DIY: Aisle Runner Decorating For Dummies

An aisle runner makes a beautiful statement for almost any wedding. These days being able to personalize an aisle runner gives it that extra pop to wow your guests and even gives a modern touch of whimsy to your special day. Walking down the aisle are your last steps of being unmarried and your very first steps as newlyweds! 

Step 1: Determine if an aisle runner fits your wedding style

If you picture an beautiful aisle runner as part of your wedding ceremony... congratulations! That is the first step in creating an aisle runner for you wedding. However, not everyone wants the formal/more traditional feel that an aisle runner gives to a wedding ceremony, nor does an aisle runner work in every situation.
I would not recommend an aisle runner for the following situations:
-Sand
-Windy outdoor site
-Grass
-Rocky terrain
-Non-straight aisle (anything zig-zaggy)
-Stairs
For example, I just made an aisle runner for a beach wedding and despite my plans for it to be held down with large seashells, the runner was not used due to the wind.

Step 2: Buy an aisle runner. 

Recommendations: Buy a material that is see-through in order to "trace" the letters. If you purchase a solid aisle runner you will have to project the letters onto the aisle runner (and the rest of this post will be useless to you because I have never done that before and will thus not explain how to do it). There are many lovely see through runners out there and for decent prices...
"two hearts" http://www.wrapwithus.com/Products/Two-Hearts-Wedding-Aisle-Runner__3_1911-FXB.aspx
"love" http://www.wrapwithus.com/Products/LOVE-Print-Wedding-Aisle-Runner__3_1002-FXB.aspx
"french lace" http://www.wrapwithus.com/Products/French-Lace-Wedding-Aisle-Runner__35706-DR.aspx

Those are examples of ones that are slightly see-through so you can see what I mean.

Step 3: Trim aisle runner down to desired size (if needed)

Recommendations: The runner I got for my wedding was 100ft and I decided to cut in it half to 50ft without ever measuring my venue. As you can see from the below picture of my wedding 50ft is plenty long for your average ceremony venue. The lettering is exactly in the middle at 25ft.

-Trimming the aisle runner is easy if you can cut or lightly draw a straight line. Laying it out however is what seemed to pose a problem. My apartment is only about 25ft at its longest, and less than 3 feet wide in my hallway. Just make sure your floor is clean and your dog doesn't walk on top of it! 

-Then, rolling it back up is the hard part. I highly recommend keeping the half with the pull string and cardboard roll on the better half that you'll use for the wedding. The other half you can always keep and use to make for a friend! 

Note: know the dimensions of your runner first! they come in all different lengths, but 100ft seems to be the most common.

Note: This step might be the right time to make a mark on the desired spot your image will be painted on at. This can be done by lightly marking where the image will go (a penciled tick mark about 1/2 inch long is usually good enough). Or keep the runner unrolled at the desired spot and lay it out on the table you will be doing your painting at.

Step 4: Create lettering and/or image 

Basically this is one of the easiest and most fun parts. Get on your computer, open a word document and make it say exactly what you want. You probably already have an idea of what you want and its easy to find clip art or even images off of Google. Traditionally this includes your names and wedding date and/or a monogram. 

Recommendations: Make sure any wording is printed in black or as dark as possible (coloring will come later!) so that it is easy to trace out. If you are using an image, a black and white one is best with a relatively simple design. 

For example, for my friend's beach wedding using a star fish graphic like this...

was a heck of a lot easier than trying to trace and then paint something like this...

get the idea?

Step 5: Sizing & Printing your images

Basically, you want your wording/image to be large enough that people can read it, but small enough to fit on your aisle runner. Again, know the dimensions of your runner! What I do is print it out, then measure it, then adjust/resize as needed. You will want your paper orientation to be "landscape" as to save as much paper as possible. Usually words will run off one page and onto another in which case its relatively easy to cut and tape the pages together. 

Recommendations: Bigger is better as long as it will fit on the runner and is easy to piece together once printed. I highly recommend that papers are taped exactly as you want them so that they don't move around when you are tracing it in the next step.

Step 6: Roll out runner to desired image spot

A)If this was not done at step 3 now is the time to do it! With the "two hearts" runner I bought there doesn't seem to be a difference with the "right side" or "wrong side" of the runner. I'm pretty sure both sides are the same.

B)You may have to unroll your whole runner yet again if you did not before in order to find the desired spot. If you have a 50ft runner and you want the image in the middle, then find the middle at 25ft. Its not rocket science but it might be a pain in the a**.

C)Find a good work station that you will be decorating your runner on. I highly recommend a table that isn't used often as the work might take more than 1 day. If you have a card table or any folding table. It needs to be something you don't mind getting messy (paint could spill!). It is also best to use a flat table and one that is at least as wide as the runner.

Note: also make sure your workstation is WELL LIT, this will come in handy for the next step...

Step 7: Tracing your images 

Again, this is a pretty easy step depending on the difficulty of the words/images you selected. Words tend to be easier than images like the above starfish... there were too many blobs/circles to trace, but something like that didn't have to be exact like lettering.
Anywho... have all words and images taped together. Slide the papers underneath the runner. Center it nicely and if you feel it is needed use some heavy objects to hold down the runner over the papers.
DO NOT tape down the papers to the aisle runner. Pulling it off could easily tear the runner! You may tape the papers down to your table if you don't want it sliding around, but it might be a bit hard to remove it with out hassling around the runner.
Note: at this point you should easily understand why I recommended a flat surface, dark lettering and good lighting
Then... trace away using a pencil, mechanical is the best in my opinion. It allows a fine consistent line. Make sure its not too light that you wont see it when painting later, or too dark that it will be noticeable later! However, this might depend on how light or dark the color you are painting it with is.

Step 7: Setting up before you paint:

Now, this step is very very very very very important. This determines how easy it will be to finish your runner and how well it will come out. Pay close attention!
FIRST...
put wax paper down underneath your runner exactly where you will be painting.
1) this will protect your work surface
2) you will be able to remove the aisle runner from the surface.
 If you are using the see-through runner remember it is not a "solid" fabric... so the paint will bleed through to the other side. If you use newspaper or printer paper the paint will dry sticking to the paper then when you remove it, it will tear your runner! If you use the wax paper you will be able to let it dry and then remove the wax paper easily without any sticking or tearing.

SECOND
The paint... I use a regular acrylic paint. They come in many colors and you can get it at any craft store. one bottle is plenty for a regular image. If you are going for "over the top" with some crazy ass design then you might want to pick up a few bottles just in case.
As for color, this is your choosing. I have always done my runners in a single color because I think its simpler and adds more "pop" (you don't want the runner to be too "busy"). Mixing colors will get tricky along with any crazy shading or what-have-you. Keep colors in theme with the wedding, take a swatch of a bridesmaid dress or flowers with you when choosing paint color if you need to! I've been known to buy 5 tubes of paint and thinking about it for weeks before deciding which one to use on a runner!

THIRD
The Paintbrush... thin is the way to go! This will allow you to precisely paint within the lines. You may also wish to use a wider brush after edges are done, just to fill in the middle of a letter or image. Its up to you.

Step 8: Painting the runner

-Paint away!
I think its easiest to start with the edge of a single letter and work your way towards the center of the letter. While edges are very important... you may think that you really need a steady hand, but no one will notice if you go out of the lines very slightly. Furthermore it is also easier to start in the center of your whole image and work your way out so that your hand isn't sitting on wet paint.
-Be very careful throughout this whole process not to get paint on your hand as it can easily get on a different part of the the runner and it will NOT come off! This may seem scary but what-ever and where-ever you get paint is most likely permanent! Try not to drop your paintbrush! I use a huge piece of wax paper for being able to easily set down the brush and keep it very close by the area you are working on. Don't keep large object next to your work area that you could easily bump into. If you really need to don't be afraid to let part of it dry before continuing on if it will ensure top quality work!
So keep in mind that the paint will dry relatively quickly. You most likely will not need to do two layers of paint. One is usually fine and looks completely solid.
Remember if you are using two or more colors that overlap to paint the lighter one first.This will make images pop! Otherwise, just work from the inside out.

Whew!
Again here are examples of runner's I've made:

Obviously, I chose to go with very "simple" designs. I've yet to attempt anything crazy. I have no desire to attempt painting a whole runner (like painting a 3inch border on either side like below that inspired the starfish runner)

If you want more examples of some BEAUTIFUL runners that I go gaga over check out all of these and feel free to do you own google search (like duh!)
https://www.google.com/search?q=diy+aisle+runner+how+to&hl=en&rlz=1C1GGGE_enUS381US382&prmd=imvns&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=ynpSUObTOJTi9gTZ1YDgDA&ved=0CB0QsAQ&biw=1366&bih=643#hl=en&rlz=1C1GGGE_enUS381US382&tbm=isch&sa=1&q=diy+aisle+runner&oq=diy+aisle+runner&gs_l=img.3...431554.431554.0.431854.1.1.0.0.0.0.0.0..0.0...0.0...1c.1.dYLRk1Ge080&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_cp.r_qf.&fp=a6dc5ef46d6482c4&biw=1366&bih=643

The End :-)
email me or comment below with any thoughts or questions
amgrossman36@gmail.com

Beach Wedding Aisle Runner

Here are some pictures showing the process of making the aisle runner. Next post will be a how-to for making an aisle runner! 

This picture is the "inspiration", I asked my friend to just find a picture of something she liked and I'd do whatever she wanted. The main ideas we stole here were: starfish graphic on the top, cursive writing and beautiful blue color.

So after much search this is the starfish graphic I found. It was really hard to find one that looked "right". Some were too simple, too difficult, too cartoonish, too real looking. I needed something I could easily paint and get the look we wanted!

Then, I found a great font with hubby's help. I had to adjust the size because their names are longer than mine and I needed it to fit on the runner! Then I played around with the size of the starfish.

Then I transferred the words onto the aisle runner and started painting.  Note that the TV remote is to hold the runner down

and slowly but surely it came along...

Then the words were in place and it looked wonderful!

I was very nervous to do the starfish I was afraid it wouldn't come out very good. it was very difficult to transfer on there!

 Low and behold, it came out much better than I imagined. I was able to take some artistic liberty with the starfish. I didn't really have to worry about staying in the lines so much because the edges of each "dot" on the starfish did not have to be perfect like the letters.

Tada! The crease at the top is from how its laying.

Now, unfortunately I do not have a picture of the aisle runner at the wedding. It did not end up being used. While it is extremely disappointing to put all that hard work into something for nothing, I didn't let it bother me. I was excited to see my best friend from college get married and that is what was most important. Now, what happened was that hubby was at the ceremony site while I was getting ready with all the girls. He gave the wedding planner the aisle runner and she attempted to role it out. The ceremony was taking place on the beach, but on a cement walkway, not the sand. I had guessed it would be windy (it was the beach after all!) and bought large seashells to hold the runner down. I'm not sure if the wedding planner attempted to use the seashells or not, but the runner was blowing away so she scrunched it up and put it away. In the end I think if she rolled it out while the people were already in their seats it could have been fine, the people seemed to block the wind during the ceremony. However, the planner did use my seashells to line the aisle and it was cute. Plus I heard people commenting on the seashells lol. 

Broken Hearts

Ever have something bad or weird happen and you wonder if its an omen or just coincidence?

Last month Hubby and I have been dealing with the death of his maternal grandmother. Even though she was in the hospital her death came as quite the shock. However this story is not just a story of her life or death, I will tell the story of the broken hearts.

1) Hubby's grandmother went to the hospital for a surgery to that would increase the circulation in her leg. She was 87 years old. Despite getting many doctors opinions and having tests done to make sure she was o.k. for the surgery, after the surgery was done they somehow found that she had congestive heart failure. Her heart had been working at only 10% of capacity for probably at least 6 months. She was not strong enough for any rehabilitation after the surgery. Just a few days after they found out about her heart she passed away (Wednesday, August 8th). Her heart just gave out. Hubby had visited her in the hospital just a few days before and was able to bring Scout into the hospital to visit her (she absolutely adored Scout, called him her grandson) .

2) Hubby and I packed up Saturday August 11th for the funeral which was held Sunday the 12th. Saturday night when we arrived there I was in the den of his grandmother's house reading when hubby asked me what I had inside a ring box visible in my luggage. I brought with us a necklace that I was intending to wear the next day at her funeral.
Now, some back story... Hubby's grandfather used to always find heart shaped objects to give to his wife. Hubby, unintentionally has done the same thing for me. He always buys me heart shaped charms since our first (dating) anniversary. I wear them all together on a necklace everyday.
 As a kid hubby always admired a heart shaped necklace of his grandmother's because it had gold flakes inside of it and he thought his grandma was rich! His grandmother gave him the necklace before our wedding day and he gave it to me as his wedding present to me.
This was the necklace that I brought to wear to his grandmother's funeral, because it had such a special meaning. Hubby sees the box and sees the necklace inside and takes the necklace. He was so happy to see that I brought it that he ran into the kitchen to show his mother. His mother open the box and the necklace slides right out and falls down to the tile floor. The tip of it cracks open and the oil and gold inside leak out. I heard this happen from the other room and sat frozen in the den not knowing how to react.
My poor husband was absolutely heart broken and my mother in law felt awful. The next day I wore some other jewelry to the funeral instead of the heart necklace. We went to the jeweler that had fixed up my ring and they said their was no way to fix it, they could only put the gold flakes into some new pendant.

3)We returned back home very very late Wednesday night. On Friday we get a phone call saying my hubby's aunt (his mother's only sibling) was in the hospital. She had chest pains and was taken to the ER. Her heart actually stopped and they had to revive her. She had surgery for a pacemaker the next day. She's only 56 and there is nothing physically wrong with her heart, it seemed to be electrical in nature and I believe most likely caused by the stress of the last week. Luckily she is now doing ok and is back to normal.

So, this is how 3 hearts broke in 1 week. While loosing a necklace is nothing like loosing a grandmother and almost loosing an aunt, the coincidence is just weird.