Obviously planning a wedding never goes perfectly. Maybe if you hire someone and have a lot of money it does. But I didn't and I don't. So, here I am to show you the hard parts of planning a wedding. Or, I guess, my wedding. The biggest question I get from people that I don't know that well is "Was it all worth it?" And my answer is a RESOUNDING yes! I definitely went over my budget that I never really exactly pinned down or decided what it was, but I am so beyond happy that I was able to plan, execute, and now reminisce upon the best day of my life.
Whoa's: location, venue, people, decor, husband husband husband, feeling closer to everyone who attended, specialty drinks, the wedding overall
Woes: favors, bridesmaid shoes, cheese-cake, dress sleeves, losing weight!
This might end up being a multi-blog because really this blog is for me, and I want to write and post pictures about everything so I can remember it forever beyond just the photos. I also have at least 2 weeks left of all the time in the world- so why not spend it meticulously going over the best thing that ever happened to me?
First up we have DECOR. My amazing photographer took the best pics and I am soooo glad she got a bunch of pictures of all the decorations, because even if nobody else remembers a single thing about how my wedding was decorated- I busted my ASS on everything decor-wise. I repurposed, I crafted, I hand-lettered, I spent hours and hours working on everything. And I did that because it is something I enjoy. I don't recommend spending too much time crafting or checking out a pinterest picture and thinking "Oh, I'll just do that myself" if you don't really like doing it. I wanted to quit a few times, but then I told myself- this is the ONLY time I get to have this day, so why not spend the time making it exactly what I want? (within my means of course).
I used my mom's random table to prop up this sign that I found at TJ Maxx for $12! I had already been practicing hand lettering, so I gave it a go for all my signage. I am very happy with how they all turned out.
Each one of my bridesmaids was given a task to help me with the day before the wedding and this area was done perfectly and pristinely (actually all my bridesmaids kicked freaking ass and did everything I asked of them and went above and beyond and I will cry if I say anything else so yes I love them so so so so so much). I borrowed the chalkboard from my mom, the little table from one of my bridesmaids, I repurposed the S&A from my engagement party and used a basket that I already had at my house for the cards! My mom (I think) made the bouquet/floral decor for the drawer. Ok I'll call it drawer decor now. Haha.
I spent one afternoon taping feathers that were repurposed from my wedding shower slash murder mystery party onto sharpies with gold tape. I had these out for the guestbook where people signed a random page of a book, and I also had a big wooden B out for guests to sign their name on. I wanted something I could display, but I also wanted to have a place for someone to write something more personal if they wished. I bought a 10 pack of old blue bound books off ebay for like $10 and used them randomly throughout the wedding- one being the guestbook. Another one of them my step-dad used to put his script in to officiate for us!
THE TYPEWRITER!!! Haha this could be a "woe" but its really a OMG I LOVE MY BEST FRIENDS SO MUCH situation! I found this in Washington when I was visiting one of my bridesmaids. It was $30 at some random second hand store, and I thought I might be able to get Alex to fix it, so I bought it! Imani ended up carrying it the rest of the way home, from the ferry to the airport.
Another repurpose from my engagement party that my mom and my bridesmaid did for me. The sign at the top is our hashtag sign I found at Target for $3! #smittenforbritton
The banner at the top was a beautiful project my mom did for me that I really really wanted. She bought vintage doilies on Etsy and made them so that each banner had a different doily half on it. She is seriously so creative and the best mom this side of Pluto. We used it here, along the tent, and on our ceremony arch.
I found this sign at work!!! It said Wedding as you can probably tell...as it didn't really erase. But it was free and I figured people weren't going to be looking THAT hard at it.
Made the "FAVORS" banner myself out of gift tags and the gift bags were filled with treats that my family made. My nannie and father in law made butter tarts, and my mother in law and stepdad made cookies! This was only a WOE because people didn't freaking take them!! And people spent A LOT of time on them for me from making them to bagging them with my little note inside. I was just bummed, so I recommend putting favors at each persons' seat or asking someone to hand them out for you. The only reason I didn't put them out as I had gluten free specific bags and I wasn't sure who was gluten free or not. The suitcases are a decor item my mom has had in her house that I've always been jealous of and tried to steal. My time will come...
This is my mom's decor door (omg so many things rhyme with decor?!) and I wrote out all the names and table assignments on it! That was fun and if you can't tell the bottom has our initials, our wedding date, and "Your Seat Awaits" in each pane. This was one of the early ideas that I am really glad turned out really well! Sidenote: I kinda had a freak-out moment when I walked in to dinner because I noticed people weren't sitting where they were supposed to!!! But it turns out that my friends are THE BEST and switched tables with Alex's family so they weren't directly in the sun. My heartttttttt.
More door decor! This is a project my husband took on from old doors that my mom seems to hoard. An idea that I had a hard time executing, but my hubs was like babe I got this. And hell yeah he had it!!! The side tables are my mom's old side tables lol I guess my mom's house basically supplied my wedding.
This was a bit of a "splurge" and I spent $40 on this! The other side had a schedule of events and was moved over by the seating arrangement sign after the ceremony. We have repurposed it as a sign for Hippizzazz now.
Total steals the lantern was like $5 at Michaels and the vase was like $7 also at Michaels.
Coming up with the table design was a whole task! I made different samples with my mom a bunch of times and finally decided on this. I bought the faux eucalyptus garlands on afloral and my mom had used the vases at my engagement party, we just painted them gold! The table assignments were frames that I bought at the dollar store and some I bought on ebay. I printed out a fern picture and then wrote each table with a different script/font.
Candle votives were repurposed from engagement party and the larger ones were made by my father in law from branches on our property!
I absolutely loved how my decor came out and I can't believe I was able to rent so many things that basically exactly fit into my vision from the mismatched chairs to the gold tableware!
That's all for now but stay tuned for the next wedding saga extraordinaire....THE BRIDAL PARTY or maybe it'll be food, or the venue.
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