COASTER THROUGH YOUR WEDDING

Giving your guests wedding favors that combine practicality and beauty is really the most logical way to gift. You don't want to spend money on a  gift for your guests that they are simply going to toss in the bin as soon as they get home. Coffee offers up a multitude of different gifts that guests can really use. One of these options is coasters. Everyone needs coasters to protect valuable surfaces from hot drinks and on top of this coasters can be made in so many different materials that you are sure to find some style that works well with your wedding theme. Of course you are also able to print on all these materials which means your wedding favors can be personalised, which is always a lovely touch.

To start us off one of my personal favorite styles for nearly everything is the chalk board look. You can either have a romantic design printed on the coasters that gives the feel of a chalk board or you can actually have the coasters made with a chalk board surface so that your guests can decorate their coasters themselves. I love this idea as it gives your guests something to do, especially if you also provide them with some chalk. It is really quite a fun activity and an expression of creativity and not forgetting you can wipe it down and start all over again.

The glass coaster can look really stylish when printed on. I love this clever idea of printing the two different designs, especially once they are packaged on top of each other; it creates a stunning effect. Simplicity of design also works well however and a simple monogram or your initials can look equally as effective.

Cork coasters are probably going to be your most cost effective option. They can also easily find their place in a more hipster wedding as well as a slightly more tradtional, elegant wedding, just depending on the design you decide to print on them. I also love the added benefit of being able to have them in different shapes. 

Hessian coasters will look best at a more rustic style wedding especially if you already have touches of it in your other decor.

For a really personal look you can get a picture of yourself and your partner printed on the coasters. These ones are save the dates which is another clever idea, especially if you were planning to have printed ones. This way its not just a useless piece of card that is going to be thrown away. 

 It isn't necessary to print a photograph. You can choose any number of different designs to print on your coasters, all depending on what you want to say and what will work best with the look you are trying to acheive for your big day.

Although this is likely to work out far more expensive than any of the other coasters, stone coasters really are too beautiful not to consider. There's not much more I can say about these ones, the pictures speak for themselves.

These last two coasters are if you are looking for something truly unique. For a more classic wedding the lace doiley encased in glass is perfect or if you are looking for something more fun, then why not try these scrabble coasters. You can buy the lettering in packs from craft shops.  

As you can see there really are so many options when it comes to coasters. You can't go wrong if you choose them as your wedding favors. Guests will love their gifts, both for the beauty and for it's usefulness. 

JUST SLEEVE IT TO YOURSELF

Although not a crucial part of your wedding day coffee bar, having personalised coffee sleeves is certainly a great touch and will definitely add to making your wedding stand out, as well as of course being specific to you and your partner. If you were to get these professionally done, it will probably be a big expense for a small "nice to have" addition. If you have the budget to blow then of course go ahead and have them printed, but if you are on the more budgeting side of the wedding arena and enjoy crafting then read on to discover just how to make your own DIY coffee sleeves.

The first thing you need is the coffee sleeve itself.  There are some places you can buy the blank sleeves from, but not so much if you are South African unless you want to get them from America in which case you may as well not DIY. If you are lucky and do a large amount of craft activities you may be fortunate enough to own a die cutting machine. You can then get the stencil for a coffee sleeve and just use the machine... lucky you.

Picture found on somethingturquoise.com

But for everyone else this only leaves you with the option to print and cut the sleeves yourself, so just make sure if you do take on this project you give yourself more than enough time to complete it. To start you off I've found a template for the coffee sleeves that you can download just follow the link below:
http://www.somerandomdude.com/wp-content/files/diagram_printable.pdf

Once downloaded you will probably find that you will need to adjust the size of the template to suit your cup. And then it's just a matter of printing the template onto the card you want and painstakingly cutting them out.

But now the real fun starts as you get to decorate your coffee sleeves to suit your theme. The first option is to design something on your computer that you can actually print onto your coffee sleeves at the same time as you print your template. I love using Canva for all my designing needs as it's an easy to use programme that is free. The great thing about printing your design onto your sleeves is that it gives them that professional look.

 If you not too phased about having them personalised then you can also just download the whole coffee sleeve already designed for you. Here is one example for you from the Elli Blog, but you can probably find many more:

http://www.elli.com/blog/wedding-coffee-cup-sleeve-printable/

The next design option is to go and crawl into your craft cupboard and pull out some of your dusty stamps from the 90s. There is sure to be something in there that you can use to make your coffee sleeves look really original. I love the idea of stamping your and your partner's initials. It gives it such an organic look. 

Picture found on somethingturquoise.com

If you can't find the stamps or you feel this is not the look you are wanting to acheive why not consider making it really personal by writing on the the sleeves with sharpie pens. You can personalise the cup with people's names, their jobs at the wedding or write your initials on the sleeves. If you don't like your own penmenship consider using a lettering stencil. If you are really arty you could probably draw a whole design on the sleeves, but again just be aware of the time this will take. I feel like with this move towards adult colouring, one might even be inclined to decorate using pencil crayons.

There is also the option of keeping it really simple and just selecting a paper pattern or style that you like, I seem to have an infinity for the gold glitter look; to me it seems to combine classy and fun. You can get so many different paper designs that it really opens up a world of what your sleeves can look like. You can even still add writing, print, stamping or stickers on to the paper, especially if the pattern is not too bold.

Picture found on somethingturquoise.com

You could even consider painting a square, a stripe or any other shape you like onto the sleeve using chalk board paint. Then you can leave it up to your guests to write their names or draw patterns on their sleeves using chalk.

My final thoughts on decorating your coffee sleeves is to make use of stickers, Maybe you already have had personalised wedding stickers printed for something else and you can use the left overs, or perhaps you are really nifty and know how to print your own. You can also have a search in craft and stationary shops for decorative ones or just consider using sticker lettering to write names, initals or funny statements. 

The most important thing is you have fun while making your creative wedding sleeves and on the day your guests will be wowed by your clever creativeness and attention to detail. 

ICE CREAM DREAM

With lazy summer days drifting by I find myself drawn to all things cool and now that the summer wedding season is in full swing I can't help but be inspired by the idea of ice cream and ice lollies dancing their way into the wedding line up. Of course my first priority is always coffee, but the delicious ice cream and ice lolli flavours you get these days are out if this world and coffee can certainly play a big role in this taste sensation.

I honestly don't know why everyone doesn't do this for summer weddings. How amazing it must be after standing around in the sauntering afternoon heat to meander over and grab yourself, a delicious, decadent ice cold ice-cream. I'd ask for two scoops for sure. The flavours available are also to die for from strawberry cheese cake to pistachio to of course my personal favorite oreo and coffee. But then again add coffee to anything and I get excited. And these exquisite flavours are not reserved for ice cream only, the ice lolli has been revolutionised so it is no longer subjected to being simple fruit flavours, but instead consists of an explosion of interesting tastes. 

What's also fun about ice cream is that you can make the setup look cute. You can actually hire an ice cream van or even a cute push cart to really reminisce on childhood days at the beach. This will create a look that falls somewhere between cute childhood day dream and cool hipster nostalgia. But you can also set up a sleek ice cream bar if this fits in better with your wedding styling, just remember you will need some way to keep the ice cream cold, especially in the heat of summer.

Another thing to consider is that if you place it in a jar on ice with a thank you tag, then your dessert can double as a wedding favour. This is great if you are budgeting and can knock off two expenses in one.

What's not to love about having ice cream or ice lollies at your wedding. It looks cute, it cools you down and it tastes delicious, but most importantly it comes in coffee flavours.