Wedding Shadow Box – A DIY For a Great Gift

My son and daughter-in-law recently celebrated their first wedding anniversary. Even before their wedding day, I knew that I wanted to make them a wedding shadow box to give them as a gift for their first anniversary, and I want to show you how easy it was to put together. In this post, I will help you find new wedding shadow box ideas for you to make at home.

From their engagement party, I started saving little things because I knew what I wanted to make, however, I didn’t know what I wanted to include.

Shapes of shadow boxes

For my wedding shadow box, I had originally chosen a small, square, white box that I actually found in an antique store, and I still really like that box. The problem was that it was much too small to hold all of the things I wanted to display.

As you can see, the one that I used is black and rectangular. The thing that I like the most about this one is that it has a hinge on the front, so you can open it and make changes or take things out without having to take off the back.

a few Wedding Shadow Boxes from amazon

Don’t Forget the Items for a Wedding shadow box

If you are making a shadow box as a wedding gift or wedding anniversary gift, there are so many items you can display. I will give you a list of some possible suggestions, below.

For a Wedding Box:

• Save the date card
• Wedding invitation
• Menu from reception
• Shower invitation
• Place card from reception
• Printed napkin
• Groom’s boutonniere
• Flower(s) from bride’s bouquet
• Bride’s garter
• Printed matchbox
• Pressed flowers from wedding
• Favor from wedding or shower, if small enough
• Favorite photo(s) of the bride and groom
• Lace or ribbon in the style/colors of the wedding
• Confetti used on tables at one or more of the wedding events

Some purchased shadow boxes come with short, decorative pins to keep things in place. If not, you can buy some yourself, which wouldn’t be expensive. I will link some below

When I made mine, I used some pins for things like the paper items and photos, and then I used hot glue to keep things like burlap lace and little foam rosebuds in place.

Materials Used

Shadow Boxes (a few of my favorites are shown, above, with links)

Keepsake items from wedding, reception, engagement, etc.

Decorative pins or tacks (see images and links, above, for a few of my favorites

Hot glue gun with glue sticks

Ribbon or lace that matches the wedding décor

One or two favorite photos of the couple

Instructions:

1. Lay out all of the items that you may want to use, so that you can see everything.
2. Take your time with placing your items in the shadow box; don’t secure anything until you have figured out exactly how you want to lay it out in the shadow box.
3. If you are using ribbon or lace around the perimeter of the inside, start by gluing that down with your hot glue gun.
4. Pin all paper items and photos in place, so you can move them if it’s not quite right.
5. When everything else is put in the box, use the hot glue gun to glue anything else that you want

This is such a personalized gift that there’s no way I, or anyone, can tell you how you should arrange everything you want to display. I think it makes a really nice gift, but if you are the bride, you can absolutely make your own. The shadow boxes are also often used for just the bouquet, which looks very pretty, too

There are so many different colors and shapes of shadow boxes available, I have included a few images and links to some of my favorites, above.

Additional Shadow Box Ideas

Here are some more ideas for shadow boxes:

• Baby’s shadow box
• Shadow box for a pet
• Military shadow box
• Ticket shadow box (you can display your tickets for sporting arenas, plays, movies, etc)
• Memorial shadow box
• Photo shadow box
• Graduation shadow box
• Vacation shadow box (souvenirs from a special vacation, including plane tickets, matchbooks, photos)
• Seashell shadow box

You can see that for everything you create memories about, you can make a shadow box. I’m a sentimental person, so I could just keep going with lists of fun shadow boxes to make.

If you’ve made a shadow box, I would really love you to let me know what kind, in the comment section, below.

Thank you so much for taking the time to stop by my website and read my words. Make a shadow box, for or about a special celebration in your life!

Xoxo Teresa