Weddingbee Blog

Late last week, I sprained my ankle pretty badly. I had X-rays taken, and it wasn’t broken, but as everyone has told me since then, “you know… sprains hurt worse than a break.” Um… this I know. So, last weekend I wasn’t really able to go anywhere. Not even to the Bucks game with Mr. French Fries like we had planned (where he saw Michael freaking Jordan). So, I had a lot of time on my hands… and I’m happy to report that I put it to good use! I finally finished our church pew pomanders — all 16 of them.

If you’ll recall, I did some calculations and figured out that I needed 8 pomanders on a side, if I skip every other pew (there are 15 pews on each side of the aisle). Perhaps an illustration of this would work a bit better?

It’s okay if you’re jealous of my awesome MS Paint skills. Right.

The poms will be hung on every other pew, starting from the pew closest to the entrance doors at the back of the church. Since we’re doing various shades of pink for our wedding colors I decided to incorporate 4 different colors of tulle for the poms, and hang them color-gradient style on the pews. So, the ones in the back of the church will be the darkest color pink: fuchsia colored tulle. The next lighter color of bubblegum pink will follow, then a light pink, and finally white closest to the altar. I made 4 poms with each color of tulle, so the order will be 2 fuchsia, 2 bubblegum, 2 light pink, and then 2 white.

Phew. Enough words, hey? Here’s some pictures of how they actually turned out (all pictures from my own collection):

This picture shows each of the colors I used. (From upper right, clockwise: white, light pink, bubblegum pink, and fuchsia. ) The light pink is actually a tinge darker than it appears in this picture. Also, the fuchsia is more pink-ish and less red-ish than this picture shows.

I also thought I would show you how they look all lined up… but I lack church pews. So, necessity being the mother of invention and all of that, I decided to use our dining room table chairs. You get the idea.

I think they turned out really well! I can’t wait to see what they will look like all lined up on the pews in the church, and now that I’m done with them… I’m really glad I decided to do this project. I originally thought that I would do tissue paper pomanders for the wedding, but after trying unsuccessfully to make trial-run poms for MOH French Fries baby shower, I knew I needed another idea. I tore almost every single piece of tissue paper when I tried to fluff it, and they looked kind of sickly. Tulle was the perfect alternative for me, since it doesn’t tear nearly as easily as tissue paper does. Also, I was able to make these well in advance of the wedding because I wasn’t worried about tissue paper crumpling or crushing while in storage.

I also wanted to share some hints and tips (and a cost breakdown) for anyone deciding to make tulle poms for their wedding. (Mrs. Beagle posted a really good tutorial if you’re looking for specific directions.) First things first… make sure you buy the right size Styrofoam balls. I started out with 6”, but after a long afternoon and a pomander bigger than a volleyball (and my head) I decided that 4” would probably work a little bit better. It’s a little confusing, since when you’re in the store the Styrofoam balls will seem so tiny… but trust. They’ll turn out the right size when you add all of the tulle flowers. To illustrate…

…a finished pomander is on the left, and the size Styrofoam ball that I started out with is on the right. So, make sure you save yourself time and hassle – buy the 4” balls!

Second, I started making my poms using good old-fashioned scissors and a tape measure to cut my 5″ strips of tulle. This worked just fine, and you really don’t need additional tools to make these, but I invested in a rotary cutter, cutting mat, and fabric ruler. This sped things up exponentially. I’m getting double use out of these items, as I’m using them for both the pomanders and my fabric napkins, but I found them really helpful for this project.

Finally, I would suggest that you do all of one thing at a time –cutting all of the tulle strips first, followed by assembling all of your tulle flowers, and finally sticking them into the Styrofoam ball. Personally, I work faster if I’m doing the same task over and over, rather than switching gears every 2 seconds. These take awhile, so if you can save time, I highly suggest it!