Wedding : The Work

On our last anniversary Matt proposed! You can see pictures of that moment here. We had a year to plan and a year for me to change my mind ever other day before May 25th, 2014. The original moldboard I shared with readers can be found here. Every change we made to the original plans came by trusting my gut. We married at the beautiful venue Samuel Cedars in Rogersville, Missouri. All photos were taken by Kyle Davis.

With inspiration from Rifle Paper Co. I designed our wedding invitations. I wanted a very earthy feel to the otherwise illustrated invitation so I used primarily greens with a hint of light pink to tie in my sisters' bridesmaids dresses.

Matt hauled my beautiful white desk I've had since i was young to the venue so that we could place our guest book outside. Our guest book was actually a Jenga set. Guests were given this sweet message:

Share some wisdom, a funny thought, or simply leave your name. We'll remember this day forever when we play this game.

They wrote with Sharpie pens on each block. We wanted something we could look back at often rather than something that would get lost amongst our many books. Some of the things people wrote on the blocks were outrageously funny!

My mother collected such darling vintage hankies which I placed in a trinket box I already had with the phrase "for your tears of joy" inside the lid with gold glitter letters on a piece of scrapbook paper. Though this was a cute touch no one dared to use a hankie so I would recommend spending the money elsewhere. Also on the desk we placed a free Instagram sign and used the #mattloveskate so that we could easily find photos by guests on social media sites after the wedding. The art teacher in me had to provide our younger guests with a coloring book, my older sister and I made little books using this template and placed them in a basket with crayons.

Using inspiration from the original moldboard my mother used a decorative chalkboard and floral swag she found at Hobby Lobby with my easel for the entry way to the chapel area of the venue. Down the aisle my mother (a former florist), my older sister, and friend arranged fresh flowers in large mason jars which hung on shepherds hooks. They did this the morning of the wedding... It was insanely hectic! On the pergola she placed silk floral arrangements she made a few months before the wedding. Those arrangements looked so real, I wish you could see them, but my computer found them too beautiful to upload.

In the reception hall we placed fresh flowers in tall clear and brown beer bottles that Matt and I collected over the past year. We used these for center pieces. We placed small clear and brown jars in all shapes around the larger bottles to display smaller flowers. I am so proud of the fact that we didn't go out and buy any of the jars or bottles for the center pieces. My mother purchased votives and small candle holders so that the place would sparkle as we ate and danced. She also sewed each burlap runner on her own. My father, my brother, my younger sister, and my cousin Ethan helped me set up all of the tables.

Months before the wedding, I tagged mason jar after mason jar with sparkly twine and little manila cards for our guests to use for homemade wine and our favorite craft beer, Tow Head, from Mother's Brewing Company down the street from our house.

My mother didn't stop at flowers or table runners. She made gallons of wine, which we enjoyed well after the wedding, and cake. Not one cake but most of the cakes! Matt's mother made two of the cakes as well. I was so sad to only be able to try our cake which was a delicious Mexican Hot Chocolate Vanilla cake, we placed hot pink peonies from Matt's mother's gardens so that it would stand out. I've been tempted to break into the freezer for a bite of our anniversary cake! All of the cakes were displayed on my mother's collection of cake plates and served with her collection of silver cake servers. My Aunt Jennie sliced all of the cake prior to the reception for us. She is so sweet!

For as much work a wedding is, it seems as though you should be able to enjoy it for longer. Thanks to the hard work of my wonderful family. It was the most fun wedding I have ever been to, but that's probably because I was deliriously happy. I will post first look photos tomorrow!

What do you think of DIY weddings? Would you attempt one, have you had your own DIY wedding, or would you never think of it?