I will never forget, getting to the ceremony, and seeing how gorgeous everyone looked and thinking "This is really happening! The vision that I had for the wedding looks amazing!"
I was so calm and relaxed the day of the wedding. You would have thought I had taken every anxiety pill known to man! Everything went perfect, and if something didn't, I didn't know about it. So, just remember, it will all turn out wonderfully and the nerves will subside.
This was my face throughout the day. haha
We only rented enough chairs for the immediate family to sit during the ceremony. The rest of the guests stood around us for our short and sweet ceremony.
The day before the wedding, my sweet mother in law and sister in law, and a few friends helped us decorate. We used sheer tulle (purchased as curtains from Ikea) to swag from the ceiling. We used a staple gun to attach it at both ends. We used white string lights from Hobby Lobby inside the tulle. I also purchased wooden monograms for us, my parents, and Brad's parents and hung them on one of the wood beams. This is also what we gave them for the parents gift.
I always envisioned the bridal party sitting together at a long table. I also wanted the family tables to adjoin this, but there wasn't an area that could accommodate that. So, we had 3 family tables directly behind us.
My mom made our wedding cake. It was chocolate pound cake, with German chocolate icing filling, and buttercream icing. (YUM!) We also did various desserts in family recipes. These desserts were favorites for family members who have passed away. We put framed pictures of those family members beside their favorite dessert.
Here is the finished product of the antique mirror frame that I turned into a chalk board.
Here's a link on a tutorial for how I made the menu:
I made pallet Mr. and Mrs. signs for our chairs.
Here's a link for a tutorial on how I made the pallet signs for the wedding:
I bought navy blue table cloths on Amazon (because it was cheaper than renting!). I only used them on the bridal party tables, family tables, and the high top cocktail tables around the dance floor.
I used wine bottles as candle stick holders.
"Reserved for family" signs were printed off and used in small gold place card holder frames.
90% of the flowers (hydrangeas) used for the wedding were picked the day before. For some reason they were blooming at the end of October here! Thank you Lord!
The table that we used for our guest book was my Uncle's antique desk.
We knew we wanted to incorporate my great grandmother's car into the wedding. We used it as our "get away" car.
The ribbon wands were a fun and different thing to use for our send off.
Here's a link for the tutorial on how I made them:
We had the BEST day ever! We saved so much by doing a lot of it ourselves and being smart about what we spent money on. It turned out even better than I could have imagined!
