Creating a shadow box with one or several of your favorite wedding day mementos is a great way not only to preserve your wedding memories, but also to display them.
You can place everything from a wedding invitation, to your dried floral bouquet, to a collage of wedding day items inside a shadow box.
Your DIY Wedding Shadow Box:
- Purchase a shadow box. Make sure it is constructed out of acid free material.
- Gather the item(s) you want to display.
- Use fabric or special acid free paper to cover the backing – which should also be acid-free. Choose paper or fabric that compliments the items you will be placing inside the shadow box. Glue the fabric or paper to the backing using spray adhesive.
- Arrange your items the way you want them onto the background.
- If you will be using dried or pressed flowers, spray them beforehand with a flower sealer.
- Attach your memorabilia using white latex adhesive.
- After putting the frame together, apply wrapping paper, wallpaper, or any other special paper (it doesn’t have to be acid-free) to the back of the shadow box. You can even cover the back with a collage of wedding photos. Also use the back to include a written description of what is inside the box.
An alternative to a DIY wedding shadow box is simply a special storage box to hold all of your items.
Heather, whose hobby is bookbinding, made a unique storage box called a drop spine box (when the top of the box is opened, one of the sides drops open) for all of her wedding keepsakes.
“We put the guest book, all the returned RSVP cards, select cards people gave us, the wedding programs, my veil, a copy of the readings our friends did in the ceremony… our vows, an invitation, a favor and an invitation to my bridal shower,” she says.
Hatboxes and gift boxes can act as storage boxes. You can also buy something simple and decorate it yourself by painting it, or using decoupage and dried flowers from your bouquet. (If the box is cardboard make sure you keep it a dry place, otherwise it could get mildew.)
