The Bride Diaries. Ashley's Chalk Board Signs

It’s super exciting to think that Ashley has almost hit the one year to the wedding mark and she sure is getting organised. This month we are sharing another DIY prjoect, this time; chalk board signage. I cannot wait to see the finished signs Ashley, I am sure they will look super gorgeous xo Lou

The past month has been a busy one in our household! We have been DIY-ing up a storm, and I’d love to share with you our experience of creating chalk board signs for our wedding. We finally found time to head on over to our local B&Q to purchase the materials needed, and the first thing I will say is that although I do believe we have saved money by making our own signs rather than purchasing them, crafting your wedding is not as cheap as you may think! We still left B&Q having spent a rather large chunk of change, buying three large sheets of thick MDF wood so that the sign didn’t bend when stood up, wooden framing, wooden rods, and several tins of paint.

We made two types of signs – two large ones for display around the wedding, and six smaller ones that can be used as directional signs on the roads around the wedding. For the bigger signs, we started by using masking tape to tape of the edge of the signs, and then painting two coats of blackboard paint. We painted the wooden frames first with a coat of antique gold, then with a layer of gold glitter paint (because as I’ve said before, I do love a bit of glitter). We then used wood glue to glue the frame the board, and then due to a lack of clamps, took some heavy rocks from the garden to weigh the frame down while the glue set. These were quite simple to make, and I am just using chalk pens to write the signs – although I am having to practice my calligraphy style writing!
 

For the smaller directional signs, we paid a small fee for B&Q to cut the larger piece of MDF into six small pieces. My fiancé then measured and cut these to have a point on one side. We then painted around the edges of the sign with the same gold paint that we used on the larger signs. Once this had dried, we taped off the edges and painted the centre of the signs with a grey chalk paint. These are being finished with the wording painted on in black paint, which is surprisingly difficult to get right first time! I have had to repaint at least one sign so far.

I am so pleased with the results on both of these signs. As I said, making these signs was not as cheap as I thought it might be, and they were quite a lot of work, but I really think it is worth it! Plus it was a really nice way to spend time together, creating something for our big day. This month we will have a year to go till our wedding, and I have a feeling things are going to start getting busier in terms of wedmin and planning! We are off to the National Wedding Show in London at the end of the month, which I am super excited about, and I am hoping to meet lots of great suppliers and come home with some fab ideas. I also need to start thinking about my dress soon – eek!