DIY Wish Tree

Rather than going with the traditional guest book for the wedding, I decided to have a wish tree. I just love the concept and think that it's such an awesome spin on the traditional guest book. If you're not familiar with a wish tree, it is a tree (or set of branches) and guests hang tags with wishes written for the couple. I intend to make a scrapbook after the wedding with all of the tags. Many people use manzanita or curly willow branches and decorate the trees with flowers and dangling crystal beads. Instead of spending money on branches, my dear friend Val and I spent an afternoon hunting for worthy branches around her lake lot. We struck gold. We gathered so many branches that I was able to pick some really great ones for the wish tree. Here is a picture of our pile:

And of de-leafing (and de-spidering) the branches:

There were even baby acorns growing on the branches which we saved so that we could create fun fall decoration:

I contemplated spray painting the branches white, metallic gold, or metallic silver but decided to keep them natural. I figure that it will go along nicely with our rustic theme. I went to Hobby Lobby and picked up some purple and white silk flowers. These will be the color of our flowers at the wedding. I used a hot glue gun to secure the flowers. I am also still considering hanging some sort of crystals from the branches as well. In the case, I have river rocks, which are keeping the branches in place. I will probably also add pine cones in with the rocks in the vase. I am going to decorate the vase as well.

Here is a picture of the wish tree as it is now:

 

 I'm so excited for the wish tree! It is kind of simple now but I think that by the wedding, the finished product will be beautiful! :)