Weddingbee Blog

I don’t know if anyone’s noticed this but when it comes to DIY projects, I’m all about K.I.S.S.

As in, Keep It Simple, Stupid! I lack the crafting skills of say, Miss Hot Wings or Miss Cola. They (along with many many other bees and many of you lovely readers) are ridiculously talented. I, on the other hand, am not. I know my limits and most of the time, my desire to craft requires simple projects in order to keep everything from looking like a 5-year-old had a hand in making it.

Literally, every single one of my DIY projects have been blessedly simple. Drink flags, paper flowers, signage, favors, none with more than 5 steps at the most. Yes, while I have not been gifted with craft talent, I am at least smart enough to figure out ways to simplify things so I can make ’em work.

Thus, our programs were born, and in keeping with the mantra of K.I.S.S., they are short, simple and sweet.

First, I had to figure out the content. After meeting with our Rabbi and figuring out an order of events, I simply listed the order of the ceremony on one page, along with an explanation of Jewish wedding traditions below and on the other page, put the list of the major players (bridal party, Rabbi, etc.).

And that’s all that’s going in them. Is that bad? Oh well, I just figured that was all the information guests would be interested in. Thinking about it now, it would’ve been nice to include a sentence or two from Mr Trail Mix and me welcoming everyone, thanking them for being here and wishing those who were no longer with us could be there. Ooooops, too late now! Plus, I had no space to put anything like that…

Let’s take a look at how I created them…

I ordered several packs of 5″x7″ card stock in cream on sale from Paper Source (which seems to be the major player in wedding paper craft supplies) as well as lots of beautiful 8″x11″ card stock in Pool. Other materials used include a 1/8″ hole puncher, raffia and glue dots:

(Personal Photo)

First, I printed out both pages of the program on the 5″x7″ cardstock. This sounds simple but it actually took me a while to do since I not so good at that there computer schhtuff! Apparently, you need to tell the printer what size paper you’re using. It took me some time to make the computer and printer listen to me but they finally behaved and turned out this:

(Personal Photo)

Here’s a shot of the dahlia image at the top that I found just by Googling “Dahlia clip art” under Google images.

(Personal Photo)

I attached glue dots to the back of one of the printed-out cards and eyeballed it into one corner of the 8″ x 11″ paper, leaving about a 3/4″ margin of blue on all sides. Then I used my handy-dandy annoying, worthless, misbehaving, can’t-cut-straight-to-save-it’s-life paper cutter to somehow trim two of the edges.

(Personal Photo)

Once it was all nicely cut out, I glue-dotted the other page of the program to the back and punched out two small holes at the top.

(Personal Photo)

I looped a short piece of raffia through the two holes, tied it in a nice knot, and voila! One stupidly simple program!

(Personal Photo)

(Personal Photo)

I then got really wild and made a few in yellow as well…

(Personal Photo)

Aren’t they so sweet? Pretty easy and cost-effective as well, which makes these the perfect type of program for those of us not talented enough to attempt such complicated crafts like the accordion program a la Miss Cupcake or the circle program a la Miss Cheeseburger.

Here’s a question for you all: How many of these should I make if we’re expecting 175 guests? There’s no way I’m doing 175, as three separate co-workers all said they had tons of leftover programs at their weddings when they made one per person. Do you have any suggestions?

I’ve made about 15 so far and was planning on making about 100, so I suppose that means I only have 85 left to go… good thing I’ve still got some time until the wedding!

Are you a K.I.S.S. crafter or a real crafter? Are your programs simple or complex?