I hope readers looking for renovation posts will indulge me this week as I continue the wedding talk. But before you can say "I don't care about weddings" - have a read and hopefully this post will sate your DIY-thirst!

I've blogged about it before, so I'll just mention this first project briefly. This is our cardhouse - a house for the monetary gifts our guests were kind enough to give us :) HandyMan and I combined our design talents to come up with this modern interpretation. It served its purpose well and the only thing left to do is find a place to display it in our house. I think its too pretty to sit in a cupboard gathering dust!

Our wedding took place in August and we had an outdoor ceremony so I wanted to be sure our guests wouldn't wilt in the heat. We had some sandalwood fans available which we bought in the local Chinatown. I wrapped the ends with wrapping paper from Paper Source and attached coordinating ribbons. 

After the ceremony, the guests walked over to the tent area for cocktails. On the way, they were greeted by servers with cold "oshibori", those wet towels you often see in Japanese restaurants. We bought ours from The Oshibori Company in a yummy peach mango scent. It was a great way to help our guests freshen up after sitting in the sun!

They were a HUGE hit :) I also put together kits for my two bridesmaids containing the jewellry I had designed especially for them, personalized stationary, and a cute retro Old Navy one piece to wear the morning of the wedding as we got our hair and makeup done (I'm such a girl ;o) ).


Speaking of being a girl, I'm sure only my female guests noticed my next DIY. For my "something blue", I dyed my crinoline. All it took was a package of Rit Dye and my washing machine. I loved how it peeked out when we did our first dance.
And last but not least, this was our biggest DIY project... the bamboo arch. Our wedding reception was held in a very gothic, very grand room... think Hogwarts School of Wizardry! With ornate chandeliers, long wooden tables, stone towers, and high wood-panelled walls, how to create the "Asian contemporary" mood I was after?? With an eight-foot high green bamboo arch is how!



HandyMan and I started with three bamboo ladders from chinatown. We screwed them together and added some braces so the arch would stand upright. Then we spraypainted the entire thing a vibrant lime green and added little hooks on the top horizontal ladder. 

Hanging off the hooks, suspended off of clear fishing wire, were about 300 individual capiz shells. Kids, don't try this at home - it took us a good 7 hours to string all those shells :o\ Our florist interspersed orchid heads in the capiz curtain and added some spectacular arrangements on top.

And that was the DIY. Tune in for the last installment of Wedding Week and see how we pulled it all together.