Bridal Shower Projects

Over the weekend, I attended a bridal shower and bachelorette party for a friend who is getting married in July. Since I am a bridesmaid, I helped with some of the decorations and planning. My favorite thing to make was the lighted marquee sign. I got a pinterest email on Monday that showed one and I thought, "I can do that!" I can't believe I was able to find materials and order lights in time, but I got it done pretty much all between Thursday and Friday, and I think it turned out great!

I made this apron because the shower was sort of "kitchen" themed.

Here's the start of the marquee. Unfortunately, her soon-to-be-new-last-name has a lot of popular letters, and I could only get a G in the big letters. Plus there were no Es at all ... I bought two number 3s and flipped them around. Actually, I ended up liking the eclectic look.

I marked enough spots for 35 holes, since I bought a strand of christmas lights from LED warehouse with 35 lights. It was only $12 with shipping, it came in like, 3 days, and the LEDs should not get hot, so it should be fairly safe.

I glued and nailed the letters overlapping, but in the end this was not strong enough and I had to cut a backing, But, that helped hide the cord.

I drilled the holes with a 3/8 bit once I got the light strand and figured out how big the holes would need to be for the lights to slide in easily.

Oops, small accident. As I was cutting, the E broke a little. These letter are not exactly wood, they are like, chipboard sort of, but anyway, more fragile than cut wooden letters might be. I might cut my own in the future if I were doing a larger marquee.

After a lot of work, the holes are cut and the letters are glued to the backing and painted. The only bad thing was that since some letters are overlapped, those lights have to push through the backing and a space before getting through the letter, and some were not lined up exactly perfect, even though I tried to mark them well. So, in the future I might not overlap letters like that.

It works!

Fancy!

I also put these flowers in the colander using "wet foam" and aluminum foil to cover the holes.

All the decorations! I made bottles that say "Eat, Drink, and Be Married." Also, there is a frame with a sign that says "All you knead is love." I got the idea for that on pinterest. I'll include a printable version for you!

 All in all, it was a fun weekend and I was excited to make these things for my friend. I am definitely going to try the lighted sign again on a project for me! 

Here is the printable: