Wedding Planning: The Fabrics

One of the very first things I did when I started my wedding planning was purchase a huge hunk of fabrics in our color combo. Fabric can be used in so many different ways, and can really add a special touch to any d.i.y. party- weddings, baby showers, birthdays, you name it. Not to mention, all of the projects are super simple and fairly quick to whip up! Yards of fabric can get a bit pricey real quick, and since we're trying to do a low cost, small shop/etsy only wedding, I just couldn't go buy without doing my research first. Luckily, I found a small independantly owned art store here in Long Beach, that has miscellaneous recycled items to craft with, for so cheap! Cents even! I got all the fabric I needed for the whole wedding, yards and yards and yards, for just fifteen bucks! It can be easy to just give up and buy the expensive stuff to get it over with, but doing your research really pays off. Literally! Plus after all, you're most likely just going to be cutting it up anyway. Here are some of the various ways I used my massive stack of fabric to decorate our vintage d.i.y. wedding. 

Use it for streamers. Simply the easiest and most effective way to decorate using fabric, is to cut it in thick strips for streamers. They add such festivity to a space, with very little effort. It can be used as an easy photobooth backdrop, or to hide unsightly wall space. Our wedding venue has huge, not so wedding appropriate murals on the walls, so we will be using lots and lots of ripped fabric to cover those, while adding color to the space. I've so enjoyed the many nights of ripping fabric with my hubby to be, with the windows open and record player on, daydreaming and talking with one another about our wedding. 

Use it for the head of table. When you have quite a lot of ripped fabric left over, don't just throw it out, get creative and put it all to use! We're both lovers of whimsy and nature, so we wanted to incorperate a little bit of that into our big day. Mister found the perfect branch while working in the yard, and we braided some of our strands onto it to add some texture.  The branch shows through just enough to add a rustic touch, without being too much for a semi-formal event. We figured it would be a perfect pop of color to give our head table some personality and life!

Use it as flower girl petals. For all those small leftover scraps, make some feux petals! Save some money at the florist and use what you've got. We have a mix of petals, bowties, and square shapped fabric. The bowties just sort of happened, being the middle part of two petal cut outs. The squares are what were left over when their just wasn't enough fabric at the end of a strip to cut another petal. The shapes and colors don't have to be identical. Just make sure you're in the same color family and you're good to go! It's those little handmade imperfections that make things so much more special.

Got any good ways to use fabric in decorating? Share in the comments below! 

See all of our decorations come together right here after our big day, November 24th!

Drey $ Nicole