It’s Wedding Wednesday again, and today I am bringing you another DIY project. We decided not to have wedding cake and had cupcakes instead! When we started to do some research we were really disappointed with the options available on Etsy for cupcake stands. They just weren’t what we were looking for at all. We wanted something wood that would fit with the industrial and slightly rustic decor of Archeo (our venue).

Everything we could find was either plastic, square (we wanted round) or way to expensive! We also wanted each stand to hold 60 cupcakes and most only hold about 30 max! A lot of the reclaimed wood options we found were upwards for $300 and that didn’t include shipping. We needed two, so that was just way too much for cupcake stands we would likely NEVER use again. Sad face.

We really lucked out because James brother is super handy and offered to make them for us! He used pine and it only took him about 3 hours to do it! Talk about a life saver. We now had a super cost effective alternative and Jesse made then exactly how we wanted them. THANKS JESSE!!!

If you have a friend or family member who can do some woodworking it’s a real blessing! Jesse told us it wasn’t that hard (though to me finding the ON switch for a table saw would be hard) so reach out to the people who are available to help you! Planning a wedding is stressful, time consuming and of course expensive. Take the help when it’s offered : )

Step 1:

Get your super awesome brother-in-law to make you cupcake stands

Step 2:

Stain.

When Jesse gave them to us they were untreated so we went to Canadian Tire and chose the stain that we thought would look best (I believe it was called Walnut?). We applied one coat of the stain and let dry over night.

Step 3:

Sand that baby down!

Once the stain was completely dried we (aka James) used a sander to create the worn in look we wanted. Sanding makes the wood look more rustic and natural. Then we applied ANOTHER coat of stain, let it dry over night and sanded it again.

There was some trial and error of course. One of the stands was sanded too much so we had to add more stain but in the end we were happy with how they came out.

Step 4:

Top Coat

After we had sanded them we applied a top coat that sealed everything in. This gave them a slightly glossy look and it also protects the surface from water or anything else that could seep into the wood and ruin it. And that’s it! Here’s the finished product!

Morgan Falk Photography

If you don’t have someone who can help you make one, there are some nice options that have been popping up on Etsy recently (I wish they existed a year ago!). This one is really neat, it’s just a little on the small side.

Did you have dessert at your wedding? A traditional cake? Cupcakes? Dessert table? Tell me everything!