As part of the “wedding factory” as my fiance has dubbed it, I completed two pallet projects for us to display at the reception.  I actually got these pallets from the builders down the street who we re-doing a brick wall in our neighborhood.  They probably thought I was a little weird since they didn’t speak English and I was asking if I could take their dirty used pallets.  Language barrier aside, I was able to get them into the back of my SUV and home they went.

I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do with them at first, but I knew I wanted to make something rustic for the wedding.  After scouring ideas on Pinterest I decided to make a welcome sign that we could eventually hang in our home as a keepsake after the wedding, and a photo display board with our names and wedding date.

After enlisting the help of my “wedding factory worker” fiance, we were able to pry the boards off the frame so I could mount them on 2×4’s.  I used outdoor self-tapping decking screws to secure the pallet planks to the wood.

Once that step was complete I gave them a good sanding with 120 grit paper and then wiped them down several times with an old wet rag.  I let them dry out for a day and then sealed them with water based Minwax Polycrylic.

Then I took the smaller pallet and free-hand painted our names and the wedding date with white paint. I didn’t want it to be perfect so I opted not to use stencils.

For the picture display, I used a staple gun to secure twine to the pallet boards and then tied a simple knot to hide the staple.

Clothespins add to the rustic charm to hold all of our favorite engagement photos.  

I had one little board left over from the first pallet so I decided to use some small stencils (no free-hand painting for something this small!) for our names and the date.

I love how they both turned out and I can’t wait to display them in less than two weeks!

As Seen On:  Lamberts Lately, Thrifty Thursday, Homesteading Hippy, Fridays Unfolded