Sunday, April 26, 2009

My DIY Wedding on a Budget!

I got married in September of 2008, and in order to save money we (me, my mil, my mom, and her friend) made most of the decor elements of the wedding ourselves. This was really challenging as I got married in Alberta and was living in PEI at the time. It was a great idea to DIY because we saved so much money on wedding insidentals and were able to put that towards the travel expenses. I hope these pictures can provide you with some sort of imspiration :)






I wanted to talk first about the wedding invites, since these were the most labour intensive of all of the DIY projects we made for the wedding. My mom worked in the multi-media wing of the local college so she was lucky enough to know a graphic designer. He designed the image, and we based the invite around it. I designed and printed all of the cards, and designed the pocket fold set-up. Every invitation was printed at home and cut out on my paper trimmer! We used http://weddingannouncer.com to set up an online RSVP service which was awesome!

We got married in the atrium of a museum, and they did not allow any decor on the walls or hanging from the ceiling, so our decor options were limited. We decided to make the tables the focus. We rented two lanterns and two park benches, our only decor other than what was on the tables.


My grandfather and a little baldie Jude, sitting on the bench, in front of the lantern.



My mom sewed all of the table cloths - I found pink/gold satin fabric on sale so it was really economical - it worked out to about $8/ cloth. My mom's best friend made our centrepieces - white vases found at walmart with faux cherry blossoms. To make the centrepiece, she filled the vases with rocks, tucked in some branches (she spray painted these dark brown), and added flowers. The blossoms themselves were found at michaels. Then she tied a light pink ribbon around the vase. Cost was about $10/centrepiece.



This is a shot of the head table, decorated with more of the bolts of fabric we purchased ourselves. Wedding rental places offered table cloths to rent, but it was far cheaper to buy the fabric. I still have the pink fabric and use it as a table cloth for craft shows :)



Here is a better shot of the centrpieces, and the card box that I painted. I found it at michaels and used one of their coupons with it. I painted the outside white, the inside pink, and freehanded cherry blossoms on the outside.



We did a small candy buffet instead of favors. We purchased jars, and decorated them with ribbons/bows. I found heart shaped candy scoops at michaels. Guests were given little boxes to put candy inside. We saved a lot of time and money doing favors this way because only those interested helped themselves, and we could purchase candy at costco. This was a huge hit and was gone way before we even expected thanks to all of the children in attendance! (by the time this photo was taken, a lot of the good stuff was already gone lol)



I saved a lot by doing my own makeup, and the makeup of my bridal party. I am a makeup artist so this was not stressful for me :) My cousin is a hairstylist, and she did the hair for the bridesmaids. Ok, that's all for crafty photos... now onto some "just for fun" sharing!



I ended up wearing these silver flip flops instead of the shoes I bought for the wedding... much more comfy!



Here we are cutting the cake! I got a yummy coconut cake with buttercream icing, and then chocolate cupcakes and white coconut cupcakes. Yum! Too bad the only bite I got was right after cutting.. would have loved to eat more cupcakes.



This picture was taken at the Nikka Yuko Japanese gardens, in Lethbridge AB. We got our photos taken there and they have this giant gong.. makes for a pretty shot :)



This is pretty silly... but it shows the background of the japanese gardens.




Two photos taken during the ceremony. We chose this museum location because it overlooks a river bottom. In southern alberta there are "coulees" which were formed many years ago by glaciers scraping out channels in the land.. anyways, it makes for a nice view! My bridal party wore gold dresses that had brown bows, and matching bow necklaces.


This shot was taken before the reception, during cocktail hour. I love that it shows the windows in the museum :)



The cake, pro-spoiling! I requested buttercream icing and NOT fondant because fondant is not overly delicious!

28 comments:

gina said...

Just gorgeous! You are beautiful!!

Lara said...

Beautiful!! Thanks for sharing!

GemmaBeads said...

Very elegant! I love the feel you had with the decor and theme. The location was perfect. You are a lovely bride! Much happiness and joy to you both!

jacjewelry said...

What a great job your mom and her friends (and you, of course) did on decorating! I love the invitations, the cherry blossom theme, the coconut cupcakes (I could go for one or five of those right now!)... the lantherns and tables looked GREAT! You looked beautiful - how terrific that you're a makeup artist! Worked out well. :)

Anonymous said...

What an amazing job you and your family did on your wedding! Makes me want to start a business decorating for weddings! Looks like so much fun! Looks like you all had a great time! Congrats to you both! Best wishes!

LoveLove said...

Oh I love it, so beautiful and elegant and so awesome it was DIY!

Unknown said...

You and your ladies did a fab job decorating! I love the cherry blossom theme - so pretty!

Laura said...

thanks for sharing!!! everything looks so beautiful! love the cherry blossom theme. :)

Lindsey said...

I am completely envious of your gorgeous wedding. You did a fabulous job! And everything matches just so perfectly. Thanks for sharing!

Adie said...

Oh so very beautiful
Thanks for sharing those tips!!

Heather Kinnaird {bonbon} said...

Beautiful wedding! Thanks for sharing.

Southern Lady's Vintage said...

Just beautiful! Love the cherry blossom theme too!

Chelsea Van Tol said...

Thanks all for the comments :) My advice is NOT to open a wedding decorating business because wedings are stressful - lol.

Hope this entry helped ppl with ideas.

xo

Old Fashion Halloween said...

Lovely! What an amazing setting and view for the ceremony.

Mel said...

Lovely wedding! And good use of the wedding invite! Im in the process of creating an invite for my mom, might have to lift the idea:O) if thats ok!!
I also used pink and brown for my wedding and everyone also lovedddddddd my candy table. A real hit!!
Such a pretty bride!

ittybittybirdy said...

what a beautiful location. You too are such a great looking couple... Love the colors

Thanks for the comment sweets! I'll sure keep you in mind when I need to talk!

I'm kinda sad cuz I still haven't gotten my package? Where do you think it could be? I hope it gets here in time for my first craft show. Still a couple weeks away but goodness the mail folks are being slow about it.

Rebecca said...

Absolutely gorgeous pictures! Thank you very much for sharing :-) x

Brittany said...

Lovely!

Your wedding looks so high-end... No one would ever know that your family designed it on a budget. Great job! :)

Pam Martin said...

What a beautiful wedding! I love the view at the museum, the pink and brown color scheme, and the repeat of the cherry blossom branches (which I bet tied into the proximity to the Japanese garden). Thanks for sharing.

carina said...

So lovely! it looks like it turned out perfectly. p.s. your hair look stunning.

Marlene McGarrity said...

Your wedding is beautiful and you made a gorgeous bride!

I particularly love your invitations (you should think of going into business - a small etsy shop?) and I like your silver flip flops. I love flip flops.

Heather Leavers said...

oh this is lovely! I was expecting something more in line with my own veyr cheap wedding, but it all looks stunning, nobody would ever know. And far more happy memories than if you'd bought everything in. Congratulations!

Cara Hall said...

I am getting married next year so this was a very inspiring post. Beautiful!

Jessica said...

LOVE it! How incredibly cute are you. Its BEAUtiful :)

Greet said...

oooh, what a wonderfull wedding, I enjoyed reading this post and looking at the pics!!!

Anonymous said...

I LOVE your wedding! I'm getting married in August 2010 and have been thinking about a color scheme involving cherry blossoms.

I especially love your invites. did you completely design those on your own? if you used any type of template i'd love more info. and if you designed them completely on your own, they're amazing and i'll pay you to make my invites!

Rocky_Gal said...

My sister-in-law and I love your Cherry Blossom theme! She is getting married next spring and is planning a cherry blossom theme in lightest pink, chocolate brown, and tiffany blue. We got some great ideas for center pieces, tables, and favors. We're looking online for some inexpensive Cherry Blossom invitations in her colors. Thanks so much and you had a gorgeous wedding!

Rocky_Gal said...

I love your cherry blossom theme! You and your mom did a wonderful job and gave me great ideas for my sister-in-law's wedding next spring! We're looking for inexpensive invitations online and found a great cherry blossom guest book/pen/ring pillow/flower basket on ebay so things are coming along great! Thanks again for your beautiful wedding pics!