When we got ready to get married, we didn't have a whole lot of spare cash. We also have always been big on DIY in lots of ways, so we decided to do a Diy Wedding. We did nearly everything ourselves - my dress was bought at the local fair, and I altered it; the decor was pieced together from the dollar store, the sale aisle at Michaels, and the Local Thrift Store. Other tips: my bouquet was the seasonal flowers available at the grocery store; Cordi wore my hand-me-down flowergirl dress; I made the ring pillow with silk scraps I had lying around; I catered with long cooked beef brisket, polenta, and curried roasted squash soup (most of which either cooked quickly or were cooked beforehand and were able to be quickly heated); and of course we married each other (and I said vows to the kids) rather than having an officiant, which is legal in WI, PA, CO, and DC. Here are some of our other favorite wedding projects.

Seeded wedding invitation card

We were creating a blended family, and we wanted to make sure the kids felt involved and welcome. The kids all made drawings in crayon that we scanned in, combined,  and printed on seeded paper -- we got seeded envelopes and 8 1/2" by 11" from OfTheEarth. For those that don't know, seeded paper can be planted after you use it and it'll make a tree or a bunch or wildflowers. We hand tore the pieces apart (so there was a nice slightly ragged edge) attached the seeded paper to inexpensive construction paper (which was biodegradable). These made for really nice invitations that were personal and also managed to serve a purpose after the announcement (and the "Yer Ivited" and "Before and After" on the cover are priceless.)

Football guestbook

This one was simple - we live in Wisconsin. Therefore, we are big Packer fans. What better way to keep a record of our big day than tie it into something we love (and can put on display, instead of shoving away in a closet?) So we got a nice Wilson NFL ball and some silver paint markers and made everyone sign it. It now sits on our mantle.

Cake platters

This was fun. My mom made the wonderful cupcakes you see on the right, from my grandma's recipes, which was a wonderful replacement for a tradition cake (especially with kids!). For the platters, we got four fall plates from our local thrift store, and attached glass candlesticks of different sizes to the bottoms with ceramic glue. Total cost was less than 5 bucks for a really gorgeous display. The leaves on the table were from the dollar tree and the tablecloth was from the thrift store.

Game

We knew for our favor we wanted something that could be kept, but that would really reflect "us." We decided to create a simple dice rolling game, where you'd roll the dice and use that to go to a certain page, and then do what it said on that page (and if you were up for a crazier challenge, you could roll a second dice and be told something very specific you had to do). We made every challenge based on something we did or do; things from playing a game or reading a book to traveling or helping your community.