My Aunt Becky is a wedding planner extraordinaire, or should be! She has helped with mine, my sister’s and cousin’s weddings, so to say I owe her a big favor would be an understatement. When my cousin, her youngest daughter, got married earlier in May; I was asked to make some huge LOVE marquee letters like seen in this cool LOVE picture via Rebecca Douglas – isn’t that stunning! From the dark picture, I can’t tell if the letters are flat or are trimmed out like typical marquee letters.
My Aunt needed the letters freestanding, so I opted to trim the letters. Either way the letters look really cool and are pretty easy to make, just take a little bit of time. They are really big, 40″ tall, and definitely make a statement.
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How to Make DIY Love Marquee Letters from Wood
Materials
- 1 – 3/4″ plywood sheet (4’x8′)
- 1 – 5mm (~1/4″) underlayment plywood sheet
- 1 – 2.7mm (~1/8″) utility panel sheet
- 1″ brad nails or staples
- wood glue
- sandpaper
- spackle* or wood filler
- paint/primer
- scrap wood
- 4 strands of string lights
- 1-1 1/4″ screw
Tools
- Jigsaw
- Drill
- Brad nailer or stapler
- 7/8″ spade bit* or whatever size fits your lights
- Table saw or circular saw (for optional trimming)
- HomeRight* paint sprayer
- These are the tools that I used, use whatever works best for you.
On the sheet of 3/4″ plywood, measure and mark the location of the LOVE letters.
To mark out the O, I used a piece of scrap wood to make a compass of sorts. Drill a hole the size of a pencil near one end, a hole 10″ from the first hole and 18″ from the first hole.
Use a screw and place the end of the ‘compass’ in one of the two marks on the plywood. Place a pencil in either the 10″ or 18″ hole and mark a half circle, change to the other hole and mark another half circle. Change the screw to the other compass location and repeat. Use a ruler and mark straight lines on the edge of the half circles.
Letters marked out on the plywood.
Use a jigsaw to cut out the letters. To cut out the center of the O, drill a hole in the O center large enough that the jigsaw blade will fit, and cut out the donut hole.
Letters cut from the plywood, they are starting to look cool.
Next is to drill holes in the letters for the lights. You can space the lights however you want, but this is how I placed mine. The lights are all 4″ apart. Measure the diameter of the light sockets, mine with the clip needed a 7/8″ diameter hole. Drill holes for the lights.
I used a drill and 7/8″ spade bit to drill the holes. The letters can be used like this, if you don’t want to add the trim around the edges.
Adding Trim
I added trim around the plywood letters to give them a marquee look. I cut the 5mm (~1/4) underlayment sheet in strips that are 5 1/4″ wide. If you cut it the short way (48″) you’ll need about 11 strips. Cut the strips to fit your letters, but the following diagrams will give you a guide. After I cut each piece, I marked the center, applied wood glue and used a brad nailer to attach the strip to the plywood letter edge. (I think a stapler may work better, because sometimes the small brad nail head would go through the plywood. However most of the time the brad nails worked fine.)
The LVE were easy to put the trim around. When I got the the O, I realized the 5mm plywood wouldn’t bend as much as I hoped. I found a sheet of 2.7mm utility plywood that bends fairly easily. I cut the 2.7mm sheet into strips 5 1/4″ wide (6-7 strips).
I applied 2 layers of the 2.7mm strips to make the O look the same as the other letters.
To keep the O from rolling away, I nailed a couple of pieces of 5 1/4″ scrap wood to the bottom. I ‘love’ how the turned out :-), they really are fun. Next I filled any gaps with spackle, let that dry and sanded it smooth.
I primed the letters with Zinsser primer, then painted them with Behr Ultra Pure White paint. The paint sprayer made painting so easy with all of those corners.
Once the paint dried, I removed the bulbs from the string light sockets and placed them in the holes.
The string light wiring is in parallel, they will work without all of the light bulbs in the sockets. I used the excess string light wire as an extension cord to the power strip/surge protector. I replaced the bulbs into the socket and the letters are ready to go!
I did add ‘feet’ to the letters because the wedding was near a canyon and I was a little concerned about wind.
A look down the aisle.
Gorgeous mountain backdrop.
After the ceremony the party moved inside for dinner. Later in the evening, the ceremony space became the dance floor and the letters really began to shine.
The flames near the bottom are a s’more bar for those taking a break from dancing.
Thanks for pinning!
Linked to Link Parties, Savvy Southern Style, HomestoriesAtoZ, Remodelaholic
Beautiful! Funny we both were working on marquee signs simultanously but I love yours more 😉 Great solution for the O – I was wondering how you bent the plywood, thanks for sharing your secret.
I know it is funny, and Jen did some for a wedding a couple months ago too. It’s fun how they are all different!
Beautiful! I’ve had marquee letters on my to-do list for some time now but I can’t decide on what word I want to use. These look fabulous and what a statement piece for the wedding!
These are awesome! You are so talented! I was wondering how you made the “O” too! Love it, pinning & sharing!
Thanks!
Amy these look stunning!! I “Love” them! 🙂 Amazing job, and very cleaver!!
this is beautiful
Thank you
I have been searching for a tutorial for these! Thank you!!! We have a company in town that is renting theirs for $500, any idea how much this cost you?
They cost about $100 to make including the 4 strands of lights. (I had left over paint that I used)
These are mind blowing-ly beautiful! Pinned 🙂
I want to thank you for this amazing project and for sharing the plans with us. I just finish yesterday and everything came of just as expected. Everybody love this letters. I can’t with until the end of this month to display them on our wedding.
Here are my letters: http://imgur.com/a/YBSJ0
Thanks you again.
Wow! Those look so good. Congrats and best of luck on your wedding.
Thanks Amy!
Your letters came out so beautifully! I am thinking of making these with my fiance for our wedding as well! I noticed you didn’t add feet, and we wanted to do the same. Did yours stand up on their own alright without the feet?
Thanks so much!
Cheers
Do you remember where you got the string lights?
Yes they are from Target.
Many many thanks for this fantastic Tutorial.
Lovely greetings from Germany
Amy,
I can always count on you to have a tutorial for everything I need. I am making large marquee letters for my 20 year class reunion. I have looked everywhere for an easy to follow tutorial and couldn’t find one until your popped up in Pinterest. Now I can’t wait to get started on my letters. Thank you so much!
-Carrie
Can’t wait to see what you whip up!!!
Great Job! Making one for on top of vintage mobile photo booth canned ham trailer!!!
Thank you so so much for posting this! My (now) husband and I went full DIY and made these letters for our wedding. We had limits on space so made them 3/4 the size and they turned out amazing! They were such a statement and everyone took so many photos with it. They were FLOORED to hear we made them ourselves, The Love sign lit up the outdoor garden area during the reception and it added such a fun ambiance!
Thank you!
I know this is an older post, but did you just glue the feet on the bottom of the letters? Or did you hammer them into the letters to make them stand?
I just attached the feet with screws, that way if they were being transported laying flat I could rotate the feet out of the way.
Great job looks fabulous
Which program did you use to design?
It’s called Sketchup, it’s a fantastic free tool.
Thank you so much for this fabulous tutorial! I’m in the beginning stages of making these for my wedding. can I ask what type of white paint you used glossy, flat, or eggshell?
Thanks again!
I used satin, but I think any sheen would be fine.
Hi I’m looking at making these as they look amazing ,
Where can I get the lights from as I’m really struggling to find them.
I guess the ones I used aren’t in stock anymore.
These look very similar https://www.target.com/p/clear-globe-string-lights-black-room-essentials-153/-/A-53197429?ref=tgt_adv_XS000000&AFID=google_pla_df&fndsrc=tgtao&CPNG=PLA_Lighting%2BShopping_Brand&adgroup=SC_Lighting&LID=700000001170770pgs&network=g&device=c&location=9052686&gclid=CjwKCAjwq4fsBRBnEiwANTahcIsjHdne_XD2tNRsoWJL-Us_tRY9TRoQBnnkxpnGirmeKf0t8i104RoCkN0QAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds
Did you use a new pack of lights for each letter or did you join them up?
by any chance do you make these to sell?
No, sorry I don’t.
Do you plug each letter in individually? Or did you add a “electric box” or “switch” the the back of the letter so you don’t have to run an extension cord?
Curious to know how you did the electrical side of things! Thank you!!
Hi Hannah,
I plugged each letter light strand into a power strip connected to an extension cord.
WoW, thank you for taking the time to do such a detailed tutorial AND sharing it with us!!
THIS IS PERFECT!!! I will start this project asap!
Cheers!
How much were the materials about?
To rent letters it is $250. Too much.
The wood and the lights came up to about $120.