DIY: Alternative Wedding Wishing Well

I'm back! After more than a year of absence on the blogosphere.  And I sure hope to stay active online for good, especially on this blog.  Anyway, I recently worked on a project for my good friend, Rob.  He's getting married tomorrow and wanted a wishing well at the reception.  This is the final product:

For all of you who have no idea what a wedding wishing well is (I didn't either), apparently, it's a receptacle that you place at the reception to hold the monetary gifts from your guests.  It works exactly like any other wishing well except the proceeds go to the bride and groom afterwards.  I volunteered to take care of this for them but wanted to avoid making my life difficult so I searched for some alternatives online.  Aside from wells, people have also used, mailboxes, suitcases, and birdcages as alternatives.  I decided to go with the latter because I figured it would be easier and, at the same time, would fit the elegant theme that Rob and Pam wanted for their wedding. Here's how I did it:

1.  First, I scoured Dapitan Arcade (small year-round bazaar with mostly decorative items) but could not find a birdcage there.  I found some very nice glass lanterns but they were a bit above the budget.  Next, I visited a nearby pet shop and looked at cages there.  There were limited designs but I was almost about to buy one when I decided to consult Rob first.  When he told me to go with my instinct, I decided to go back to the petshop.  But on the way, I chanced upon a beautiful birdcage about a foot tall. Jackpot!  This set me back by P500 (including transportation).

2. I looked for ideas online and decided to make small floral pom poms out of paper.  Got the instructions from Martha Stewart's site.  I realized that the Napkin ring version was actually big so I decided to go even smaller afterwards. As a result, I have tons of leftover tissue and crepe paper.   Aside from the paper, I used copper wire that I already had, pliers, and scissor.  That's it!  (I spent around P70 on the paper but there was so much left, it probably just cost me P20!)

 

3. After much rearranging, I finally decided to simply place two bright pink pom poms at the bottom of the birdcage to cushion the envelopes.  Then I took a sheer purple and a light green satin ribbon and tied it on top of the cage to complete the look.   Don't want to over do it!  (Ribbons are free, courtesy of our magpie tendencies)

4.  Something was still missing though.  Wishing wells aren't all that common here in the Philippines, so I knew I had to put some sort of sign or label.  I decided to do some watercolor calligraphy.  I copied the words "Cards & Well Wishes" from a calligraphy font from my laptop to practice first, then proceeded with the watercolor.  (Bought this cheap watercolor set and a pricey calligraphy pen some months ago so it doesn't count).

5. Then I looped some wire, placing a gold butterfly charm at the end, then used the wire to secure the card to the top of the birdcage. Voila!

6.  After that, I decided to go a step further by personalizing a few sheets of paper (just in case the guests want to write a quick note to go with the cash gift.  I used the back of some old brown stationery I found lying in the house, cut off the part with the label, then typed the name of the bride & groom on top of the notepad. (Stationery is practically free! It wasn't mine but nobody was using it haha.)

7.  I also attached the extra pom poms I made to the cap of my pen so that even that would go with the theme. Haha!  (I'm gonna spend a bit to buy more pens.  That'll be around P50.)

8.  I still need to buy some envelopes and figure out how I can organize the paper and the envelopes on the table.  Will need to go to the bookstore today!  But I tried to make a stamp out of old styrofoam to personalize the envelopes.  I'm still not too sure about this because it's not as clean or fancy as i hoped it would be.  What do you think?  My alternative is to just leave them blank.  (Envelopes will probably set me back by a P100 max.)

Yay!  It was so much fun doing.  Total project cost, once I buy the envelopes, will probably be around P700. So it's only P300 less than the wishing well for sale, but this one means a bit more 'coz it's from the heart.  Best wishes to you, Rob and Pam!!!