THE WEDDING TREE PROJECT

I’ve always, always loved Christmas. There’s not going to be much to “remember me” by when I die, but if I had one thing, just that one thing I want family and friends to know and remember it’s to know “she loved Christmas”! And Oh those Christmas memories created for us by my own mom! All of the baking, the smell of cinnamon in the air, the cooking, the decorating, the tree, twinkling lights, the Christmas carols, shopping, wrapping, presents – anything and everything, I. Just. Love. It.! If it was up to me, we’d have the house decorated 9 months out of the year! (the other 3 months are too hot, and Christmas is supposed to be chilly weather – maybe with a few snow flurries thrown in!).

I also thoroughly enjoy making wreaths out of grapevine and garland! Many years ago I found a “spiral grapevine” at Michaels I believe – I no longer remember, but I’m pretty sure it was them. I figured, why not try and create a “Christmas Tree” out of this spiral. So I purchased several packages of the garland and through trial and error, created my very first “Christmas Tree”.

Yeah, I know, I get it – that’s one really SAD looking Christmas Tree! But hey, it really was my “first attempt”. This picture was from 1993, and yes, it really is the very first one I made. I don’t know or remember how it exactly happened, but one day while trying to come up with a wedding gift for friends of ours, I kept trying to figure out what to gift the couple. What could we do that was unique, different, and would last years! I knew we wanted to give cash, but I wanted to present the cash with a gift also. Somehow – I ended up seeing photos of this tree, and I wondered to myself, why can’t I just take something like this, decorate it using information about the wedding (colors, flowers, etc…). So there you have it – this poor pitiful looking tree to the right ended up being the “inspiration” behind my Wedding Trees!

Through the years I’ve also made my trees as Christmas gifts for friends and family. The one you see to the left was made with “reds” – specifically Chili Peppers in 2001! This tree ended up being about 3 1/2 feet tall, and I believe I used close to 54 FEET of garland around it. I wish I had better pictures of it! My friend who received this has had the Chili Pepper tree on her porch – the last I knew!

When I first started making the Trees, the Grapevine was a lot thicker and actually had wire through it making it much sturdier as a base. To construct a tree, making it about 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 feet tall I used the following craft items:

*Grapevine Spiral, usually 9′ long
*Pine Garland, each strand is 9′ long – from 4-6 strands total
*1 50 to 100 strand of Mini Lights
*Dried Spanish Moss, Baby’s Breath, thin natural wood sticks
*Dried flowers in Wedding Colors
*A bag of large sized potpourri leaves/balls/pinecones, etc…
*Doves, birds, butterflies
*Anything specific to the wedding “theme” (If there is one)
*For weddings, I fold dollar bills (any denomination) and wire them to the tree
*For Christmas, I will use Christmas decorations & ribbons from craft supply stores
*Lots and lots of glue for the glue guns – I have 2 heating to make these

I’ve often thought about making the trees and then selling them; however, the time, expense and the shipping costs involved don’t really make this a “reality”. The total cost involved does vary, depending on (1) how many garland strands I use; (2) whether I have to order online in bulk for dried flowers + those shipping/tax costs to me; (3) the type of decorations – potpourri, charms (like I did for Philip & Tara’s Wedding Tree); (5) the amount of dollars I fold & wire to the tree; (6) Shipping is average about $45-$50 due to the size of the carton and the destination. So as you can see, there are a lot of different variables going into making the trees and the cost involved. Time-wise, it takes me anywhere from 40-70 hours to complete one. One of the things I do is create a tree, start decorating it, then leave the “first try” sitting out so I can walk around it, look at it for a few days or a week or so and decide if I’m happy with the final product. If not, I go back and add more items/decorations until I am happy with it!

Every Christmas tree I make, I make from the heart! Christmas is as much a part of me as anything else around me! As I said in the beginning, I absolutely love everything about Christmas (and yah, I do say “Merry Christmas”). Making these trees is never, EVER about the cost involved – else I wouldn’t be making them! Sometimes yes, I do worry that people won’t like them – that the recipients are not really “into” handmade things, or something like this. I usually wait on pins and needles, getting that “sick” feeling in the pit of my stomach until I hear something! I always just hope those given the tree remember all of the work and time involved – but really remember it was made for them by loving hands as a gift from the spirit of Christmas – Love!

CREATING THE “WEDDING TREE” For more complete photos, please visit: Wedding Tree Photo Gallery
The Start	Decorations Base	Completed Decorations	18′ Garland so far
Photo Charms	Gluing Garland	Decorations Up Close	Up Close

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