Weddingbee Blog

Having an image of a wedding gown on a special hanger seems to be a staple for wedding photography these days. Wedding blogs are full of beautiful pictures of wedding gowns hanging in quiet elegance, waiting for their owners to put them on. No matter how many of those images I see, I love them. A photographer I know likes the pictures so much that she brings a nice hanger to every wedding just in case the bride doesn’t have one for her dress shots.

I decided to step things up a notch and make hangers for my dress and my bridesmaids’ dresses. I dabbled in jewelry making a while back and thought I had the tools needed to bend some wire. After looking at different Etsy listings for inspiration, I realized that there is tremendous potential for these things turn out poorly. I decided that I might not be skilled enough to make this and have them be as beautiful as the ones I have seen in pictures.

From United With Love blog / Photo by Elisa Bricker of Elisa B Photography

I decided to do a hybrid DIY project.

Lila Frances, the creator of the personalized wire hanger, has started selling wires separate from hangers. I figured I would order the wires from her shop and pop them into hangers myself. Complete hangers usually run $27, but the wires are only $17.

I happened to order during Lila Frances’ busy season, so I waited 13 weeks for my wires. I picked up one package of wooden hangers from Bed, Bath & Beyond ($6 with one of those ubiquitous 20% off coupons) and I was ready to complete the project.

Here’s what I did:

1. I had Mr. Mink use his muscles to clip the wires that were already attached to the hangers. One clip in the middle allowed me to twist each side out of the hole in the bottom of the hanger. I then taped the two sides together to use as a template for the personalized wire.

Photo by Miss Mink

2. By laying the original hanger wire over the personalized one, I was able to mark where I would need to bend the straight sides to fit into the hanger.

Photo by Miss Mink

3. Here’s where I was a little nervous. I used needle nosed pliers to bend each side of the personalized wire to the right shape.

Photo by Miss Mink

4. Lastly, I had to clip the excess wire so the personalized wire would fit into the hanger exactly as the original had.

Relief! I didn’t ruin the wire! / Photo by Miss Mink

I couldn’t resist taking a picture of the hangers with my bridesmaids’ dresses. I was so excited with how they turned out!

I liked the results, but I decided to paint the hangers after looking at that picture. I put a few coats of creamy, white paint from the “oops paint” rack at the hardware store onto each hanger, then added a clear poly coat.

Painting the hangers / Photo by Miss Mink

I’ll let the final pictures wait until the hangers are actually in use on the big day.

I’m really glad I recognized my limitations and bought the wires. I have a feeling I would have been very frustrated if I tried to make these completely on my own.

Did you abandon any DIY projects? Did you do any hybrid-DIYs like this?