Weddingbee Blog

…our DIY drink stand. Out of all of our DIY projects, the drink stand is definitely the most offbeat and hipster-esque.

Here’s the back story. Soon after we got engaged, while Mama Wallaby was visiting us in Houston, she and I picked up a bottle of wine at the grocery store to drink with dinner. When we returned to my apartment, she was surprised to find that I don’t own a single wine glass. Neither does Mr. Wallaby. When we enjoy a glass of wine, we keep it classy and drink out of either A) coffee mugs or B) water glasses. We don’t drink too often—and we both prefer beer over wine—so I had always had this thought at the back of my head that we would pick up a case of wine glasses the next time we’re at Ikea. Or that we would register for proper barware. We love to entertain, so it’s probably time we stocked up on glassware.

Later that weekend, Mama Wallaby and I were reviewing the wedding budget, and we reached the section for drinks and bar essentials. Since our venue doesn’t have a liquor license, we hired our own bartenders and we had to bring everything alcohol related—even the glassware. So I had made a line item in the budget for renting beer, wine, and martini glasses. Mama Wallaby was shocked at how expensive glass rental is in this area—wine and champagne glasses are running at around 90 cents a glass!

Remembering that Mr. W and I have no fancy glassware to our names, Mama Wallaby suggested that we purchase our own glasses for the wedding. She and I did a quick search on Craigslist and in moments found a lot of 80 champagne glasses being offered for $25. We realized that we could save a lot of money by buying rather than renting. Also (also!) Mama Wallaby remembered seeing a display of pretty mismatched glasses that I had pinned on Pinterest. Here’s the photo she was referring to:

Photo by Marianne Wilson / Image via Style Me Pretty

For that wedding, the groom hand-crafted a tiered wooden stand to hold all of the vintage wine glasses and beer steins. Awww! Who doesn’t love when grooms get involved in the wedding DIY projects (especially with projects that require power tools! )? The couple collected the glasses from thrift stores over the year that they were engaged, and they let their guests take home their glasses at the end of the night. Here’s a closeup of some of the cool old glasses they picked up:

Photo by Marianne Wilson / Image via Style Me Pretty

You can guess what happened next. Mama Wallaby and I set out to purchase all of the lightly used champagne glasses and pretty vintage wine goblets in Houston, and Mr. W and I constructed a three-tiered wooden stand for all of the glasses. Well, Mr. W did most of the work. I helped hold pieces of wood in place while he worked and complimented his manly building skillz.

Mr. W assembling the tiered glass stand / Personal photo

The tiered stand, almost complete / Personal photo

Testing out our new drink stand! / Personal photo

All that remained was to paint the stand white. And my new-found collection of mismatched glasses (including some very cool colorful vintage goblets!) was all packed up in boxes and ready to be driven to the venue the weekend of the wedding. So there it is…the project that definitely earns the hipster award at our wedding. We’ve even dreamed up a use for the stand after the wedding: we’re going to use it as a decoration on the back patio and arrange potted herbs and flowers on the three tiers.

What is your most offbeat DIY project? Are Mr. W and I crazy for buying all of the glassware for our wedding?