Craft Guide: Make-it-Yourself Wedding Program Favors

Wedding programs are all the rage these days. They are great mementos for your guests to keep and remember your special day. However, they can be very expensive if you have them printed. But you can make them yourself for a lot less and give them that personal touch. Here is a simple yet elegant program you can make yourself. Keep in mind that you can change your supply list to fit your style and budget. But remember that many people are scrapbookers these days so you should use acid free materials as much as you can.

I also find that many people appreciate it when you send a photo of the new couple along with the thank you card after the wedding so that they can put the photo in their scrapbook along with other keepsakes from the wedding.

To make 100 Wedding Ceremony Programs you will need:

2 pkg (25 sheets each) of 12 x 12 Bazzill Bling Black Tie Cardstock #T18-1003

5 sheets of 12 x 12 Bazzill Bling Glass Slipper (white) Cardstock #T18-1001

5 sheets of 12 x 12 Bazzill Bling Tiara (grey) Cardstock #T18-1002

5 rolls (10 yards each) of Hobby Lobby Wedding Ribbon #925016

1 - .5 oz bottle of Stickles by Ranger Silver Glitter Glue

Sizzix Sizzlits "Rings" Die and Sizzix Die Cut Machine

White colored pencil

Circle Hole punch

Paper Cutter

1 Acid Free Glue stick

200 sheets of copy paper or fancy paper 8 ½ x 11 inches (You may need more paper depending on how many pages of information you have and the font size you use. 1 sheet makes 2 pages for the booklet.)

Computer, Printer and Black Ink Cartridge

1. Cut all 50 sheets of Black Tie Cardstock in half with paper cutter. You should end up with 100 - 6 x 12 sheets. Fold each sheet in half. This is the cover to your program.

2. Take 1 of the covers with the fold on your left. Starting at the top left corner of the cover, measure a ½ inch in from the fold on the top left corner and 1 inch down from the top, mark it with a dot with your white pencil.

3. Mark ½ inch in from the fold on the bottom left corner and 1 inch up from the bottom and mark it with a dot with your white pencil.

4. Punch out holes for your ribbon where you marked your paper. Make sure the holes go through the front and back of the cover.

5. Use this as a guide to punch holes in the rest of your covers.

6. Cut a strip of ribbon 18" long, use this as a guide and cut 99 more strips.

7. Punch out 100 ring die cuts from the white (Glass Slipper) Cardstock and 100 ring die cuts from the grey (Tiara) Cardstock. (If you don't have a Sizzix machine you can purchase a hand punch in a similar shape.)

8. Take 1 ring die cut from each color. Cut the large diamond from the white ring. Punch out the pre-cut miniature circles from the grey ring. Using your glue stick, cover the white ring with glue. Piece the grey ring over the white. With the glue stick, put glue on the large diamond on the grey ring and piece the white diamond you cut on top of the grey one.

9. Place a dot of glitter glue in all the small white circles showing and on top of the large diamond. Set aside to dry.

10. Repeat steps 8 and 9 until you have 100 rings pieced together and embellished with glitter glue. Once glitter is dry, use the glue stick and glue one ring on each of the covers.

11. Cut the 200 pages of copy paper in half to make 400 sheets of 5 ½ x 8 ½ inch paper. Then cut 3 inches off the length to get 5 ½ x 5 ½ inch sheets.

12. Using your computer, open a word-publishing program like Microsoft Word and set printer for paper size 5 ½ x 5 ½ inch paper. Load paper in printer tray. Suggested margin sizes: left 1", right .25", top .25", bottom .25"

13. Choose a font and type in the information you would like to share with your guests. I have included a list below of information commonly found in wedding programs. The amount of paper in the supply list is for 4 sheets per book. You may need to add more sheets if you find that you have more than 4 pages of printed text. Once you have everything typed out and spell checked, print 100 copies of your information.

14. Now take the first page that you printed and one of the covers you previously made. Open the cover, place the sheet up against the left side fold and center the page. Close the cover and punch holes in the sheet where your cover holes are. Now you can use this sheet as a guide to punch holes in all the other pages.

15. When done, take the 4 pages for your program (or however many you made) and place them inside one of the covers. Line up your holes. Now thread your ribbon threw the holes from the back, tie in front making a bow. Continue assembling the books until you are finished with all of them.

Suggestions For Program Information:

Title- "The Wedding Program of (Brides full name) and (Grooms full name)"

Date

Time

Location

Prelude Music- List song titles and artists

Lighting of Candles

Seating of Mothers

Processional- List song titles and artists

Charge to Couple

Declaration of Intent

Reading- List title, author and speaker

Scripture Reading- List scripture

Wedding Vows

The Ring Ceremony

Announcement of Marriage

Wedding Prayer

Presentation of Bride and Groom

Recessional

Parents of the Bride

Parents of the Groom

Officiate/Pastor/Minister

Pianist/Organist

Soloists

Videographer

Photographer

The Wedding Party

Matron of Honor/Maid of Honor

Bridesmaids

Best Man

Groomsmen

Junior Bridesmaids

Junior Groomsmen

Flower Girls

Ring Bearer

Bridal Assistants

Ushers

Candle Lighting