Dual-purposing: Wedding Decorations turned Home Decor

A wedding and buying a first home: two of the most expensive ventures I've witnessed in life! When we were making wedding decorations I worked on a few things with the intention of dual-purposing them as home décor in some way; however, it wasn't until recently when my mother-in-law was over and started asking about different items in our living room that I realized just how much of our décor is from our wedding.... Whoa! Suddenly it felt like our home was a shrine to our wedding!

It's not, I promise.

That conversation made me think about brides who may be in my similar situation (wedding + new house) and how great it is to be able to save money by combining the two. If I had been thinking this way prior to my wedding maybe I could have dual-purposed even more. Of course, I know not everyone will have my same taste when it comes to decorating a wedding/house, but, perhaps these photos can give you some ideas that can be applied with your own style in mind.

So, here it goes: Wedding Decorations turned Home Décor!

...................

This wooden sign was one of the things I made for the wedding with the intention of using at our new home. My husband made the sign (and stained it) then I added the lettering. We displayed it on a tripod at the reception and now it hangs above our bed. Finding and buying something big enough to hang above a king sized bed would be waaaay too expensive (and not as meaningful) so I'm thrilled this worked out perfectly. Additionally, the "Mr" and "Mrs" pillows were part of the decorations at our rehearsal dinner, given by my mother in law! They were on our seats at the rehearsal and now they make their way around the house, depending on where I want them for the week :)

...................

I had no intentions of keeping our burlap sign that I planned to hang on our sweetheart table. I had the materials and ended up having no time to make it! The night before the wedding my incredible cousin, Aimée, took over for me and painted the letters. It turned out way better than I imagined and I couldn't help but use it on my stairs in the entryway when we first moved in. Now, almost a year later, I can't take it down! It just feels right. Another side note: the white Ikea lantern in the photo is one of the many, many lanterns used in the wedding.

...................

This next table gets a lot of wedding-related credit! It will soon get switched around because I want to cover the ugly A/C controls on the wall, but for now it's a good example:

The wooden sign, "You keep me safe, I'll keep you wild" is another one used at the reception, displayed in the hors d'oeuvres section (do I get credit for spelling that correctly on my first try?!!). Jeff made it in a way that it stands up by itself, which was great for a table display and now great for our little table!

The "H" was displayed at my bridal shower, given to me by an incredible group of women at my church. I had been SEARCHING for an "H" just like this and couldn't find one then walked into my bridal shower to see the H of my dreams!

The globe was our wedding guest book. We love to travel and wanted something we could display instead of just shoving it into a closet. It worked out great!

And of course, the wooden lantern is another one used at the ceremony.

Wooden lanterns

"H" at the bridal shower

...................

 This window was hanging in my high school bedroom then made it from TN to FL. Although it wasn't a wedding "purchase" I think it's still a good example. I debated using it for place cards vs. a relationship timeline and ultimately went with timeline (I made a chalkboard from an old junky mirror frame for the place cards but my husband won't let me use that for home décor so it's sitting in the garage and doesn't get to be in this post!)

So, it went from timeline displayed on a tripod to wall-hanging and I love this setup. The photo I attached to the frame is great quality and a thick board-like material. It shows us right after our first look and I'm holding my bouquet in my right hand. The window was a perfect place to display my dried bouquet and if you look closely between those two candles (that are about to get a white makeover) you can see Jeff's dried boutonniere (I did have to look up that spelling so don't give me credit for that one).

...................

And, of course, anyone who knows me will recognize this next one. Our unity tree! We wanted something that wouldn't collect dust or get shoved into a closet. Many of the unique unity ideas I found on pinterest were cute but just didn't feel like "us". What's better than using a baby tree as a unity ceremony then planting it and watching it take off growing! It's important to use the right kind of tree for this... something hardy and basically indestructible as it would be really sad to see a unity tree die! We used a Moringa tree which has already survived its first hurricane like a champ.

...................

Besides the items shown, we've kept some lanterns (sold 20 of the smaller ones but kept the more unique ones), hanging lights, all kinds of decorations from the pre-wedding parties, bachelorette, rehearsal dinner, etc. and it's been great! Some things are on 24/7 display and some are used to decorate for different parties, like the garlands (made by my mom) below.

garlands hanging from trees in my parents' backyard at the "Thursday Brunch" prior to the wedding

Garlands hanging on our deck at Easter

So, before you start buying cheap wedding décor that you couldn't imagine in your home, try to think about the things that could be dual-purposed! Your wedding should reflect your style.... your home should reflect your style... so why not combine?

Wedding photos by Amanda Sadler at Studio City Photography