Our Wedding

March 9, 2013- wedding details

 

I love weddings.  I can honestly say that I loved every minute of planning our wedding except for the last month when I had to hand over the reins to other people and just "trust" that things would come together.  I'm not very good with that, especially after 15 months of intricately planning every last detail.

 

 

This post will be long, I apologize in advance.

 

One of the first things I did for our wedding was come up with the theme.  We wanted a "Charleston" wedding.  I wanted the lowcountry tide and marsh in the photos, I dreamt of wrap-around porches, sweet tea in mason jars, southern food, twine.... cowboy boots.  This part was easy... it was all the things that J and I loved all combined into one.

 

 

The problem was that the wedding was actually planned around one single thing: a tie.  J happened to find "the perfect" plaid tie on a whim 1 week after we were engaged....he said he wanted to wear it to the wedding.  So I said, sure, I'll plan the wedding around the tie.

 

Floral Arrangements

Now, I'm very much a DIY-er.  I genuinely enjoy crafting, I love making things, and I love the one-of-a-kind vibe you get from carefully planned and created décor.  So I bought a lot of mason jars, too many rolls of twine, lots of hot glue sticks, and got to work. 

 

I knew I wanted spring flowers- but not perfectly crafted bouquets.  I wanted it to look more like someone swept a bunch of similar colored flowers up and placed them in jars.  And I wanted the simplicity of baby's breath.

 

My precious father-in-law was sweet enough to surprise me and cut down a tree into wood slices (literally) when I saw a picture of jars on wood slabs and said "I would love that for the wedding".  I got a text two days later as a picture message of wood in the back of a truck....my heart melted.

 

ivory linens. chiavari chairs, mason jars

lace...twins..different jars.. you get the vibe

 

my bouquet... which has two brooches on it. One belonging to each of my grandmothers who were unable to be with us that day since Heaven is awfully far away...but I wanted them to walk with me down the aisle.

FYI: quilted mason jars make EXCELLENT candle holders with the way light reflects through the glass.

more centerpieces

The groomsmen and groom had palmetto rose boutonnieres...just to be true to Charleston :)  I also love that since they are made from palmetto leaves, I get to keep J's forever :) 

baby's breath in the sunlight

cocktail table.  This is where I let myself use colored linens.

 

 

 

 

Bridesmaids Dresses

 

I knew I wanted mis-matched dresses from the very beginning.  Not because this was a "trend", but more because I genuinely like the look. I also wanted a variety of textures and fabrics and colors, as well as prints.  Sounds like a big mess, right?  J thought so...so did everyone else when I told them I did not want traditional bridesmaids dresses.  They cringed when I said "prints" and when I responded to the "well they'll all be the same fabric, right" with a firm "definitely not" I think some of them had an aneurysm.  But it was what I wanted, and I was determined to make it work!

 

I wanted shades of peaches and pinks.  Soft colors, delicate details, and a variety of styles.  I wanted each girl to find something they loved and could wear again (you've heard that before, right?).  I also wanted to have jewelry made custom for each girl that was different, yet cohesive.  And when I stumbled across a store on Etsy that provided just that, I thought my heart would flutter right out of my chest in joy!

 

 

Brooke, my MOH

All the dresses (minus brooke's).  Chiffon peach with rhinestone detailing, three-quarter length sleeved lace dresses with scalloped hemlines, and a darling vintage print dress completed the look.

 

Ready for this? I found them at Dillards.  Not joking.  Totally serious.  WHICH WAS GREAT because they could go to their local dillards and buy them/try them on... oh yeah, my girls spanned 4 different states, 7 different cities.

 

 



 



 

Paper products and Chalkboards

 

I love paper.  I love invitations--they're the first thing your guests see when they get invited to your wedding.  It's your time to set the stage for the upcoming event.  Unfortunately, invitations get expensive , and also it's really difficult to find one that is "just right."  SO.... I made ours.

 

I had a vision in mind-- I wanted kraft brown folds, and shimmery ivory papers, and more mason jars, and pinks/peaches (just like the bridal party dresses)...here is what I came up with and created.

 

Each tie was a bit different, with our monogram of "F" on there.

 

all tied up!

pocketfolds = my favorite.  Everything gets so organized and stays that way through mailing!

 

The whole set together! 

 

 

As for the chalkboards- I lucked out and got a lot of cute frames at Homegoods and then a GIANT frame at a yard sale.. then I taped and used chalkboard paint to create them and chalk pens.  I love chalkboards.

 

 

 

Programs- when I created these- I wanted splashes of color...I also wanted 150 different programs. So no two programs are exactly identical :)

 

Stole this from pinterest... not ashamed

with our guestbook

Our guestbook alternative: the thumbprint tree.  Which was extra special because one of my best friends painted it for me!



 

 

I had this created from a fabulous etsy shop of us and our furchildren :)

We went with cupcakes-- minis, regular, and jumbo.... we had all intentions of cutting into the giant one...but we ended up cutting into a mini for the cake cutting :)





 



The Venue

This was the first thing we decided on.  We got married at Creek club at I'On and I wouldn't change that at all.  It had a large porch with extra seating, and a gorgeous wood-paneled interior with exposed beams, and views of the marsh that were out of this world.  We got married outside under a beautiful oak tree.  When people ask me "what was it about this venue that made you choose it?" I can't really explain it without sharing some of our favorite pictures.

 

entire bridal party

sunset over the marsh

giant tree

dances on the dock at sunset

all smiles :)

views of the Charleston marsh

dad's tie: Etsy :)

Creek club at I'On

hanging lanterns

 

 

There are so many details that go into a wedding that I couldn't possibly share them all, but these are definitely some of my favorite from ours. 

If you are looking to get married in the Charleston area and would like more information on any of the vendors that we used, please feel free to contact me! I wouldn't have changed a thing!

 

So there you have it.  My Charleston-inspired DIY wedding.  Lots of long nights with my hot glue gun and paper products went into this wedding, but I loved taking the time to make all the details!

 

 

 

My favorite gift:

Everyone has a favorite gift from their wedding, right?  Most people just don't say "YOUR gift was my favorite"... well, I have to brag a little on my sweet cousin, Katie here for a minute. 

She captured some of our wedding on video and put the film to the lyrics to our first dance song... and she did an absolutely phenomenal job.  this is, by far , my most favorite part of the wedding.  I didn't want a videographer at the wedding (no offense to you all who want every minute of your day captured), but having a highlight video like this I would definitely recommend people do. It's my favorite memory of the day... and I know I will cherish it forever.

Don't believe me? Watch this < 5 minute video and I promise you'll want one for yourself

 

 

Credits:

Photographer: Peter Finger Photography

Cupcakes: Cupcake, Mt Pleasant

Florist: Pretty Petals of Charleston

Wedding gown: Gown Boutique of Charleston

Venue:Creek Club at I'On

Cake topper: Life is but a dream shop, Etsy

 

 

Happy wedding planning,

xoxo

Virginia