So, you’re getting married outside in a large park that your guests might not be familiar with. On your invites, tell them to “follow the hearts” to your ceremony, then whip together this easy DIY. Or, don’t, and place the hearts in a random pattern around your ceremony or reception spot. Or, do a shape other than hearts. Stars. Or polka-dots. Or something really bad ass. We’re not saying you’re heart kind of people, necessarily. I mean, you’re having a guerrilla wedding, you’re already creative. Use this technique and make something awesome.
You’re going to need basic, white baking flour, powdered food coloring, a flour sifter, a mixing bowl and spoon, a large piece of cardboard, a pen, scissors, and plastic baggies. Save yourself a few pennies and buy the cheapest flour you can find. I have a serious baking store here in NYC where I bought the powdered food coloring, but you can also get it online here.
Mix together some food coloring and some flour. Slowly add more food coloring until you achieve the level of color you want. Transfer the colored flour to plastic bags for easy transport. This step can be done months before your wedding.
Draw a huge heart on your cardboard and cut it out to create a stencil. On the day of your wedding, lay the heart stencil on the ground and slowly sift the colored flour over it. Carefully lift the stencil and move it to the next spot you’d like your hearts. Here, I made a heart path, but try a cluster or just a spattering of colored hearts.
Oh, and good news, NO CLEAN UP. Flour is natural, you’re not using very much of it, and it’s going to be scattered and gone like magic. The magic of a guerrilla wedding, of course.
Photos by Monica of Hart & Sol East, Crafting and Graphic Design by Michelle Edgemont, with Crafting Assistance by Amber Marlow (all APW advertisers)
This post includes Sponsors, who are a key part of supporting APW. For more information, see our Directory pages for Hart & Sol East, Michelle Edgemont, and Amber Marlow.
Cool!
Just one note of caution: Food coloring is an EXCELLENT idea, and try not to “drip” uncolored flour all over the place – I would think that stenciled designs make it pretty obvious it’s just decor. “Unidentified white powder” can prompt a visit from the bioterrorism squad (don’t ask me how I know).
June 14, 2012 10:25 am
Report this comment
|
HAHAHAHA, good point y’all.
June 14, 2012 10:40 am
Report this comment
|
See, thanks to this, I can’t get the song “Cocaine” out of my mind. ;)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAUobrjo9-k
White powder in 2012 = biohazard
White powder in 1988 – cocaine
June 14, 2012 11:26 am
Report this comment
|
I had my guerilla wedding six months ago, without even realizing that’s what I was doing really. I so wish you had done this series last year! It never occurred to me that a spontaneous wedding could have (simple) decor.
June 14, 2012 10:33 am
Report this comment
|
I am Latin American, so the name “guerrilla wedding”gives me the chills…
Anyhow, I LOVED the DIY!
June 14, 2012 10:49 am
Report this comment
|
Uhh yes, in that cultural context that does not sound so much awesome, and definitely would give me the chills… perhaps “Spontaneous Wedding” is a better term. :)
June 14, 2012 12:01 pm
Report this comment
|
Found the term at the bottom of these comments “Pop-Up” Wedding!
June 18, 2012 11:07 am
Report this comment
|
I’m wondering if we could maybe say “rebellious weddings” or something like that and get the same general idea?
June 14, 2012 2:12 pm
Report this comment
|
I defintely get this. For the last few decades the word has been appropriated by English speakers and given a different connotation, maybe even a different meaning in some circles. But it is still a word for war, for sabatoage at the least. We need something catchy for love.
Wedding Improv? Semi-Random Acts of Wedding? (Not totally random. You still want to end up with the right person at the end of it all.)
June 15, 2012 8:39 am
Report this comment
|
OMG, terrific idea, keep these guerilla wedding ideas, they’re great! Had to laugh, tho, my sister-in-law used to do this same thing every Easter for the eight-cousin Family Easter Egg Hunt Extravaganza — she got up at the crack of dawn and sifted bunny tracks all over her yard! ;-)
June 14, 2012 10:51 am
Report this comment
|
Great idea! I might steal this idea for my son’s birthday party in the park – except make a Mickey Mouse stencil.
June 14, 2012 11:21 am
Report this comment
|
We’re having a birthdays party in a month and I’m totally gonna do this!! Polka dots and stars I’m thinking.
June 14, 2012 2:15 pm
Report this comment
|
YES! I would totally even do Mickey stencils for my wedding. Hidden Mickeys!!
June 14, 2012 3:22 pm
Report this comment
|
Or you could just use sidewalk chalk? I guess that wouldn’t work on grass though…
June 14, 2012 11:32 am
Report this comment
|
Love this. I’ve been looking for an alternative to sidewalk chalk and I think I have found it! Thanks.
June 14, 2012 11:45 am
Report this comment
|
Brilliant! I’m getting married in central park, which is very confusing for non-new yorkers, and I think I will totally borrow this idea!!!!!
June 14, 2012 12:12 pm
Report this comment
|
I would have paid money for a pathway to the weddings I’ve shot in Central Park. :)
June 14, 2012 3:08 pm
Report this comment
|
This is a fun idea! I may use this for backyard parties later this summer :-)
June 14, 2012 12:18 pm
Report this comment
|
Pretty, but…has anyone seen this done before a rain? Does it make a gloppy mess? I’m also concerned about wildlife. Sure, flour is natural, but so is rice and there’s a reason we stopped throwing that at weddings. Sorry, don’t mean to be a buzz kill!
June 14, 2012 5:54 pm
Report this comment
|
Flour does not puff up like crazy in critters’ stomachs, so that’s probably okay. Also, flour generally rinses cleanly off of things if you use cold water, so since rain is usually not hot water, it’d probably be fine (if there was a fine mist to get the flour damp, then it dried again, it might cake on, but it’ll still eventually wash off). I’d be a bit more worried about the food coloring staining everything in reach when it gets wet…
June 15, 2012 8:39 am
Report this comment
|
Well, in a lot of places, summer = warm rain on hot pavement. And if I ate straight flour, I’d feel pretty crappy. The environmentalist in me is really hesitant about this one. I’d stick with sidewalk chalk, if only to deter critters from eating it.
June 15, 2012 11:12 am
Report this comment
|
My sister’s low-key second wedding reception is in 2 days. I’m loving these quick and simple decorating ideas for that. They’re so pin-worthy.
June 14, 2012 6:05 pm
Report this comment
|
LOVE this! I just met with a lovely bride who is having a “pop up” wedding on the lake in October. This would be perfect :-D
June 18, 2012 8:19 am
Report this comment
|
[...] durchs Dorf. Hübsch anzusehen und auch recht schnell gemacht. Die Anleitung haben wir bei a practical wedding gefunden. Und das Ergebnis ist [...]
June 23, 2012 11:52 pm
Report this comment
|
[...] came across this adorable DIY idea on A Practical Wedding! Now you’ve seen wedding signs all over pointing guests in directions to the ceremony, the [...]
June 28, 2012 7:15 am
Report this comment
|
[...] apracticalwedding.com via Bridesmaids and Weddings on [...]
July 6, 2012 6:50 am
Report this comment
|
[...] Hair – Audrey Cashman of Up Style Junkie via Green Wedding Shoes ♠ Flour Hearts – A Practical Wedding ♠ Cake Topper – Oh Dier Living ♠ Nails – Kate Broughton ♠ Place Cards [...]
July 16, 2012 12:39 am
Report this comment
|
[...] and Black, Chalk Hearts, Poofs, [...]
August 7, 2012 11:01 am
Report this comment
|
[...] of hearts that incorporate your story!! (Martha Stewart Weddings) Another cute heart pathway idea (A Practical Wedding) Married on a floor of roses shaped in a heart… So romantic! (Ruffled) Signs of love at the [...]
August 29, 2012 8:22 am
Report this comment
|
but why do you use flour instead of chalk ? does it say longer or look better?
September 27, 2012 10:52 am
Report this comment
|
[...] to get kids involved with, you can even forget the coloured flour just let them use chalk. Thanks A Practical Wedding, great [...]
October 16, 2012 3:02 am
Report this comment
|
[...] Image credits: 1. Ruffled 2. Weddings by Lilly 3. Luna and Chloe Weddings 4. A Practical Wedding [...]
November 20, 2012 11:31 pm
Report this comment
|
[...] à la craie ou tout simplement avec un peu de farine colorée. Cette idée dénichée sur le blog a practical wedding est simple à réaliser et peu [...]
November 29, 2012 1:46 pm
Report this comment
|
[...] to Love? You can re-create this idea by drawing free-hand hearts with side-walk chalk or creating a stencil and flour chalk for a more professional look spreading some Love on Valentines Day at your home (idea: the [...]
February 2, 2013 5:28 pm
Report this comment
|
This is a great idea to make path for the bride and wedding party..But stepping on it would make tracks every where I’m thinking.
March 1, 2013 4:57 am
Report this comment
|
[...] or similar large, outdoor venue that guests might not know their way around? Snag this idea from a Practical Wedding, and tell guests to “follow their hearts” to your [...]
March 11, 2013 5:01 am
Report this comment
|
Hey, I would love to do this! Could anyone tell me if it is better to wet the ground first for the flour to stick better/ last longer?
And does it work on grass?
Looks like I’ll have to start experimenting..
:)
Cheers
April 4, 2013 1:56 am
Report this comment
|
[...] THIS! So cute. What a great wedding idea. From A Practical Wedding. Dye flour with food coloring and make a trail to the wedding path. Flour won’t harm anything [...]
May 1, 2013 9:25 am
Report this comment
|