The Wedding Guest Bench

 had a really hard time with the legs, through trial and error I got them, just make sure you leave 3/4 of an inch between the end of the board and your screw...and you'll be fine. I'm an expert on legs now! Also, I had the V on the bottom of it, but for my taste, it looked a little well, cluttered, so I removed it, and loved the sleek lines. 

If you'd like your own wedding bench, complete with custom engraving, and Bows! you can contact me at jim2angie@hotmail.com and I'll get working on it for your special day

A fun build, lots of work, mostly teaching myself to engrave, that was an adventure on it's own, even learned to make my own bows! Had to get the right stain color, too dark, and no signatures would show so had to find a happy medium, I think it came out great...what do you think? Modified Ana White's http://ana-white.com/2013/02/large-rustic-x-bench

the Beautiful Couple...My bench fit in perfectly with their mountain wedding

 loads of Signatures, used paint pens from Walmart, thankfully came up with a free reusable build for the pen...http://angidotes.blogspot.com/2013/09/reusable-pen-holder-bonus-gift.html

The Build

 The legs that gave me fits, I used my Kreg Jig where I could, didn't want screws to show

 

Avoid some bruises, round out the edges. I use 100 grit sandpaper and my palm sander

 Bottom of the bench, attached, if you look closely, you can see the engraving, looked good, but a neighborhood poll resulted in "too small" so redid it.

 a little blurry...but sturdy 

I watched a few videos on Utube, headed to Walmart to pick up some ribbon, always use the wire ribbon, and while shopping, I struck up a conversation with another lady picking up ribbon. She asked what I needed it for, and when I told her it was for a wedding bench, she offered to show me how to make them. I bought scissors, the ribbon she recommended, a few water bottles, it was 105 that day, and we went out to the parking lot, using the back of my Tahoe and made ribbons! Now that I type this, I'm glad I didn't end up on a milk carton. Fun fact, she's a 911 operator, and I'm an ER nurse. I made a new friend and got an invaluable bow lesson. 

Close up of my custom engraving, I'm gonna do a post about this...now everything will be personalized!

If you'd like your own wedding bench, complete with custom engraving, paint pens, and Bows! you can contact me at jim2angie@hotmail.com and I'll get working on it for your special day