I had a jump on planning my wedding, a 2 year leap was more like it. My then fiance and I had been together for 2 going on 3 years when he proposed. I had no clue it was even coming. He did the southern thing and went to my parents for permission, so it seems everyone knew but me! That's a story for another time. Let's just leave it with a word of appreciation for the old way of doing things. I was very touched that he had asked for my hand in marriage. Getting the blessing from my family wasn't something I had ever really stressed. We aren't exactly steeped in tradition, nor was I a youngin' who had not experienced the world, but I digress.
We ( the hubster and I) both knew the importance of my finishing the associates degree in Computer Networking I had started at the ripe age of 25 and would be finishing just short of my 28th birthday. Hey atleast I did it. For this reason we set the wedding for after graduation. The October after to be exact. Perfect Mississippi weather time!
Starting the planning right after the engagement, I knew I wanted things that I could start making now and collect till the wedding. I poured through magazines/ezines, blogs, and pinterest. Pinterest being the most helpful ofcourse. I started a pinterest board with my wedding hopes, dreams,and diy ideas.
.........
Time goes by
.........
Almost a year and a half later and I realize I am about to graduate and get married. I had a preacher, I had a venue, I even had a wedding photographer. (Well, An awesome photographer duo whose work you can drool over below and I'm sure you will see several places in this blog in the future.View their site! Aprilandpaul.com)
.....but I had not made anything. I had collected a dining room full of stuff, I just hadn't put anything together. So then the mad rush was on. Here are a few things that resulted of a brides DIY madness.
1.My Bouquet.
I started collecting brooches soon after the engagement. I knew I wanted flowers with sustainability. I had every intention of making my bouquet, as well as the bridesmaids' bouquets, and groomsmans' boutineers, way in advance. Which did not happen....
I asked the moms and aunts to keep an eye out for neat inexpensive brooches. I wound up with 70+ brooches, and only a few didn't make it into the bouquet.
You can find several tutorials for making brooch bouquets on Google and Pinterest. I used a burlap hydrangea to thread my brooches through as underlying stability. With out it all the brooches just looked droopy and wouldn't stay in place.
Tutorials tell you to use a wire to wrap around the pin part of the brooch and then thread the free end like a stem through the underlying stability flowers. The burlap hydrangea in my case. In place of wire I used guitar strings because we have an abundance of used ones thanks to the hubster. After wrapping with the I wrapped the wire with floral tape. Your brooch should now look like a flower. Make a bouquet with all of your stemmed brooches. Wrap all stems together tightly with floral tape, then cover with any material you choose. I used burlap
ribbon.
2. Bridesmaid Bouquets and Groomsman Boutineers.
These are made from scrapbook paper, floral wire, floral tape, and burlap ribbon.
I made these flowers...click here for tutorial.
After making the flower I poked the floral wire through the bottom, stabilized the flower to the wire stem with floral tape, made a bouquet, and wrapped the handle the same as on my bouquet.
3. Signage.
For this I simply spray painted a canvas black and then used paint markers of various color to write the names and positions of our bridal party. This one sign saved me from having to have bulletins printed. It's a wedding, you pretty much know what's going on and since we were among for short and sweet we didn't feel the need to print an itinerary. I apologize if this half-hazard approach to our wedding is offensive, but we were just happy to be married. To be getting a piece of paper that made us one legal entity. The wedding was our celebration. We didn't want it to turn into a source of stress.
4. The Guest Guitar and Advice book
My husband and I are musical people. It plays a very important roll in our lives. My husband is a guitar magician. Because of this we wanted something that we could display in our home. We spray painted an old guitar and had everyone sign it with a sharpie. It is now mounted on the living room wall above the couch. A constant reminder of an amazing day spent celebrating love with friends and family.
The advice book is from a Shutterfly. I simply uploaded pictures, personalized it, and clicked order. Easy and we will have it for years. Every page showcasing one of our beautiful engagement photos and/or living advice from attendants.
Yup, I found the idea on Pinterest and my mother-in-law and father-in-law made it a reality. They found the doors and he made it into an arch. I now have it stored away waiting for spring so it can be used as a trellis adorned with roses.
6. My dog
I didn't create him but I did include my dog. He has been my constant through good and bad times. He was my only child and is my best friend. I could not have imagined celebrating such an important day without all of my family.
It's your wedding, no matter what anyone else thinks or says do what makes you happy, because in 40 years the memories are all you have.
Special thanks to April and Paul Photography!
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