DIY Wood and Vinyl Wedding Signs (aka how to get vinyl to stick to wood)

This is the last full wedding DIY tutorial because the complete list of projects we did for our wedding is going up next week! This one is more of a general vinyl tips list, but hey, someone out there is searching for this information. I know I was.

We moved from Chicago to Florida one week before our wedding and there was no way we were going to spend hours hand painting signs. A family friend offered to cut all the vinyl (one day I’ll get a Circut, one day) and passed along THE tip to get vinyl to stick to wood.

Dun dundun dah! Spray lacquer. This stuff creates a bonding barrier for the vinyl to grab on to and it worked flawlessly. These signs had been sitting in a hot, humid Florida garage for 4 months before these photos and they still look great!

You’ll Need
1/4″ plywood
lacquer spray

We went with a satin finish to keep the wood looking natural. The wood will darken when sprayed, but I honestly think for the better. Kind of like how the back of the DIY sunglasses rack is more muted than the front treated with wood butter.

Because you want to create as much grip as possible you won’t even need to sand the plywood! Just apply two coats of lacquer spray per can instructions. We used one can between 3 big signs and various, smaller info cards.

Other Tips:
A T-square might worth the investment if you have a lot of signs and don’t want to second guess if every line is straight.

Mark out line with washi/painter’s tape instead of a pen/pencil. Marks over the lacquer will be hard to remove.

If you make a seating chart like below, just know it is a huge time suck.

Also, I’m trying to take more in context shots of the DIYs here instead of always using the white on white backdrop. Usually it’s the easiest option for us renters with non-ideal lighting situations, but I’m open to scouting shoots! What do you guys think?