DIY Wedding Programs and Logo

Did you think that just because my wedding is over, you'd seen the end of all things wedding on Starr Struck?
Au contrare!  There's still plenty  more to discuss and since so many of you have asked for "more wedding pics, please!" I thought it only appropriate to share some more fun wedding projects while we wait for the photographer's pictures to land in my inbox (to say that I'm dying to see them is a total understatement!).

So today, I wanted to share some fun ideas on how to create your own wedding programs and/or your own "wedding logo." This is totally unnecessary, of course, but is a really great way to add a personalized touch to your big day. In the case of our wedding, I decided to draw a little "logo," but there are also some great ways to generate a personalized logo online, if you're not up for making your own (more info on where to do this below!). 

Here's the little sketch that I did for our program: 

As you can see, it's super simple, but I think it went along well with our casual, DIY wedding theme. And you know how easy it was to create this little guy? I simply sketched it out in pencil, went over it in pen, and then scanned it into a digital format on my building's scanner. Done. Then I was able to crop it down in Powerpoint (easy as pie!) and insert it into our program, which was created in Word. So easy! My one mistake was that I drew it on some handmade paper, which had little dots/marks on it, and those silly little marks then showed up on the scan. As a perfectionist this REALLY bothered me, but not enough to get out any heavy duty editing software and make any changes... ;)

You can see the first & last page of our program, with the drawing inserted, below:

For our programs, I used this template that I found on Minted.com. I knew that I wanted to do a non-traditional shape/size, but wasn't sure how to do it until I found this super-easy downloadable template. However, I didn't use their "program cover," which you have to buy from them, and instead, just printed the first and last page on a different color and thicker paper, punched holes in the top,  and used ribbon to tie all of the pages together. 
So simple!

Final product. It took a lot of time, but was totally worth the effort in my eyes...

Weirdly shiny pic of my MOH and I putting them together...she was SO helpful!!!

For those who don't feel artistically-inclined enough to draw your own logo OR if you're looking for something a little less homemade, you can also use one of the *free* personalized logo generators online. Samples of my favorites are below--I knew I was printing my program in black and white, so when I made some of them I picked "grayscale" to see how they would look, but all can be generated in personalized colors, as well.  Also, as you can see in our program template above, I did end up using the middle image (below) on the last page of our program, for just a bit more whimsy...

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Here are the links to make your own: 1. Heart and Arrow Monogram  2. Heart Monogram  3. Silhouette Monogram

There are also TONS more adorable templates that you can download for save-the-dates, invites, and more on WeddingChicks.com. Wish I had found this site sooner in my wedding-planning process!

Oh, and I just had to share another project that I ended up using our "logo" for--this mixed media painting that I created to commemorate our big day. I used our invitation as my inspiration (and actually cut up the invitation and used parts of it in the painting!) and went from there. The painting is now hanging in our bedroom and I made prints of it, which I framed and gave to our parents as wedding gifts.

Isn't it fun to make things personal?

Now off to enjoy my first painting day post-wedding craziness. Can't. Wait. (!) 

Namaste,
Mary Catherine