Weddingbee Blog

Hive…I come here with my head hanging in shame, and OK.. maybe I’m also blushing a little about the horrible fail that my was my first DIY wedding project. It’s so bad that I don’t even have any photos to share…and I’m not exaggerating—it was that bad.

So…here it goes. If you’re on Pinterest, or browsing any wedding blogs in the whole wide world, then you’ve seen these “Be my maid?” boxes that the fabulous Bethany from Rinse. Repeat. made.

Image via Rinse. Repeat. / And the lovely Bethany gives instructions on how to make these gorgeous “Be my maid?” boxes!

Anyway, when I saw these boxes, I was head over heels. Not only are the boxes themselves wonderful keepsakes for the girls to enjoy, but they’re also a great way to communicate all the important details to the girls and give them a little gift.

Now, when I ventured out to do this project, I had already told two of my girls that they would be in the wedding. In fact, I asked one over the phone and got caged into a box by the other and had to give in and tell her she was in the wedding. Let me just admit it now—I’m bad at keeping secrets.

So anyway, setting out to do this project, I went to my local Hobby Lobby and started hunting for boxes. And found out that I wasn’t going to get wooden boxes because there were only TWO of the variety I wanted. Now, I’m really bad at math, but TWO boxes and FOUR bridesmaids? Nope, not gonna work. Since the whole thing was a DIY project anyway, I decided to go with cardboard boxes. Victorious in my quest for supplies, I marched out of Hobby Lobby and went home to start painting them right away.

And that’s when things went horribly awry. See, what I learned the hard way is that cardboard boxes are definitely not the same as wooden boxes and they didn’t soak up the paint the way I wanted them to. They also showed each and every brush stroke. Great. As I sat on the floor angry and bitter about my failed DIY (because I was too lazy to go across town to Michaels—I admit it), Mr. Otter came in and asked what the problem with the boxes was. He laughed but ultimately agreed with me that this project was just a horrible fail…and was nice enough to throw away the now horrendously painted boxes.

Thankfully, I was able to return the rest of my supplies, but I was at an impasse. What to get these girls, all four of whom are very different, both in personalities and ages? Well…I ended up taking the easy way out and getting them necklaces from Etsy.

Image via Etsy seller, moncadeau

I know a lot of people intend to DIY a lot of things for their wedding, but I’m not sure that after this horrible fail I can be one of them. What about you? After one DIY fail, would you try again or just move on?