As a lot of you know, Adam and I got married six months ago. We received a disc of the wedding photos from our lovely photographer, Erin, on Friday. Since then I have been anxious to make a post about the handmade elements of our wedding and a few tips for those of you doing the same. So! Let's do this!
Like I already mentioned, all photos were taken by Erin of a love supreme. If you need photos for your special day, engagement, portraits, whatever - I super mega totally recommend her! I'm lucky to be currently working with her on a project and she is just the greatest! She is based in Maine but is looking to travel.
The first thing I have to say about having a lot of handmade things in your wedding is: enlist as much help as possible. It's really easy to think that you can do it all yourself, but trust me, you probably can't without losing your mind. Plus your friends and family will most likely be excited that you've asked them to help with such a special day.
The little birds in the glasses were all sewn by me using this pattern from Spool. I designed the fabric and had it printed on a cotton/linen blend through Spoonflower . The patterns matched the patterns used on our save the dates and invites. The birds were wedding favors and had little tags around their necks to let people know where to sit.
The napkins, oooh the napkins! My mom sewed all of them! After months of sending me swatches of fabrics she was collecting I picked three that I really liked and she got to work. I'm not sure how many she ended up making, but I think she is going to make Adam and I a quilt with them.
We spent months collecting pieces of milk glass and other glass pieces in the wedding colors for the tables. Big discovery - milk glass vases cost about $2-$3 less at Goodwill/Salvation Army per vase here in Eugene than they did in Maine. Weird, huh?
The lanterns were purchased from Luna Bazaar. Some of the colors were kind of off from what they were supposed to be, but in the end, it really didn't matter at all. My brothers hung all of them and they did such an amazing and creative job. I think I suggested how they hang one set of them and the rest was all them and perfect! Thing I have to say #2: you don't need to be in control of everything. Trust your helpers and remember, if something doesn't get done - your guests totally aren't going to notice unless you tell them!
Remember all those crochet pieces I was making in the spring? I crocheted about 100 pieces in different shapes and sizes. That is, and isn't a lot of pieces. This brings me to the third thing I have to say: be flexible with your design ideas. You'll more than likely have to change or completely throw out some of your ideas. And I promise you, it won't ruin your day! My initial idea for the crochet pieces was completely different than what we used them for but in the end, I think they looked great and some people even took some home with them.
These garlands were my mom's idea and what a great one! She sneakily started collecting paint swatches in the wedding colors, which is really not hard for her. The woman L-O-V-E-S paint chips. We sat my dad down with a glass of wine and some paper punches and set him to work punching out shapes. Then my mom, dad and brothers took turns sewing the pieces together and creating the garlands.
My brothers also made these tissue paper garlands. (I can't remember the site we got the pattern from right now!) They hung them from the trees outside of the hall where we had the reception. They looked so pretty! They also made flowers for the tables and my friend and bridesmaid DeAnne and I made some fabric ones.
The last thing I am going to share in this post is the drink stirrers that we enlisted my dad to put together. I don't think he hated this project, but I'm also not sure he loved it. We made them from crepe streamers, bamboo skewers and floral tape. Oh, and we also made the delicious sangria!
I'm going to do another post after the holiday about a few more wedding things. I hope that for those of you planning your own wedding my little suggestions are helpful. I know it can be stressful! And if anyone needs any ideas, I still have SO many!
Oh, and I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving!
Like I already mentioned, all photos were taken by Erin of a love supreme. If you need photos for your special day, engagement, portraits, whatever - I super mega totally recommend her! I'm lucky to be currently working with her on a project and she is just the greatest! She is based in Maine but is looking to travel.
The first thing I have to say about having a lot of handmade things in your wedding is: enlist as much help as possible. It's really easy to think that you can do it all yourself, but trust me, you probably can't without losing your mind. Plus your friends and family will most likely be excited that you've asked them to help with such a special day.
The little birds in the glasses were all sewn by me using this pattern from Spool. I designed the fabric and had it printed on a cotton/linen blend through Spoonflower . The patterns matched the patterns used on our save the dates and invites. The birds were wedding favors and had little tags around their necks to let people know where to sit.
The napkins, oooh the napkins! My mom sewed all of them! After months of sending me swatches of fabrics she was collecting I picked three that I really liked and she got to work. I'm not sure how many she ended up making, but I think she is going to make Adam and I a quilt with them.
We spent months collecting pieces of milk glass and other glass pieces in the wedding colors for the tables. Big discovery - milk glass vases cost about $2-$3 less at Goodwill/Salvation Army per vase here in Eugene than they did in Maine. Weird, huh?
The lanterns were purchased from Luna Bazaar. Some of the colors were kind of off from what they were supposed to be, but in the end, it really didn't matter at all. My brothers hung all of them and they did such an amazing and creative job. I think I suggested how they hang one set of them and the rest was all them and perfect! Thing I have to say #2: you don't need to be in control of everything. Trust your helpers and remember, if something doesn't get done - your guests totally aren't going to notice unless you tell them!
Remember all those crochet pieces I was making in the spring? I crocheted about 100 pieces in different shapes and sizes. That is, and isn't a lot of pieces. This brings me to the third thing I have to say: be flexible with your design ideas. You'll more than likely have to change or completely throw out some of your ideas. And I promise you, it won't ruin your day! My initial idea for the crochet pieces was completely different than what we used them for but in the end, I think they looked great and some people even took some home with them.
These garlands were my mom's idea and what a great one! She sneakily started collecting paint swatches in the wedding colors, which is really not hard for her. The woman L-O-V-E-S paint chips. We sat my dad down with a glass of wine and some paper punches and set him to work punching out shapes. Then my mom, dad and brothers took turns sewing the pieces together and creating the garlands.
My brothers also made these tissue paper garlands. (I can't remember the site we got the pattern from right now!) They hung them from the trees outside of the hall where we had the reception. They looked so pretty! They also made flowers for the tables and my friend and bridesmaid DeAnne and I made some fabric ones.
The last thing I am going to share in this post is the drink stirrers that we enlisted my dad to put together. I don't think he hated this project, but I'm also not sure he loved it. We made them from crepe streamers, bamboo skewers and floral tape. Oh, and we also made the delicious sangria!
I'm going to do another post after the holiday about a few more wedding things. I hope that for those of you planning your own wedding my little suggestions are helpful. I know it can be stressful! And if anyone needs any ideas, I still have SO many!
Oh, and I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving!
This is great! Postmortems like this are a great way to assess the success of your projects and they're a lot of fun for readers.
ReplyDeleteI don't think I realized how many elements of your reception were handmade. I mean... it's pretty much all of them. The birds are still my favorite part.
everything looks so nice! what a great job and a beautiful event!
ReplyDeleteyou are amazing. xoxo.
ReplyDeleteholy gorgeous!! :) I am excited to put this in a file for me when I have my big day. some day...
ReplyDelete