How to make your own DIY wood Wedding Sign

Wooden Wedding signs are the perfect way to welcome guests, tell them where your gift table is, give them directions and even just as pretty décor that you hang in your home forever. There are tonnes of inspirational pictures online which show the huge range of pinterest worthy signs that you can make. Follow us below for inspiration: 

If you want to make your own rustic wedding signage, follow my simple steps below: 

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Just a few things you'll need:

• Some wood (stained or painted if you prefer). Make sure it has been sanded and is nice and smooth. I got mine from my local hardware shop.

• A paintbrush or sponge

• Some paint – I use opaque white paint that shows up really well on stained wood but you can use any colour you want, just make sure it can be read clearly.

• A vinyl stencil – I made mine using my cricut but you can use a silhouette, try and cut out your own if the design is simple or buy one pre-made. I used Ritrama Permanent Vinyl

• Some transfer tape

The 10 steps to a perfect DIY wedding sign...

1. Weed out the letters from your stencil if you haven’t done already, being careful to leave in the bits in between the letters.

2. Position your vinyl where you want it to go on the wood. Measure it out and use masking tape as a guide if you want to be more exact.

3. Cut your transfer paper to the same size as your design. Place it over the top and make sure it’s smoothed down so there are no bubbles (I use a store card to do this)

4. Once the transfer paper is fully stuck to the vinyl, you can then peel the back off the stencil. Again make sure you don’t take any of the in between of the letters bits with you. If you do though, make sure to save them and then stick them back on afterwards.

5. Place your vinyl stencil, still with the transfer paper on, on top of the wood sign facing upwards. Again smooth over it with your card or similar in order to get rid of any air bubbles. 
 

6. When there are definitely no air bubbles left then you can peel the transfer paper off and you're ready to start painting.

7. Using either your paint brush or sponge, start with one very light coat of paint, making sure to be careful not to put too much on and push it underneath the stencil. Leave this to dry for 1-2 hours.
 

8. When it is still sticky, add the 2nd coat. Repeat the same again for a third coat if you feel it needs it. Once you're happy with your paint coverage, leave it another hour or so and then start peeling off the stencil (NEVER let it fully dry - dry paint will flake off with the stencil and will ruin all of your hard work!) 

9. Peel the stencil off super slowly and follow around each letter as you pull it off. If you have any bits of paint you have scratched off accidentally, go around with a smaller brush to fill these in.
 

10. And hey presto, you're done! Choose any kind of style, wording, size or colour you want for a truly unique but professional looking wedding sign...

(If you also want to learn how to make your own guest book like this photo, then check out my tutorial here)

 

Other tips

• If you have a large stencil, cut it into sections so it is easier to place and to take off.

• Be careful not to go over the edges of the vinyl so you don't get white marks around your stencil

• Save your transfer paper - I usually use mine about 2-3 times.

• If you do end up with any spillage around the letters, use some white spirit or brush cleaner and a tiny bit of kitchen roll to wipe around the letters, being super careful not to smudge anything further.

Let's be honest, not every bride and/or groom to be has the time to make every single detail for the wedding of their dreams. If you are short on time to find wood and to make wedding signs, and/or want something professionally finished, try NikkiWhistonInks in the UK or Customising your way in the US. 

If you would rather make a vinyl decal sign, then follow my instructions for those here. 

I'd love to hear how you got on making your own wedding signs or if you have any other wedding signage ideas. Drop me a comment below!