DIY Personalized Bridal Hangers

I've been waiting to reveal my DIY bridal dress hangers, not merely to keep you all in unbearable suspense, but rather because I had several "difficulties."

My original inspiration came from the tons of wedding blogs and etsy stores that now sell these cool, but completely unnecessary wedding details. Like this:

Source

So after seeing lots of tutorials online, being the thrifty person that I am, I decided to embark on the personalized wedding dress hanger journey.

The Personalized Wedding Dress Hanger Journey

1.  I bought/rounded-up all of my supplies:

- Wooden hangers
- Aluminum wire (12 gauge and 16
     gauge) - You can get it in the jewelry
     section of a craft store or at a
     hardware store
- Needle-nosed pliers
- Template for "guiding" - I downloaded
     and used the font Little Days from
     dafont and typed out my name in
     Microsoft Word
- Ruler
- Drill
- Drillbits
- Hot glue
- Flower

2.  I measured 1/2 inch in from the edge of the hanger and marked where to drill with a sharpie.

3.  I drilled.  You don't need to go too far, just enough to fit the wire in with some hot glue.

4.  I tested the hole with the aluminum wire.  The first drill bit that I used was actually too small, so I went up a size.

 I broke the drill bit.  Not suggested.

5. With all of the holes drilled, I was ready to get started with the wire. I practiced...

...and practiced...

...and practiced.

I actually went through an entire package of aluminum wire. 

To be honest, I wasn't planning on spending so much time practicing.  I was trying to make the hanger fo' real each time, but kept messing up.  I messed up a lot.  I'm also a perfectionist so if I got a tiny part wrong or plier teeth marks in the wire, I would stop and start over.

6.  I started to question whether or not I would be willing to complete this project.

7.  Since I had used the entire roll of 12 gauge wire, I decided to give the 16 gauge a try. 16 gauge is smaller and weaker so it's easier to manipulate, but also more likely to get messed up later.

8. Success! I bent the wire so that it would line up with the holes and added in a drop of hot glue, followed by the wire. I had some leftover stickers from Jessica's bridal shower gift, so I added our wedding date to the top. 

  

9. Lastly, I hot glued a flower to the hanger.  I used a generous amount.

So there you have it.  I didn't know if it was possible after so many mistakes, but I am happy with how it turned out. I plan on making these for my bridesmaids too, I just have to pick bridesmaids first.  Hobby Lobby has the 16 gauge wire on sale for 50% off this week, so I grabbed another two packages for .98 each so that I can make 4 more when I get my butt into gear and make some decisions.

Most difficult part? - the letters A and C (sooooo painful!)

Easiest part? - everything except A and C

Price breakdown

Hangers - $5.00 Walmart

Wire (12 gauge) - $3.50 JoAnn (after 40% off coupon)

Needle nose plies - $2.00 Walmart

Tiny Needle-nose pliers - $4.50 Hobby Lobby (after 40% off coupon)

Flower - .99 Hobby Lobby

Stickers - on hand, but $1.49 at Hobby Lobby.

Currently, the hanger cost me $16, but if I end up making 5 of these, the total for them would come to just about $4.00 each or $20 total with the cost of the extra wire.  Not too bad considering you can pay over $20 just for one!

What do you think?  Are you planning on ordering/DIYing a bridal hanger?  What is your unnecessary wedding detail?

Edit: 10/11/2012

Here is an example of how I bent the wire to form the C and the A.

The Mash-up Post

As I was browsing Wedding Bee this morning, I came across an awesome idea that I am here to share.

Source

Table mock-ups!  Now, this seems kind of like a no-brainer to me, but what really got me is how to take this idea and make it even more functional.  The "poster"/"postee"??? suggested taking a picture of the desired set-up and then putting all of those items in a box with the picture on the outside.  This way, when the items get taken to the church/reception hall, they are already together and someone can simply set it up.

What a great idea huh?  Considering that I am doing a lot of DIY and we have no designated wedding coordinator, I have been thinking about how everything is going to get set up in a timely manner.  I really didn't want to put all of that pressure on my mom, so if I have everything already organized, I can put our many friends and family members to work. With the pictures, they can resurrect my ideas without having to specifically ask for what I want (and I'm a terribly picky, but nice, perfectionist).  I just know how stressed I get with Prom when I have a lot of hands that want to help, but it takes time to explain to each group what needs to be done (leaving lots of other groups standing around not doing anything).  Problem solved.


In other news, I bought my supplies today to make bridal party dress hangers.

Source (I love the flower on this one)

This is something that I don't feel is necessary whatsoever but I think they're cute.  I spent $5 on 5 wooden hangers and $2.50 on wire after a 40% off coupon.  So if it turns out to be disastrous, then there's no harm.  And seriously, $7.50 for 5 hangers (instead of $20ish) is an awesome deal.

I went ahead and found a font that I liked (called Little Days from Dafont) to create a template for the wire.  I probably won't "trace" the template necessarily, but rather use it to help guide the shaping of the letters.  I love the all-lowercase letter look.

I haven't picked bridesmaids yet...so I'm starting with my own.  Wish me luck!