DIY Project #3: K & R

Painted K, Naked R

My final DIY wedding project was our initials, K & R. Because RZ & I branded everything from the spot in the sand where he proposed to our wedding invitations with our initials, I wanted to continue the theme at our wedding reception. I picked out the perfect spot for our initials on a site visit at Hyatt on the Hudson: our guest book table. The guest book table would be against the wall & the letters would add a bit of height & personality. After the wedding, we could hang the letters in our home as a wedding memento. Now all I needed was to complete the project!

K & R in Progress

This DIY project was the quickest & easiest. I bought two wooden letters, one ampersand, two bottles of ivory paint & one bottle of mocha paint at AC Moore. I briefly considered painting the ampersand purple because I had added touches of purple, like the bridesmaid dresses, throughout the celebration. In the end, I went with mocha for the simple reason that it would look best in our living room when the wedding was said & done. I took my supplies home & painted the K & R with about five coats of paint over a period of a few days. I applied the final coat of paint the night before the wedding :-)

The snag was the guest book table wasn't placed against the wall as the catering manager had told me. I went through three catering managers at Hyatt on the Hudson &, unfortunately, the second one who led me on a site tour may not have known everything about the cocktail hour set-up. It never occurred to me to confirm the guest book table placement with my third, final & best Hyatt contact. At our wedding, the guest book table was placed in an excellent position near the ballroom entrance- just not against a wall. I hadn't bought letters that could stand on their own so the initials were awkwardly propped up somehow on the table. For a fleeting moment as I entered the ballroom & noticed the table, I considered putting on my wedding planner hat & trying to fix the problem, then realized it wasn't a big deal. At all.

K & R in our home today

For the record, as you can see above, our initials look just right on our living room wall!

E-Session Results

"What are you going to do with a bunch of photos of yourselves?" asked a fellow Bride-to-be when I told her we were having an engagement photography session. I didn't have an exact plan. What I did have were my reasons for wanting an e-session:

1. RZ & I always try to have a nice photo taken of ourselves when we go glam for a wedding. Usually, we fail. In our last attempt, we looked great . . . as we posed in front of someone's car.

2. RZ & I were alone on a winter beach in the Hamptons when we got engaged. We took a few self-portraits but we have no official engagement photographs of us. This is a special time we want to remember.

So we had our e-session out & about in Hoboken with our photographer, Tim of TGP. Despite his camera-shy subjects, Tim captured countless fabulous photos. First things first, we framed some in our home. Here's one of our favorite photos hanging in our hallway:


Here's a grouping of our favorite photos displayed in our living room:


And that was that for our e-session photographs. Until Tim suggested using our engagement photos to create a personalized guest book. Well, well. No blank cream pages for us. Colorful, creative layouts of our favorite engagement photos instead. Our photos + our guests' notes = a very special keepsake. Good idea!

Our guest book arrived last week & we are beyond thrilled. Take a look & see if you agree:




Isn't it lovely?

Happy Weekend!!!