easy rustic wedding cake stand

Thanks to Covid, 2021 is becoming the year of the wedding! My youngest son and his bride were among the many couples who had to postpone their wedding plans due to the pandemic. They still tied the knot but rescheduled the big bash for later. And later is in two short weeks, so I’m feverishly working on last minute wedding tasks. However, this rustic wedding cake stand was one of the easiest DIYs I’ve ever tackled. I even had all the supplies on hand!

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supplies needed:

• 2 wooden crates (bought from Michaels)
• repositionable sticker paper
• wood stain

step 1 – stain crates

I first planned to build a custom platform for the cake stand but remembered I had several small  wooden crates stored in my craft room. 

I also found some dark walnut stain on hand. I applied it with a foam brush then wiped away the excess. I also stained the inside of the crates. 

*Tip – I recently discovered you can order pre-stained crates instead of painting your own.

step 2 – apply lettering

If you’re a calligraphy pro with a steady hand, you can easily paint your wording onto the crates. I, however, took a safer approach. With a photo editing program (PicMonkey), I played around with different fonts until I found one I liked. Then I printed out the wording in different sizes on white computer paper until I found which size worked best. Once I decided on the font and size, I printed the words onto clear repositionable sticker paper. I peeled off the backing and adhered the stickers to the crates. 

Truthfully, these labels are not as professional looking as custom cut letters or stencils. But for the Cricut deprived crafter, it’s an easy option. And for a simple, rustic post-Covid wedding bash in an actual 100-year-old barn in the middle of some Indiana cornfields, I think this cake stand will work beautifully. If need be, I’ll remind any Martha Stewarts on the guest list that the focus is not on my calligraphy skills but on that happy young couple on the dance floor finally getting a chance to celebrate their big day.   

The biggest compliment is a little share – pin the photo below!