image: Message in a bottle

Here’s a super cute table number idea that was inspired by a restaurant that had something like it on their tables.  All you  need are some tin cans, paint, and a drill… Aren’t they cute? Inexpensive, recycled, and they double as candle holders, too!

Over at 2000 Dollar Budget Wedding, they’ve created vases using recycled wine bottles.  These were inspired, in part, by the transparent, subtle quality of glass and the muted variety of colors found in wine bottles. You can find the how to here! Aren’t they pretty?

Here’s a brilliant idea for a shabby chic garden wedding.  You can create lovely,one-of-a-kind napkins, table linens, and runners using vintage bedsheets!  Cheap, and best part: no sewing involved!  Simply cut them to size with pinking sheers. From A Backyard Wedding, via Intimate Weddings.

More ways of recycling cans… you can paint them or cover them with shiny contact paper, and use them to package edible wedding favors (get the how-to here!). Or you can just clean them thoroughly and leave as they are, tying some ribbon or raffia around the can and filling with flowers for a sweet centerpiece!

If you are truly eco-friendly, you can use your cans as planters, so that they plants can be taken home and re-planted in your (and your guests’) backyards. At Project Wedding, they used these can planters as both centerpieces and favors!

One popular wedding reception decor idea is using old furniture pieces like shuttered windows, antique dressers, and coffee tables as part of a display. Think about the area you want to set out place cards, a buffet table, or vintage photo booth. This white glass window display, trimmed with a little greenery, pulls off the trend magnificently.

A similar idea was used by Candace and Jared, featured on Project Wedding:

Using an old window to display photos of loved ones gives a new meaning to the words “window frame”! Photo from Weddings by Color:

An old door is a rustic choice for posting seating cards(photos from Libby James and Wedding by Color:

Another good use for vintage doors- they’re too pretty not to do something with– is to set them up at entrance to the reception, like this whimsical garden themed wedding, where guests pass through, underneath a swarm of fluttering paper butterflies. Check out the other vintage furniture they used, including an old bed headboard and dresser. Photo from Lang Photographers via Ruffled.

Guests laughing: Photo from Sweet Caroline Photos

But wouldn’t it be nice to really hit it off with this table-full of strangers, to get to know them a bit better and enjoy their company, and the wedding, that much more? That’s where the “wedding ice breaker” comes into play! If you’re planning a wedding, wouldn’t you rather see your guest comfortably chatting away, rather than stuck in awkward chit chat?

Here are some ideas to get you fired up! Your guests will love them!

Guess who!

Although this one is time consuming to prepare, it’s great fun (especially if you’re from California, like I am)!  Put pictures of celebrities that look like the guest on their place card. You can turn it into a game like the popular kids game of the same name. However you play it, it’s sure to get  the guests around the table talking, like it did at the wedding Nicky, from Cheap Wedding Success, attended.  Her celeb look-a-like was Natalie Portman.  How complementary!

Fun Facts

There are a few ways you can play this game. Here are some options, but you can work it any way you’d like to!

• Write an interesting fact about each person on their neighbor’s place card. For example, “Marcy is a brilliant mathematician who enjoys Salsa dancing on the weekends.” With these snippets of information, you’ll definitely provide enough material to strike up a conversation between your guests.
• Write 3 facts about each guest on their placecard. 2 are truth and 1 is not. The other guests at the table have to guess which fact is NOT true. (If you don’t have enough interesting facts about each guest, you could ask them to provide a couple on the RSVP.)
• Provide a list of questions starting with, “Have you ever…” and have the guests go around the table asking each other these questions.
• Cootie catchers (paper fortune tellers) are cute ways to ask questions and glean interesting facts from each guest.

Penny for Your Thoughts

Get cute little favor boxes like the one below and put a few coins inside (2000 Dollar Wedding suggests looking in collectors’ shops and online for vintage coins). Each guest opens his or her favor box, then shares with the table an important event that corresponds to the year on each coin (e.g., “In 1996, I was named best-dressed in high school”).

photo via Martha Stewart Wedding

Jelly Belly Game

Games centering around food are always a blast! This game was invented by I Love Weddings and is sure to be a hit with your guests! Jelly Belly jelly beans come in a variety of delicious and interesting flavors, such as root beer, orange sherbet, pina colada, buttered popcorn, etc. Each table gets a number of different flavored beans, and the guests need to taste each one to figure out what the flavor is.  The table that gets the most flavors right wins!

Fortune Fish

Are you independent? Are you fickle? Are you in love? See what the Fortune Telling Fish has to say about you! Little winter bride thought the fortune fish would be the perfect creative ice breaker to spark conversation. “And guess what?” she says, “It worked! Everyone LOVED it! it was hilarious.”

Do you have any creative ideas for fun and funny wedding ice breakers? Please share them with us in the comment section below!

Whether it’s wedding or bridal shower invitations, place cards, wedding favors, or thank you cards, consider using rubber stamps on your home-made creation. There is an incredible array of options ranging from classic to whimsical, that will put the perfect finishing touch on your handiwork. Plus, they’re adorable, easy to use and loads of fun!

These tips are from About.com. Check out their site for more info:

Getting started: For inspiration, look through rubber-stamping and card-making magazines, and visit craft stores to look at paper and cardstock first hand. These will provide plenty of inspiration. Remember that greeting card layouts are simple to adapt, therefore a great birthday card layout, for instance, could be adapted to make a great wedding invitation. Make a note of fonts, type faces, and color choices as this will help when choosing or commissioning rubber stamps.

Follow the theme: Pick rubber stamps, inks, papers, and other materials that match or complement your wedding design theme and colors.

Customize: Many companies offer customized rubber stamps that can be personalized with your names and/or design. The design department will work with you to craft an image you love, or you can use a design of your own!

But the best materials: This means looking for products that are of archival quality and that are acid free. Your invitation will look good longer, even after years in your scrapbook! Good supplies are readily available from stamping and craft stores and are becoming very much the standard offering, so it doesn’t have to be expensive. But good quality rubber stamps too, for clear and crisp images.

Practice makes perfect: While it might be extremely tempting to start work straight away creating invitations, it is useful to practice on scrap paper with unfamiliar products first. This will help to avoid any costly mistakes or problems later on.

Envelopes: Your invitations might look fabulous studded with embellishments and adornments, but it does have to fit into the envelope! While it is possible to buy or make small card-sized boxes for heavily adorned cards, they will cost more to produce and send. Make sure you’re cards are not too bulky.

Include Basic Info: They’re going to look great, but don’t forget that the invitation must convey some important information. It is possible to buy rubber stamps that include these headings and then handwriting the relevant information. Alternatives include creating a rubber stamp with all the information or printing theses details from your home computer.

• The names of the couple
• The date of the wedding
• The location and time of the wedding
• The location and time of the reception.
• How to reply

Plan ahead: Make a few spare invitations in case some get lost in the post, or for last minute guests. Plan ahead, particularly when commissioning stamps. Stamping when stressed is not likely to give the best results!

The following delightful stamp images are available at Impress Rubber Stamps:

Check out their “wedding ideas” page for amazingly creative invitations and cards such as this one (bridal shower stamp for sale too):

You can also look at Blossom Stamps on Etsy for unique stamps, stickers, and one-of-a-kind hand carved stamps:

Addicted to Rubber Stamps has some cute bride-themed stamp sets:

From Blockhead Stamps, some gorgeous stamp sets, particularly if you like an Asian theme:

Some pretty finished products, including invitations, place cards, and wedding favors: