Shadow Boxes: A Little Snapshot of Our Wedding

Remember a while ago when I bought these cheap shadow boxes?

(Purchased to fill the blank space on a wall, when I had to move the frame that was there to another wall, to replace a frame that broke when it fell off the wall)

Well, not too long after purchasing these frames, I hung them up, but with nothing in them. I didn't have anything good to use as placeholder art, but wanted to make the living room feel more complete, so up they went, teal colored paper sheet they came with and all.

But finally, I was inspired to fill the shadow boxes! I'd planned a long time ago to make a shadow box with some mementos from our wedding, and with these empty shadow boxes looking me in the face, it was the perfect opportunity.

So I dug through my old boxes of wedding stuff, and printed out some photos to make a collage for the shadow boxes. Unfortunately, I couldn't find my husband's dried boutineer, but I'm sure it will turn up eventually. I distinctly remember hiding it in some kind of little box or something, somewhere "safe" where it wouldn't get damaged in our move, but I guess it was such a good hiding place that now I can't remember where I put it!

Wanna see the finished (but not yet re-hung) shadow boxes? :)

(Tip: After you figure out how you want to display your shadow box items, take a photo of the layout before you glue/tape everything into place. It makes a good reference, and is a lot easier than trying to remember the exact layout you liked after picking things up to apply the glue and tape.)

And how about some close ups?

Below shows one of my "something old" items, a little bear I gave my grandma when I was 3 years old, that she carried around with her in her purse for 20 years, until my grandpa gave it back to me after she passed away. Also, one of my Cola rehearsal bouquet flowers, as a nod to my time writing for Weddingbee. And in the far bottom right, some fabric from the napkin rings I made.

A close up of our laser-cut invitations. So much work, with all the cutting, folding (I even hand made the pocketfolds!), and gluing, but I'm still so proud of them.

I had to include a photo of our six foot tall cupcake tower that my husband and I built together, since that was another one of my favorite wedding projects. And also one of the rocks from our "wishing stone" guestbook, signed by my parents. My mom even drew a little flower on it, just like from our invitations.

And now for a closer look at the second shadow box.

Our programs, and a few leftover flowers that I had after I turned the cuffs from my DIY wedding shoes into a clutch.

One of the magnets from our save the dates, and of course, a photo of our first kiss as husband and wife!

And finally, the belly band from our invitations, and our LED luminary escort cards, another favorite wedding project of mine (partly because my husband did most of the work, haha!)

It's just too bad I can't leave the batteries turned on all the time, to glow like they did at our wedding.

(Above photo, and photos used in the shadow boxes by Shoot Me Now Photography)

Now, the reason I haven't re-hung these shadow boxes is because now that I put together these little snapshots of our wedding, I'm thinking they would be more appropriate in our main hallway. So I need to get even more hanging strips.

Of course, now I'm yet again left with a blank wall in our living room. Complete with the little hanging strips still in place from when the empty shadow boxes were hanging there!

Ah, well, guess it's back to the drawing board...and to the hardware store for hanging strips, so I can hang these freshly completed shadow boxes. I'm pretty excited, considering we've been hitched for over a year, and these will be the first wedding photos we've put up!

Did you find a way to showcase any mementos from your wedding? And how long did it take you after getting married to hang or display your wedding photos?