On April 29, 2011,Prince William, who is second in line to the British throne and to the head of state of 16 other nations, will marry his long-time girlfriend, Miss Catherine Middleton, at Westminster Abbey in London. The Royal Wedding ceremony will be attended by nearly two thousand people, including dignitaries and celebrities from throughout the United Kingdom, British Commonwealth, and across the globe. Billions more will watch the proceedings and accompanying pomp and circumstance from their homes, the streets of London, or from Royal Wedding parties. Even in the United States, Kate and William’s wedding has attracted hours of television coverage and many pages in magazines.

Truly, the wedding will be one other couples can only dream about. William’s grandmother is one of the richest women in the world, Kate’s family owns a multi-million dollar mail-order business, and the occasion is a semi-state affair. But wedding luxury doesn’t have to be a royal-only affair. S. Walter Packaging offers a number of products that will spruce up your own wedding or wedding-serving business.

Our impressive online catalog of retail packaging includes a number of attractive wedding gift wraps. With subdued colors and tasteful patterns, these gift wrap for weddings are ideal for weddings and bridal showers. This blogger’s favorite is the exquisite Exquisitely Entwined Wedding Gift Wrap, a lovely patterned wedding wrapping paper (pictured left). They can be used by individuals for gift wrapping purposes, or by retailers to dress up wedding-related sales.

There won’t be much DIY about the royal wedding, but wedding insiders are seeing a growing trend of self-planned and implemented weddings. “Brides love to coordinate all aspects of their wedding day,” says Jon Gangwer, owner of Philadelphia wedding video company Wellspun Wedding Films. “So making your own flower arrangements, invites, or party favors is a way of controlling how your wedding looks as well as a way to cut costs.” A recent issue of Martha Stewart Weddings: The Reception Issue which explored DIY opportunities picked out jewelry boxes from S. Walter as a useful component for creating wedding favor boxes. Combined with our attractive wedding gift wrap, these jewelry boxes make S. Walter a useful source for brides looking for decorations and ideas fit for a Royal Wedding but with a fraction of the cost.

Here’s wishing Will and Kate and all new brides and grooms the best of luck!

Planning a wedding can be headache. Finding the right venue, photographer, and cake is no easy task, with hundreds of options at all price points. To help generate ideas for the special day, brides turn to leading wedding magazines and websites, such as Martha Stewart Weddings.

Begun in 1994 as part of the Martha Stewart Living empire of television host and media magnate Martha Stewart, the magazine has become a leading resource for brides’ event planning. The Fall 2009 issue of the quarterly publication (there are also occasional special issues) was dedicated to planning a wedding reception. The Reception Issue picked up on an important trend in wedding planning: the DIY wedding.

The DIY trend, where couples take it upon themselves to construct key features of a wedding — forgoing a wedding planner, making handmade invitations, even sewing a wedding dress — predates the current economic downtown. It enables brides to customize and take control of the event, reduce carbon footprint, and control costs. As wedding prices continue to rise while couples face decreased financial resources, the latter factor becomes increasingly important.

Martha Stewart Weddings: The Reception Issue explored the DIY opportunities of a punch tool kit. Using card stock or wall paper, a 1/8-inch hole punch, and leaf and flower punches, the magazine transformed such items as stationary, cup cakes, a flower-girl crown, escort cards, and boutonnieres. One ingenious piece suggested printing out a favorite poem or piece of text (wedding vows, perhaps?) and making little flowers and leaves from the words, arranged in a faux bouquet.

Among the DIY items were wedding favor boxes. Wedding favor boxes are small presents left on reception chairs or tables that say to guests “your presence here today is appreciated.” Martha Stewart Weddings used standard white jewelry boxes from S.Walter Packaging to create unique wedding treats.Vintage wall paper, metallic craft paper, and pages from books, punched into leaf and flower shapes transformed our already-elegant jewelry boxes into one-of-a-kind gift holders. The magazine quoted Ralph Waldo Emerson, who said “the greatest gift is a portion of thyself.” Using S. Walter jewelry boxes, Martha Stewart Weddings showed how you can give each guest a piece of your own handiwork.

The magazine picks out small 3x2x1 white jewelry boxes from the S. Walter catalog, but there are a variety of colors, sizes, and styles available with which to craft your own wedding favor boxes. Be a little inventive with how you decorate the box or what you put in it — that is the essence of the DIY wedding. Small colorful shoppers, like high-gloss color eurototes, can also make great wedding favor carriers. And these ideas aren’t just for weddings. Promotional events and jewelry boutiques can also benefit from sprucing up these elegant boxes and bags. Explore SWalter.com now for more great DIY wedding ideas.