Remember that video game wedding invitation from a while back? I’m reasonably sure that it was the first real interactive wedding invitation I’d seen – but once a good idea starts making the rounds, it’s bound to be replicated. And in bigger, badder ways, too. A quick minute brainstorming, and I’m imagining a Choose Your Own Adventure wedding invitation (which I would SO do) or maybe a scavenger hunt wedding invitation for those who had the time and the inclination. But you know what tops pretty much every interactive wedding invitation I could think up?

This one. It’s a freakin’ papercraft record player, for goodness’ sake! I’m less impressed that it kind of plays an original song written by the couple – Karen Sandler and Mike Tarantino – who sent it out than I am that you can even make a record player out of paper. That someone even conceived of this idea in the first place, and then someone – that would be designer Kelli Anderson who talks more about the whole project on her website – took that idea and rolled with it. Seriously. A papercraft record player interactive wedding invitation. Seriously… Doesn’t that just beat all?

Brides-to-be with a knack for canning can default to an easy DIY wedding favor in the form of homemade jam in cute wee jars. But just because you’re not particularly handy in the kitchen doesn’t mean you can’t have jam wedding favors – there are plenty of personalized jam wedding favors on Etsy and elsewhere, in addition to the less expensive non-personalized mini jams. Check out how pretty they can be:

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I saw this sweet little reception table centerpiece on bride.ca and just had to share. Because it’s just too simple not to.

You say you’re not planning a New York City subway themed wedding? No problem, just replace the subway card with anything. How about glittery table numbers or some other pretty thing?

All it takes are some nice flower pots – you could even use plain terracotta pots, homegrown wheatgrass, LED tea lights, and the table number of your choice.

Are you DIYing your reception centerpieces? If so, remember to scale your design to the size of your table so it doesn’t look dinky (or absolutely huuuuge)!

…which in this case, are part the same package. Doilies are *not* something I’d usually drool over, but when they’re handmade and part of one of the prettiest and most fun wedding dresses I’ve seen this side of an elopement – on 100 Layer Cake, I should add – it’s a different story.

Jillian made her own dress, including the pattern for it. She deconstructed a vintage dress to create a pattern for the bodice (the green part); sewed that, and then crocheted doilies madly for three weeks straight. She used over two miles of crochet yarn.

Two miles! I can sew a bit, but I don’t think I’ve used two miles of anything other than thread in my combined output. Isn’t this wedding dress just amazing? And cute? Every time I look at it, I get a little giggly and a lot jealous!

Images: Gia Caneli Photography

If you’re in the market for a fun, easy DIY bridal bouquet idea, have a look at La Belle Bride’s felt heart bouquet tutorial! You can make one for around $10, which is a helluva lot less than your standard bridal bouquet or anything similar you’ll find on Etsy.

Seriously, it’s easy. You don’t have to be an experienced or talented seamstress (or Ms. Martha) to make this bouquet. It’s one wedding DIY project you won’t have to stress over!

For the bride who sews, here are two reception table DIYs that use cute vintage thread spools to give table numbers and place cards a little more ooph. The first comes from Lauren of Lauren Elise Crafted, who loves all things handmade and vintage.

Putting together a thread spool table number like this one involve a wee bit of hand embroidery, a little sewing, and cutting some cork, but that’s about as difficult as it gets.

The second DIY reception project comes from Tracey of French Larkspur and can be found here. The hardest part of creating thread spool place cards is stamping all those letters of all those names, one by one by one. So not really difficult, but a bit tedious.

The results are quite pretty in both cases, and perfect for a garden wedding or a sewing and crafting themed wedding.

There’s no shortage of information out there concerned with shopping for wedding rings, custom made wedding rings, or choosing the right wedding rings. And there’s no shortage of wedding rings! How about photo wedding rings or profile wedding rings? Then you have skinny wedding rings, engraved wedding rings, silver wedding rings, and wedding rings made out of everything you can imagine, from wood to bone. And meteorites and tattoo ink and techie stuff! It would be easy to say that there’s a wedding ring out there for everyone, but maybe you’ve just read over my little list and there is nothing on it that speaks to you.

Okay, then how about a wedding ring you make yourself, using whatever metals – all recycled – and techniques you want? That’s what the Wedding Ring Workshop is all about. In their classes, over the course of six hours or so, you and your intended make each other’s wedding rings by hand, from scratch, under the tutelage of experienced jewelers. Unless you want stones mounted in your bands (which the jeweler will do for you) you’ll walk away from the Wedding Ring Workshop with your rings in hand, ready for your wedding day.

Interested? While the Wedding Ring Workshop seems like a good bet – they’re in the U.S. and the U.K. and have a lot of participating jewelers – there are other DIY wedding rings opportunities out there. New York Wedding Ring comes to mind, as does The Devil’s Workshop in Toronto. Googling around will help you find one close-ish to you that has the range of service you’re looking for. Keep in mind that some DIY wedding ring classes don’t allow for a lot of customization, while others allow you design custom wedding rings as long as your design can be created in the allotted time.