What is your favorite Wedding day memory?
Bride: Other than marrying my husband, my favorite part was getting to see all of my Mom’s hard work on all of the flowers. I loved getting to carry around such a beautifully crafted bouquet my mom made for me. I also loved the reveal of the reception room and seeing how her work on the centerpieces turned out.
Groom: My favorite was being able to tell everyone to ‘drink more’ at the end of the night and seeing what a good time everyone had at the reception. I never thought we’d be able to offer an open bar, but with all of the elements we did on our own, we were able to.
What did you DIY for your wedding?
Invitations: After looking at endless sites, stacks of samples and emails filled with pictures to my Bridesmaids, I settled on Etsy. The Print-at-Home PDFs may get a bad rep, but if you use them in conjunction with a high end printing site such as Catprint, they can be a real show stopper. I got endless compliments on how ‘expensive’ my invitations felt. I did a lot of research on paper weights and visited paper stores to feel samples in person. I opted for one with a handwritten element {the script of our names}, but the rest was from a premade set. The PDF purchase was $35 and the printing was $90. I knew that splurging on the envelope addressing would make an impact so I found a great calligrapher on Etsy. She did a wonderful job for a reasonable price. I also specifically used the Wild Flower stamps from the post office, a trend that was on theme and that I kept up through all of our mailed items.
Flowers: I was very lucky {and excited} that my Mom agreed to do the flowers. That was a substantial savings. She had been a florist in her earlier years and I had grown up with her flower supplies around the house. I knew that she would do a great job. Working out the logistics of having the Mother-of-the-Bride also doing the flowers, however, was a challenge. My parents flew in from Northbrook, IL for the wedding and we did not have a refrigerated van or the typical elements required of arranging flowers available to us. My husband and I live in an adorable bungalow in Braintree, MA and with our wedding in the heat of August, we ended up purchasing buckets, filled them with cold water and kept the flowers in the basement.
To prepare for the sourcing the flowers, we became regulars at the Boston Flower Exchange, thanks to my Mom’s resale license. We put in for a huge order of gorgeous white dahlias which we’re shipped in from Pennsylvania and everything else, we picked out the Wednesday morning before the wedding. My Mom then worked tirelessly all Saturday morning through the time we had to leave for the church. She completed approximately 100 arrangements {including bouquets}. We had both the hair and the makeup artists come and work out of the house. My Mom got her hair and makeup done mid-bouquet! Our goal for the flowers was to incorporate light pink and seasonal flowers and for the dining room to look as ‘full’ as possible on a budget. My Mom flew over from Chicago with the wooden planks she had purchased from a craft store in her luggage. The wooden planks and glass votives worked for the scale of the room and we knew it was a way to feasibly have one person complete the centerpieces. Fun fact: she got ‘randomly’ searched by the TSA after they saw nothing but wood and flower wire in her carryon! She stuffed each of the votives with one or two blooms, naked eucalyptus, dusty miller and other greens. She even used some greenery from our garden! The bridesmaid bouquets and boutonnieres incorporated the same blooms. They coordinated perfectly with the Dusty Shale J. Crew bridesmaid dresses and light green floral Penguin ties on the groomsmen.
My favorite part of the flowers was my bouquet! The elements I loved the most were the pink astible and the dahlias. I told my Mom that I wanted a loose, fun, yet refined bouquet. I was thrilled with what she came up with. I am so happy that my Mom gave me such a wonderful wedding gift and I know she was happy to have been included in that way. I have dried my bouquet and plan on keeping it.
Paper Goods: All of the printing work for the ceremony and reception, I did on my own. I designed and printed the programs, the menus and the signage at the reception Thank you free font sites and Microsoft Word! We did our research on how to print on cardstock and then bought a inkjet printer on sale at Best Buy – what a great purchase!
Escort Cards: We printed the cards ourselves and decided the cute letter photo holders would be a fun take-home gift for our gifts. We gave each person the letter of their first name. Everyone was spelling out words during dinner. It was cute and we loved it! However, it was a madhouse the morning of the wedding with the last minute additions of people, my bridal party was hard at work organizing and printing the cards. There were a few last minute trips to the craft store to look for more of the right letter!
DJ: This one was element we decided to DIY as soon a we picked the restaurant. We knew we wouldn’t get the most out of a professional DJ because there wouldn’t be a place for him to set up. We did, however, want a first dance, father/daughter dance, speeches and other traditional wedding reception elements. Our solution was to rent a microphone and speaker from the local Guitar Center. Aspiring musicians do it all of the time and we found a great value here. The rental for the whole weekend was $120. The bridal party all took turns announcing things. My bridesmaids created Spotify playlists that we hooked up to the speaker system in the restaurant. They were the best DJs!
Guest Book: We chose to buy a customized Mad Lib off of an artist on Etsy and have people fill it out in lieu of a guestbook. We laughed and loved the advice we received. A fun and cost saving element. The guests loved the game aspect as well!
Did you have a something old, new, borrowed and blue?
I wore my Grandmother’s gold crosses on my wrist for my Something Borrowed. For my Something Blue, I sewed a blue hibiscus flower into the inside of my dress as a loving memento from my Grandmother. For my Something New, I purchased a new jeweled headband and lastly, for my Something Old I wore my the Cape Cod bracelet my then boyfriend {now husband!} got me years ago when we vacationed on the Cape.
Any advice for brides currently in the planning process?
This was actually advice my Mom gave me! If you cannot afford the price, keep your numbers down, but treat the guests you do invite very well. -Gwyneth, the Bride
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