After doing my own wedding, a dear friend of mine asked me to help her with some minor wedding reception decor and favors. I was much obliged to help her enhance the wine theme that she had begun working on. Enophilia was already a big part of Monica and Bret’s lives together, as they had made many a memory at vineyard and wineries across the country, were active members of quite a few wine clubs, and had even gotten engaged at Stonehouse Vineyard near Austin, Texas. She hoped to share their love of wine with their wedding guests, and I would happily help her make that happen.
I crafted 220 wine cork magnets for their wedding favors. Half were adorned with Forget-Me-Nots, and half with Marigolds. I used a Swiss army knife blade to core about a half inch into the corks. I then glued the corks to high magnetic strength ceramic magnet discs with E6000 adhesive, and let them dry overnight. Finally, I glued a flower (or small bunch of flowers) plus one leaf into each of the corks, and let them dry overnight.
The gorgeous vineyard where Monica and Bret got engaged was gracious enough to send some unused wine labels for us to use for the table number signs. They sent five different wine labels that I was able to divide among the table signs in groups. I bought gold paisley scrapbook paper from Hobby Lobby and tri-folded them at the 3.5″ mark, 7″ mark, and 10.5″ mark (with a 1.5″ lip for taping). I put a wine label on each of the three sides on each of the 20 table numbers, and used vinyl stickers for the numbers (also on each of the three sides).
I also made a cork board that would double as a table number assignment board and as a wedding present for the bride and groom. I purchased an open frame from Hobby Lobby, cut a pegboard to fit, then used a glue gun to cover the entire board with a lattice of corks. For anyone trying this at home, I recommend first gluing the corks together in pairs, as not all corks are created equally (in height, specifically). I covered the back of the frame with thick wrapping paper, just for aesthetics. I printed the guests on gold vellum paper, adorned each sheet with a wine label, and cut the edges with decorative edge scrapbook scissors. These were arranged on the cork board and affixed each table sheet with upholstery nails, which would be used as decorative “thumb tacks” in their home.
The wedding reception venue, the Parador in Houston, allowed candles. So I crafted cork votive candles that could also be used after the wedding. I purchased two dozen votive candles, cut corks from Stonehouse Vineyards longways, and glued them to the candles with E6000 glue. I held the corks in place with hair bands and let them dry overnight. I then replaced the hairbands with elastic ribbon for a pop of color. I also added cork scrapbook paper with an adhesive side to the bottom of the votives to protect the tables from heat or glass.
Monica purchased two dozen disposable cameras, and I made instructional labels for the cameras with leftover vellum paper from the table assignments. I used thin ribbon to affix the labels to the cameras.
My part was but a small one in Monica and Bret’s beautiful wedding reception, but I was very pleased with how everything came together. Cheers to you, Monica and Bret!