I Do - Wedding Chalkboard Ideas

Wedding season is coming up. Kids are finishing a semester and thinking that now would be the perfect time to start their wedded bliss. My hub and I did that. We got married after fall semester, in the dead of winter, in the nearly coldest, nearly snowiest, part of the state, where you had to drive through a nasty, slippery canyon to get there, and where none of the wedding party lived except us. Love makes you stupid.

I also asked my future father-in-law and fiance' to go to the forest and cut down, oh, say ten, yes, ten, cute 6 to 8 foot trees from the forest (since the Father-in-law worked for them) and bring them 200 miles up the road and put stands on them and have them for decoration at the reception. Then we could give those as party favors to all the family members who came and it would be great. Thank you. I was such a jerk and a self-centered twit. Anyway, they did it. And the hub still married me and the father-in-law let him. So those were my decorations at my reception and it was spectacular.

I am amazed now at what young folk are doing for receptions and the amount of money they are spending to do them. Wow. Although, I think opening his wallet may have been easier for the father-in-law than trudging through the forest in the snow looking for ten perfect Christmas trees. It is hard enough to find just one perfect tree.

To my credit though, I didn't make him wear a tux and he was grateful for that.

One of the new trends in weddings and in home decor, is chalkboards. Check pinterest. Chalkboards are a big deal.  Since I made my chalkboard for my front porch a few years ago, I have had friends request chalkboard art for wedding receptions. Here is the basic process for those.

Generally when people ask me to do a chalkboard they have specific things in mind that they want it to say. I get the wording in writing and then start asking questions:

• Is the reception formal or casual? If it is formal I make sure they see my board, which is NOT formal in the least, but can take on shabby chic sophistication, I guess.
• What are the wedding colors?
• Do you have any particular design ideas in mind? Often they do and can sketch the basics out on paper so that I have a better chance at getting what they are after.
• Will it be outside or inside? Hanging or leaning or on an easel? Do you need my easel that I use for firesides? 
• Do you want colored chalk? Do you want colored chalk as an accent or all colored chalk? (like a Hawaii themed wedding or a circus wedding or something)
• When do you need it?
• When do you really need it? (In case I get busy, or lazy, or something)

The instructions for this first one were pretty loose. They had found the quote online and knew basically what they wanted it to say. They left the layout pretty much up to me with just the instruction that they wanted it 'scripty'. It was for an outdoor wedding with blue and pink and other colors and would be displayed on a table, leaning against a wall, outside.

I started with an online search and found the quote already done in computer fonts several different ways. I chose a couple that I thought might work and printed them out so I could play with their layout.

Once I got it on paper the way I liked it, I sent out a picture of the thumbnail drawing to the mom of the bride to okay.

Once she said she liked it (they always do. What can they say when you are doing it as a favor?) I went ahead and procrastinated for a while. Then I did the board and got it to them at the prescribed hour.

You can see the chalk dust both at the top and the bottom sitting on the frame on this one. I was just finishing when I took the photo and I hadn't vacuumed the edges yet and I had turned the frame upside down to fill in some of the letters (thus, the chalk on the top). This was one of my first attempts at chalkboard art at all. I think I have improved over time. Maybe.

 Here is an example of another wedding board in progress. I did it the same way. This time they had a list of things they wanted it to say. I looked for designs on the internet that had elements in series and found several that used the scroll. The ribbon made a design full of words and thoughts much easier to read and made it more coherent than if it was just a lot of writing.

This is what I drew up on paper for layout ideas for the next one. The mother of the bride told me what she wanted it to say and I looked around the internet for ideas, then combined them and got this. I texted the photo to her and she said it was good enough, so I put it on the chalkboard and delivered it to the reception. If she didn't like it then, it was too late.

As you do your board things will change a bit and that is okay. I am not good at swirly things and so I usually redo those several times before I put the pressure to the chalk. Wedding chalkboards tend to need swirlies. Sigh.*

Here is the nearly finished board - still needs vacuuming.

I don't know if you can see it, but the shading on the ribbon is individual lines drawn top to bottom. A lot of individual lines. This is when a simple pencil sharpener is really handy for sharpening your sticks of chalk. It is hard to draw individual lines without getting dull chalk and fat lines. Or invest in a chalk pencil set, which I am too cheap to do. I do this for fun, and it is not fun if it costs a lot!

I also do this for free for the same reason. If it is free, it is fun and not stressful. If I charged, it would be subject to standards and judgement and I guess maybe I am still too self-centered and twittish to have to deal with rejection. I may never grow up.

Hope you are having fun with a chalkboard. It is a great outlet for stress relief.