I recently read a forum where a bride felt slightly overwhelmed by the DIY wedding movement because she didn’t have a strong ability to “craft” – yet at the same time felt burdened by the price of hiring professionals to do the work. So, she felt stuck. She inspired me to create a table that sort of found a middle balance. Finding DIY projects that didn’t require an immense amount of skill, but were also cheap solutions for those on a budget.

The table was inspired by the fabric I found for the table runner. I find that when I am trying to start a new project and need inspiration, the best place to go is the fabric store! There are endless sources of textures, colors, patterns, etc..and choosing a fabric can really lay the foundation for the rest of the design. I chose a Robert Kaufman fabric, “Hot Couturier,” from a local fabric shop here in Chapel Hill, NC.

Adding vertical dimensions to a table can be a nice touch–however, fancy chandeliers or dramatic flowers can be pricey. So I made doilie chandeliers. I picked up a pack of small paper doilies from the local craft store, a little bit of fishing line, and two different sized embroidery hoops to create the fixtures. Because the paper is so lightweight, any type of movement made doilies twirl (which was a beautiful effect).

I carried the doilie theme over to the actual place setting–sitting a small favor jar of chocolate covered peanuts on the center of a doily followed by a yellow napkin.

The dishes are from Martha Stewart’s collection at Macy’s and I found the silverware from World Market.

Because I used the wood embroidery hoops in the doilie chandeliers, I thought it might be interesting to carry that texture elseware on the table. I bought 2×4’s from Lowe’s Hardware, stained them with one coat and placed the wood under the centerpieces.

The milk-jug centerpiece is a vintage piece I found–I’ve always loved the idea of finding different vintage containers to use as centerpieces.