard spray paint, cardboard scroll frames, and blue spray paint.
I used the black chalkboard paint on the canvas to create an authentic chalkboad look. I then spray painted the cardboard scrolls to match my wedding color and hot glued it to the canvas. I didn't have the right size pencil sharpener to sharpen my chalk, so I made do and simply used my chalkboard marker over the actual chalk. I luckily found some chalkboard markers that contained all of my wedding colors (blue and fall shades) to make my boards more colorful.
I made a ceremony program sign instead of printing out a bunch of paper programs, an I-Spy camera game that I got off Pinterest in case guests got bored, the website and code to share photos from the wedding, and a fun little "History of Us" sign with significant dates from our time together. All of these ideas I got from Pinterest. I also made some smaller chalkboard signs out of silver serving trays explaining the desserts, guest book, and signature drinks.
I was extremely happy with my signs, but if you want perfection higher a calligrapher. It was trying at times, especially wrestling with my unsharpened chalk, lining up each letter of my stensils, trying to make everything fit, and forcing just a little bit more color out of my markers. As you can see, I used my very best cursive on some parts of the signs because I was fed up with the stencils. Overall, I love my chalkboard effect and would recommend this DIY project to anyone.
