The Wedding--Part Four--The D.I.Y.s

As you probably remember, I really busted my hump hot glue gunning, wood burning, ribbon-ing, stamping and drawing my heart out to get this wedding to par.  Aside from the photographer (thanks Mother in Law!) and honeymoon (thanks Father in Law and Mom!), Patrick and I paid for the whole wedding ourselves and what we didn't pay for, I made.  So there you go.

I made these "Just Married" signs using the back of the aforepictured "Mr." and "Mrs." signs.  I used some wood I purchased at Hobby Lobby and a wood burning tool.  I outlined the words in pencil before burning them in.

These fans seemed oh so simple on Pintrest, but man were they a pain in my butt.  I drew an outline on cardboard, bought about a billion boards of foam (to make them sturdy), traced them, cut them out via Exacto Knife (word to the wise, do NOT use scissors), drew the lips of the jar on the cutouts, stuck popsicle sticks in the bottoms, cut out the "labels" from scrapbook paper, stamped on our initials and the bride and groom and then hot glue gunned all the ribbons on them.

You'll notice (or you won't) that every single fan was a different combination of ribbons, stamps and paper labels.

Then, I added the schedule to the back of the fans.  Our guests grabbed one of these on their way in to fan themselves in the sun and have an outline of what was to come.

Because we were expecting about three billion kids at the wedding, we wanted to make sure that they were entertained.  Happy kids = happy parents, right?  So I made these little activity books from this Pin and ordered a bunch of crayons for them.  I also made our programs.

On the inside of our programs, I made a little guess who/matching game to introduce the wedding party.  People dug it.

I didn't "make" this, but I put it together.  Another ploy to keep the kiddos happy was a barrage of bubbles.  When we first got engaged, I found this adorable vintage birdcage in a flea market and knew it would go with our vintage/rustic theme in some way.  Turns out, coupled with a pretty (wannabe) Louis Vuitton scarf, this birdcage was the perfect bubble holder. 

Along with making the "No Seating Plan" sign (inspired by this Pin), I made the guest tree (inspired by this Pin).  I bought a canvas, drew the tree and figures and colored it in.  I then got purple and orange ink pads for people to "leaf" (haha, get it?) their fingerprints and sign their names on it.  Then, I found a rustic frame to fit the canvas at Michael's and attached the two together.  It turned out great and now hangs in our living room!

There were a lot of people that had passed away and could not join us for our wedding.  I knew I wanted to honor them and their presence in some way, so when I saw something similar on Pintrest, I got inspired.  I used the language to put in a very pretty frame.  I found this little lantern at Michael's and used an electronic candle (no dripping wax!) to flicker during the ceremony.  Originally, I wanted pretty frames with the photos to hang from a bare tree, but you would not believe how hard those are to find!  So I went with a wreath and wreath holder instead.  I think it turned out well.

I also made the flower girl buckets.  Anya, my niece, was somewhat attached to hers, so it is missing from the photo, but each of them had different ribbons and combinations.  I bought the bare buckets from Michael's and the ribbon as well.  Then I weaved the ribbon into the buckets and hot glued them down.

I also made the ring bearer box from a box I found at Michael's.  The top had frames for two photos, so I used old photos of Patrick and I.  I painted the box in our wedding colors and covered it in burlap.

I also used the wood burner to add our wedding date into the front of it.  It opened up and had our rings tied to a string of twine inside.  Conner, my younger son, held on to the rings.  This made the vendors nervous, but I assured them that he was responsible enough.  Wouldn'tchaknowit, I was right.  Mama always knows best.

You've seen these before, but I did in fact make these as well.  They are the other side of the Just Married signs above.  I added (with a staple gun, there was no other way, trust me) twine to the sides so they could hang on the back of our chairs at the reception.

Using log slices cut by my soon to be stepfather and mom, I burned the names of all the wedding party onto them.  This served two purposes.  For one, it gave everyone an idea of where they were standing.

For two, it gave my female bridesmaids a place to stand on so their heels didn't sink into the ground.

This didn't actually get used per se, but it was made by me and displayed at the ceremony.

I used these vintage hat boxes (the purple one gifted by my sister and the Saks Fifth Avenue one I bought with the bestie Chris at a flea market) to hold all of our cards.  I cut a slit in the top of the purple one for them to slip the cards in and I attached a vintage pillbox bridal hat that my sister also gifted me to decorate it.  The SFA hat box fell victim to our dog Nakita's cardboard chewing fetish, so I had to cover her teeth marks with a purple ribbon.  It worked out.

The Date Night idea was a total hit.  I got the idea from this Pin.  We got quite a few very sweet ideas . . . and a LOT of really funny ones.  A few examples of such were: we need more grandkids, Cool Whip and a paddle, anal, I agree with anal and check the health of the we-ness (see ceremony post for explanation).  What can I say?  We love to joke around and hang out with people who make us laugh.

I made this Thank You frame from this Pin.

I also got an idea for this card table from this Pin. 

Again, thanks to my mom and her fiance, we had log slices to emphasize the billions of mason jars that I made.  Again, all of these were wrapped in burlap, but with completely different combinations of ribbons on every one.  I then filled them with sand and put little electronic tea lights in them.

And I chose a bunch of really sweet quotes about marriage to put into frames and place on each table.  This example was for Patrick and I's table as you might remember our affinity to Sons of Anarchy.  The rest, however, were very sweet.  See below:

See?

And, of course, I made these Reserved signs for the tables and aisles at the ceremony.  I glued river rocks to the inside of them to make sure they didn't blow away.

In addition to marriage quotes, I used a lot of other quotes from things that Patrick and I both love like this one from the Office and this one from Bob Marley (not pictured).

And because I wanted everyone to be safe and have a good time, I mimicked a sign like this one to put by the bar.

These water bottles, inspired by this Pin, nearly killed me.  My thumbs were blistered after making 300+ of these bad boys.  I was clearly over zealous in doing so seeing as we have been relishing in these same bottled waters since the wedding.  And have at least 100 leftover still.

Props for our cake stand go 100% to Patrick.  He worked really hard to build it and burn it to make it more rustic looking.  I did, however, add the ribbons to the edges and little leg thingys.

Patrick's dad knows a guy who makes amazing jewelry and an assortment of other beautiful babbles out of deer antlers.  He was so kind as to donate some earrings and pocket knives to our wedding party as their gifts from us.

I mean, check these out!  How freaking awesome earrings that my bridesmaids got?  You can find more of his stuff at White Buffalo Trader's website!

Speaking of amazing jewelry talents, my cuz and bridesmaid Tina made all of the female bridesmaids jewelry--necklace and earrings.  Each one different, each one custom to their personality and dress and each one beautiful.

I didn't "make" this, but my bouquet held my something old, something new and something borrowed.  The handkerchief is old.  Like really old.  My mother in law gave it to me.  Her grandmother made these for all of her grandkids and great grandkids for this very occasion.  I was so honored to wear it and it was even in my wedding color!  The elephant pin is from my bridesmaid Ginestra--she gave it to me a few nights before the wedding.  Elephants are my favorite animal!  On the other side where you can't see is an angel pin from my mom.  It was my Grandmother's.

Ok, I didn't "make" the chalkboard, but I supplied it for the photo booth and it was a hit!  Here are some of my faves.

This is a long time family friend, Cat.  My cousin, my sister and I all have our little nicknames for each other.  My cousin's nickname is Dawg.  Get it?  Cat/Dawg?  Ha!  Love these girls!

Aaaaaaw.  The Mamas.  Matty (second from left) and Allison (middle) and I were collectively known for yeeeeears as the Mamas.  We were always together and always causing trouble.  Also pictured is Matty's boyfriend Phil, Ashley (honorary Mama as well) and her boyfriend Rory.

 Working at Circuit City, I met a lot of bad ass people.  Even though I haven't worked there for five years or so now, I still keep in touch with a lot of people.  There were even more City Folk at the wedding, but this gang of awesomeness got together for a photo booth op.  Remember the old slogan?  Do you even remember Circuit City?  It's been a minute.  Shown here top left to right: Andy (guitarist for Avitidy to End btw), Travis, Pro; bottom left to right: Carly, Tiff and Pro's girlfriend

Saving the best for last.  I am so stoked to have these ladies as my Mother and Sister in law.  Some of the best women I've ever had the privilege of knowing and now I get to call them family.

*All photo credit goes to Krista Watzel Photography