A Fabulously Frugal Wedding Gift Idea

I think we've all been there, and some of us have been on both sides: the wedding gift.

I know many people who give $100+ as wedding gifts (and let me tell you, I looooved having those people at our wedding!), but that is just not a reality for us right now. Our budget is tight since I'm at home, and that forces me to get creative and really stretch the money that we do spend on our friends and family's weddings.

I usually shop from the bridal registry for the bridal shower, but I feel a little more flexibility when it comes to the wedding gift. I will say this: if you're coming up with your own gift for the bride and groom, please be sure you have a sense of their style/colors, etc. Some of my favorite gifts from our wedding ended up being gifts that didn't come from the registry, but on the other hand, some of the "creative" gifts we got were things that I've never used or gotten rid of (just being honest here!).

Since my cousin is getting married this weekend in Providence, I thought I'd show you the gift I created for them - for less than $10!

I know my cousin's fiancee fairly well, and she's only a few years older than me, which helps. I also know that she loves the color brown because I made sure to look at a lot of the other things she registered for, so I know that this gift will fit in nicely in their home.

-------

I decided to frame their wedding invitation.

{Disclaimer: I am sure that I am not the first person to ever give this as a gift, but I do know that the idea popped into my head one day. So I promise I'm not intentionally ripping someone off!}

The tricky thing is, their invitation was 7x7 - not your standard frame size. So, I figured out a way to make it work!

I bought this frame at Marshalls for $7.99. It has two mats on the inside, so you could choose your size. I kept the one with the 8x10 opening.

I started out using this paper, but I just couldn't get it to work. Plus it added too much of a fall element to the frame, and they have a winter wedding, so I scrapped it (haha! get it?!).

I found a great piece of chocolate brown scrapbook paper

at Michael's for 99 cents (I love the detail).

I just taped the invite to the paper, then taped the paper to the back of the mat and trimmed it to fit (I chose to tape rather than hot-glue because a) I didn't want to take a chance that the invitation would bubble, and b) She can change the scrapbook paper out later if it fades or she wants a different color.)

I have neither the time nor the inclination to edit my photos, which is why you see the big pieces of brown paper taped over their last names and the event location. :)

A simple yet classy gift that is about as personalized as you can get - that definitely works for me!

I'm not sure if you can tell from my amazing photo, but there is a faint brown "G" in the middle of the invitation that I absolutely love.

I am also including a brown frame for a honeymoon picture (on sale at Kohl's for $5.99), two candles that smell a-ma-zing from Kohl's (sale prices: $4.79 and $5.99), and a "G" (their monogram) on clearance at HomeGoods for $4. All combined, this gift is costing less than $30 since everything but the big frame was on sale.

I hope they enjoy it - I had fun creating it! Now I need to find our wedding invitation and do one for my own house!

Linked to the following parties:

DIY Day @ A Soft Place to Land

Frugalicious Friday @ Finding Fabulous

Thrifty Thursday @ Tales from Bloggeritaville

Frugal Friday @ Life as Mom

Works for Me Wednesday @ We are That Family

Show and Tell Friday @ My Romantic Home

Transformation Thursday @ The Shabby Chic Cottage

Saturday Nite Special @ Funky Junk Interiors

Show and Tell @ Blue Cricket Designs