Feathers: It's Not Just a Bunch of Fluff

Do you remember making crafts as a child with feathers? Maybe you traced the outline of your hand on some construction paper and cut it out, embellishing your new “hand-turkey” with big colored feathers and a pair of googly-eyes. Well, feathers (or our knowledge of them) have come along way since then! Feathers are available in so many sizes and styles, and in almost any color scheme, it would be hard not to find something that would work well as fashion, or decoration.

Do you want a little throwback to the older days? A fine feathered fascinator might do just the trick for you! Popular at cocktail parties of the past, and making a comeback to the fashion forward, these small hats adorned with feathers and birdcage netting are sure to draw attention to the wearer, whether she’s the star of the show or a member of the supporting cast.

And let’s not let the feminine side hog all the limelight, boutonnieres can have feathers too! You can still display a masculine quality in a feathered accessory if done right, but still compliment your other half’s feathered finery. If you just don’t know how to make frilly feathers work for the bridegroom, The Test Of Time Weddings can create custom-designed pieces for the soon-to-be-wed and your attendants!

There are a few more reasons why feathers are your friends, when it comes to the DIY crowd, you can make your feathered accessories way in advance! If you’re not sure if you want to include real flowers at all because they’ll just end up dying anyway, you can create bouquets/boutonnieres early and use that precious time within days of the wedding to attend to last minute items. They are a long lasting momento, or can also be a reusable accessory for your wedding party when they spend a night on the town!

Centerpieces, fashion statements, or the old stand-by guest book pen, adding feathers to the flock of fancies at your wedding will give your guests something to be tickled about!

DIY - High Style Glamour!

I happened to stumble across this as I was looking for photos of what was in my head for my own wedding and these were nealry exactly it! They are so easy to make for a completely custom, one-of-a-kind look.

The vases are from Ikea and are 30" tall. You should be able to find something similar anywhere. Get creative with the shape too. As long as they are translucent so the light shines through and narrow at the top so you don't need 8 million feather, they'll work.

For these, they covered the vase with a peach colored girl's tights though you can use any color to match you decor. Then they wrapped the vase in tulle to give it texture.

They are lit with lights from Instalyte. There are orange, yellow and white lights used in these for a soft, peachy glow. They rigged a styrofoam light holder with tiny mirrors to reflect the light and attached this to some thread. On the morning of the wedding, the lights were turned on and lowered into the vases using the thread.

I would suggest attaching all the ostrich feathers to florist wire and sticking them into a piece for florist foam that will fit into the neck of the vase. This will make them more sturdy and you can sick them upward to make it look fuller.

Ostrich feathers are rather expensive but shop around. I found them on eBay at a great price. The people that did these got them through a place called Mother Plucker. You have to call to order them as online only sells boas and wings.

You can scatter faux crystals, tealights, or anything else around the base if you'd like. Gorgeous!