DIY Detail: Aisle Runner

I'll be honest, our aisle runner was one DIY project I was absolutely terrified of doing. I'd read all kinds of tutorials, but paint on a piece of fabric just seemed so scary - There really isn't much room for error. The aisle runner was actually number 2 on my list of DIY projects, and it was the last one to be completed. I put off buying fabric until April (which, by the way, I used muslin - It's cheap and much thicker than the aisle runners they have in the wedding aisles at Hobby Lobby or Michaels) and then it sat in a bag until the Thursday night before the wedding. 

Unfortunately I don't have any pictures, but at 1 AM David and I laid out the fabric, put the design we'd printed off under it, and started tracing. Since I didn't take any pictures of the process it'd be kind of a hard to do a tutorial, but there are several great ones that you can follow. These are two of my favorites. After it was entirely traced he started on the detailed parts with a smaller brush and I started on the larger parts. Our aisle had quite a bit going on, so I didn't want a huge monogram or anything that was really distracting. I absolutely love how it turned out:

We had several people ask if we'd embroidered the design, so I guess it looked pretty good in person! We laid the aisle runner down after our rehearsal so we could put the rose petals out. I know most people don't have the entire bridal party walk down on the aisle runner, but I wanted it laid a specific way, and I didn't particularly want our ushers in charge of it (although I love them!) since they're not quite as detail oriented as me. We also wouldn't have been able to do the petals had we laid it right before the flower girls and I came down the aisle. It worked great for us, and I'd recommend it! We just used corsage pins to hold it in place, and it looked great throughout the whole ceremony. 

Our runner ended up being one of my favorite projects, mainly because David and I did the whole thing together. We both were so proud of our work! 

And now, instead of letting it sit around and collect dust, I plan on doing this with it and hanging it in our dining room:

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Did you DIY your aisle runner? How did it turn out?