u/cool__cool_cool_cool

When I first started thinking about our seating chart, I had a vision: retro motel key tags. And after way too much designing, test printing, and assembling, I have officially brought that vision to life.

Instead of traditional table numbers, each of our tables is named after a location we’ve traveled to together. Every guest gets a personalized motel key tag with their name and table destination, and each table will have a vintage-style postcard from that location waiting for them.

I 3D printed 97 personalized tags in total.

Cost breakdown:
Filament: $45
Gold keychains: $8
Total: $53

Cost per escort card: about $0.55

I’m genuinely obsessed with how they turned out. I wanted them to feel like little souvenirs from some weird vintage roadside motel while still fitting into the whole travel theme of the wedding.

When I first started thinking about our seating chart, I had a vision: retro motel key tags. And after way too much designing, test printing, and assembling, I have officially brought that vision to life.

Instead of traditional table numbers, each of our tables is named after a location we’ve traveled to together. Every guest gets a personalized motel key tag with their name and table destination, and each table will have a vintage-style postcard from that location waiting for them.

I 3D printed 97 personalized tags in total.

Cost breakdown:
Filament: $45
Gold keychains: $8
Total: $53

Cost per escort card: about $0.55

I’m genuinely obsessed with how they turned out. I wanted them to feel like little souvenirs from some weird vintage roadside motel while still fitting into the whole travel theme of the wedding.

Somehow Canva continues to be doing 90% of the heavy lifting for this wedding.

Designed these in Canva, printed them at Staples, threw them into some gold frames, and now they’re going on wooden easels with smilax at the ceremony entrance.

At this point I’m convinced half this wedding is just me seeing if I can DIY literally everything before September.

Back in 2020 my now fiancé and I went to Disney World with our Winnie the Pooh and Christopher Robin inspired looks.

Somewhere along the way, our DIY wedding spiraled into me running what I’ve been jokingly calling a sweatshop in my basement.

We’re setting up a little roadside “gift shop” table for our guests, so I made a limited run of shirts in beige and sage with three designs:

• “I Got Silly at Evan & Alex’s Wedding”

• “I Got Feral at Evan & Alex’s Wedding”

• “Exclusive Commemorative Wedding T-Shirt”

Between the shirts and tote bags, I made around 40 pieces, and the whole project only cost about $70. I only made a few of each design because I thought it’d be a funny surprise for our guests.

Then my brain said, “You know what this needs? A Fall 2026 collection launch.”

So I dragged my niece and her boyfriend out for a video shoot and made a fake fashion campaign because apparently I don’t know how to have normal hobbies a month before my wedding.

Fun fact: I actually have a background in videography and editing (and after filming enough weddings, I’ve sworn I’ll never record another one again). So this was the perfect excuse to scratch that creative itch. I’ve got two much bigger video projects planned for the wedding itself, but this little “Fall Collection” campaign was way too much fun not to make.

DIY weddings have officially become my entire personality.

I have a little over a month until the wedding and apparently my brain has decided this is not the time to slow down on DIY projects.

Believe it or not, I actually talked myself out of building cornhole boards from scratch because I thought it would be too much work. Instead, I bought a blank set for about $80, sanded everything down, repainted them in Camelback and Olive Grove, and stenciled on “Evan & Alex Trading Co.” Which is a name that somehow popped into my head while I was sketching design ideas last week and immediately felt right.

I’m still debating whether to personalize the bean bags too… we’ll see if future me is feeling ambitious.

We’ll have these set up alongside a giant 5-foot Jenga set and, because we’re us, beer pong.

At this point my fingers are crossed that people have as much fun playing everything as I’ve had making it all.

I have a little over a month until the wedding and apparently my brain has decided this is not the time to slow down on DIY projects.

Believe it or not, I actually talked myself out of building cornhole boards from scratch because I thought it would be too much work. Instead, I bought a blank set for about $80, sanded everything down, repainted them in Camelback and Olive Grove, and stenciled on “Evan & Alex Trading Co.” Which is a name that somehow popped into my head while I was sketching design ideas last week and immediately felt right.

I’m still debating whether to personalize the bean bags too… we’ll see if future me is feeling ambitious.

We’ll have these set up alongside a giant 5-foot Jenga set and, because we’re us, beer pong.

At this point my fingers are crossed that people have as much fun playing everything as I’ve had making it all.

I was wandering around Michael’s awhile ago and came across this unfinished wooden sign board for $5. I had absolutely no plan for it, but figured I’d find a use eventually.

Last night inspiration finally struck.

I designed everything in Canva, cut stencils with my Cricut, and painted it this morning. By lunchtime it was finished.

Each slat marks a milestone in our relationship:

• 07/15/2020 – The day we matched
• 07/23/2020 – Our first date
• 09/19/2023 – The proposal
• 09/19/2026 – The wedding

If you don’t already know, we’re doing a vintage national park-inspired wedding, and I thought this would be a fun way to tell our story. I already had the paint so the sign itself only cost me the $5 board.

It’s becoming a running joke that I keep buying random pieces of wood without a plan… somehow they’ve all ended up becoming wedding décor. 😂

Today marks exactly two months until the big day.

This is also my last day at the “venue” until about a week before the wedding, which makes everything feel a little more real. It’s weird knowing that the next time I’m here, it’ll basically be go-time.

I spent today flying my drone around the property and taking photos so I could start planning the final layout. This shot is from the balcony of the house. If you zoom in, you can just make out the little orange flags marking where our 30’ × 90’ reception tent will go.

It’s funny, right now it’s just an empty field. In two months it’ll be filled with all of our family, friends, and almost a year’s worth of DIY projects. I can’t wait to see it all come together.

Hi, it’s me, the guy with the vintage National Park wedding. It’s been a minute.

A while back I made a post about how expensive vintage wine crates, trunks, luggage… basically everything I want to decorate with is.

Well, I’m back home dropping off some wedding stuff and we decided to stop by the local Goodwill. The cashier told us these had literally just come in today and even said he thought they were priced way too low.

I walked out with both of these vintage trunks for $17 total. One was $12 and the other was $5.
Moral of the story: don’t give up on thrift stores. Sometimes you just get ridiculously lucky. These are going to fit our wedding perfectly.

I wasn’t totally sure what I wanted to do for our wedding card box, but I knew I wanted something different from the glass boxes I’ve seen at a lot of weddings.

My first idea was to use an actual mailbox, but from what I found, using/owning a real postal mailbox gets legally weird, and honestly I was too lazy to build one from scratch. I also looked into buying one of those Santa-style mailboxes and repainting it, but they were surprisingly expensive.

Then I found this vintage-style Royal Mail postbox on Etsy from a shop in the UK and it fit our wedding vibe perfectly.

It was about $250, which is definitely not the cheapest option, but it was close to what some of the Santa mailboxes were going for. The nice part is that it’s not just a one-day wedding item. We’ve actually been using it as a mailbox for now, and we’ll keep using it after the wedding too.

So yes, technically it’s a card box… but also décor… but also a functional mailbox…

Would totally recommend looking for something reusable if you’re trying to justify a pricier wedding detail.

I came across a felt banner on Pinterest that I absolutely loved, so naturally I had to hunt down the artist and order a custom one for our wedding.

She’s based in Manchester and specializes in handmade custom banners, and the finished piece is even more beautiful than I expected. It was definitely one of our pricier splurges at around $300, but the quality is incredible and I know we’ll keep it forever. I can’t wait to hang it on our house after the wedding.

I did accidentally put my name first instead of Evan’s, but after planning and making approximately 900 wedding details, I’m allowing myself this one act of accidental narcissism. 😂

This happened almost three years ago, but the memory is fresh in my mind because our wedding is now just two months away.

Little background: I grew up loving Winnie the Pooh. I had the books, toys, clothes, and watched The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh constantly. I loved him so much that kids teased me for it, but apparently, I did not care. I even have one of the original Pooh illustrations tattooed on my thigh. I may not be as obsessed now, but Pooh still represents a part of myself I never want to lose.

Alright! Well, while traveling through Europe, my boyfriend told me he had a surprise planned during our time in England. I suspected a proposal, but I never could have guessed what he had arranged.

Before our flight out of Gatwick, he rented a car and drove us through little villages and into Ashdown Forest. When he told me it was the real Hundred Acre Wood. Like the actual place that inspired A.A. Milne! I immediately started crying and completely forgot about the possibility of a proposal.

We explored the forest, passing the homes of Piglet, Owl, Eeyore, and Pooh, and played Pooh Sticks on the bridge. Then he drove me to the Enchanted Place and the A.A. Milne Memorial, overlooking the forest.

As we sat holding hands, he told me this magical place inspired A.A. Milne to create a character I had always found magical, and that I was magical to him.

Then he quoted Pooh:

“If you live to be a hundred, I want to live to be a hundred minus one day, so I never have to live without you.”

His voice cracked as he reached into his jacket, pulled out a ring, and asked me to marry him.

I shouted yes through tears.

The ring was black titanium with hickory wood inside, chosen because the hickory came from the town where I was born.

It was one thoughtful surprise after another, and the care he put into every detail is exactly why I love him. Three years later, I still think it was the best proposal I have ever heard, and in two months, I get to marry him on the exact day he asked me to marry him.

I wanted those beautiful old vintage wine crates for the wedding, but apparently authentic-looking wooden boxes cost approximately one human kidney.

So I grabbed a few unfinished crates from Michael’s and decided to see what I could come up with instead. Over three days, I painted them brown, sanded them down to make the finish look worn, created a custom “Evan & Alex Trading Co.” stencil with my Cricut, and painted the logo onto each crate.

They are not genuinely vintage, but once they are stacked and styled with the rest of the wedding décor, I think they will give me the same general look without the vintage-crate price tag. I’m honestly pretty happy with how weathered and imperfect they turned out.

For the cost breakdown: I did have to buy an extra gallon of brown paint for another project beforehand, which was $24, but I had plenty left for these. The gray paint for the logos was already lying around, and I bought the crates on sale a while back for $5 each, so the actual cost per crate was still pretty low.

I wanted those beautiful old vintage wine crates for the wedding, but apparently authentic-looking wooden boxes cost approximately one human kidney.

So I grabbed a few unfinished crates from Michael’s and decided to see what I could come up with instead. Over three days, I painted them brown, sanded them down to make the finish look worn, created a custom “Evan & Alex Trading Co.” stencil with my Cricut, and painted the logo onto each crate.

They are not genuinely vintage, but once they are stacked and styled with the rest of the wedding décor, I think they will give me the same general look without the vintage-crate price tag. I’m honestly pretty happy with how weathered and imperfect they turned out.

I had to take down my ceremony program post because I accidentally forgot to censor one tiny piece of information, but I reposted it to my profile for anyone who still wants to see it!

I’ve said this before, but one of my favorite parts of this wedding is that it brings together people from completely different chapters of both of our lives. Since many of our guests have never met, I wanted to give everyone an easy excuse to mingle without forcing some painfully awkward organized icebreaker.

Enter: Find the Guest Bingo.

I originally saw the idea on Pinterest and found several templates on Etsy, but once I looked at them, I realized it would be incredibly easy to design my own and save a few bucks. Guests will walk around and find someone who matches each clue, then have that person initial the square. The first person to get five in a row wins! What do they win you ask? The most valuable prize of all, friendship!

They only took me about an hour or so to design. They were also basically free because I printed them on leftover paper from our invitation inserts. The only thing that was pricey were the personalized golf pencils, but those were $98 for 100 💀

Edit:
Apparently this piece of paper has become wildly controversial. Participation is completely optional, anyone who doesn’t want to play is free to simply… not play. The rest of us will bravely carry on. 😂

Kind of waiting for this to show up on r/subredditdrama

I had to take down my ceremony program post because I accidentally forgot to censor one tiny piece of information, but I have this!

I’ve said this before, but one of my favorite parts of this wedding is that it brings together people from completely different chapters of both of our lives. Since many of our guests have never met, I wanted to give everyone an easy excuse to mingle without forcing some painfully awkward organized icebreaker.

Enter: Find the Guest Bingo.

I originally saw the idea on Pinterest and found several templates on Etsy, but once I looked at them, I realized it would be incredibly easy to design my own and save a few bucks. Guests will walk around and find someone who matches each clue, then have that person initial the square. The first person to get five in a row wins! What do they win you ask? The most valuable prize of all, friendship!

They only took me about an hour or so to design. They were also basically free because I printed them on leftover paper from our invitation inserts. The only thing that was pricey were the personalized golf pencils, but those were $98 for 100 💀

I’m over on the wedding side of Reddit and didn’t even think to post this on the actual subreddit for Cricut crafts!

I wanted our invitations to feel like a little vintage road trip/national park keepsake, so I decided to make them all myself from scratch.

Was this a sane choice? Debatable.
Did I become emotionally attached to tiny paper mountains? Absolutely.

My wedding is all DIY so this Cricut is definitely getting a workout!