Project: A Lovely Love Story
Inspiration: I came across the "Lovely Love Story" by Edward Monkton when I was reading this article on Offbeat Bride. We have some other readings in mind for the ceremony, so I thought about where else we could use it. It was sort of silly, so I decided maybe it could go in a coloring/activity book for the kids. But, I decided I'd like to share it with more than just our adorable ring bearer and flower girl. So, I decided I would make a display of it. At this time I also remembered the super cute dinosaur cake toppers I had seen online. We wouldn't be using those for a cake topper because dinosaurs aren't thattt special to us (although with the excitement on my fiance's face the entire time we were watching Jurassic World, you might think otherwise), but what if I used something similar for little props/visual interest!? Thus the project was born. Here is a link to the dinosaur cake toppers (per the picture included) that I really liked and drew my inspiration from.
Cost/Materials: The dinosaurs are probably going to be the biggest cost if you do this project. I originally thought I would go with bigger ones (that would run closer to $6-10 a piece) but since I am perpetually cheap and found some adorable, albeit miniature, ones for $2 each plus coupon, I ended up with those. I got them at Michaels. Also at Michaels, I had picked up these black foam numbers and symbols, just because they were on clearance, but it ends up they worked out perfectly for the hat and bow tie. These could alternatively be made with paper/ribbon, but I like the look of the foam. The gemstones were another clearance find at 90 cents for the whole package, and the small piece of tulle was borrowed from a roll I got at Dollar Tree for a different project. I used super glue to keep the accessories on the dinosaurs. For the story, I used Vistaprint to get an 11''x17'' print to make the story easy to read at a distance wherever we set it up (I'm thinking near the photo booth so people have something to check out if they're waiting for their turn, or at the bar). I got a easel stand at Hobby Lobby to hold the story up, but it ends up it's too small because the poster print isn't as stiff as I thought it would be - I'll need to find something else.
How I Did It: One of the first things I did was re-format the story. I kept the integrity of it and of course cited the author, but I wanted it to read smoothly, since the story refers to its two characters as "The Dinosaur" and "The Lovely Other Dinosaur." To show the differences, I stacked their back-and-forth parts, and gave them different fonts. Then, I just had some fun decorating the dinos! Originally I just had a necklace on the "bride" dino, and a bow-tie on the "groom" one, but it wasn't quite enough. My fiance suggested a top hat for the groom, which I fashioned out of pieces of the foam (cutting them up and supergluing them together), and then I gave the bride a veil to match. I superglued all these accessories. Even though all the elements had a bit of adhesive on their own, it wasn't enough to trust, especially if guests are picking them up to check them out.
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