DIY Reception decor and chalkboards
My oldest brother married his sweetheart earlier this year in May in Utah - but since her family is there and so many people living in Oregon wouldn't be able to attend, we held an open house reception here in our newly finished backyard a few weeks after the wedding. It was so fun and beautiful and I loved helping decorate for it. This is the first major project that I have done using chalkboards and I absolutely fell in love!
Chalkboards are so cute and fun and add just the perfect touch to any recption or party! For these chalkboards I just used old picture frames that I found around the house. I took apart the frames, painted the frame with an off white wall paint, and then painted a few coats of chalkboard paint on the glass. I recommend 2-3 coats of chalkboard paint to get a solid finished look. I painted over newspaper however, some newspaper did end up sticking to the back of the glass and frames but it wasn't too much of a problem. Instead of regular chalk we ordered chalk pens which made the process so much easier, helped with smooth lettering, and came with some cute colors.
For each of the tables we used little cute chalkboard easles that we found at Micheals.
One of the cutest ideas a friend of ours came up with for the "guest book ". We bought a mail box at home depot and then painted it with a few coats of chalkboard paint. I wrote their names on one side, the wedding date on the other, and each of their chalked handprints on top. Our friend handmade the postcards using paper and several stamps to create a cute vintagey look. We set them out on cute table for guests to write a quick note to the bride and groom and recommend a travel destination to them and place them in the mailbox. Since we used postcards it was the perfect opportunity to snag each of the guests adresses for the bride and groom to later use for thank you cards.
Other decor for the reception included several vintagey looking tricycles, lanters, and flowers and candles in mason jars. I tied each jar with a variety of cut up lace, burlap and twine. If you tie it tight enough the twine should hold up the lace and burlap just fine. We filled some of the jars with sand and placed candles inside and others with yellow and white flowers.
It was such a fun and satisfying night to help accomplish and just to top it all off we ended it with dance party.
If you have any questions about how to make any of the decoartions or chalk art don't hesitate to ask! Thanks so much!
