Adriana from
Rambling Grad Student blog recently got married, and i knew her wedding would be one i could not miss. Not only was i so honored to be a bridesmaid, but my baby boy Noah was a ring bearer as well! I like to say Adriana and i have the same heart because we tend to gravitate towards the same things in life. I could not get over how beautiful her wedding was, and let me tell you that it was a true DIY inspiration.
I had to ask her a few questions about how she planned her special day. Here they are:
Q: What D.I.Y projects did you complete for your wedding?I think the shorter answer would be what did I NOT D.I.Y for the wedding. From the first week we were engaged, I started collecting vintage lace tablecloths, candle holders, silverware, china and chandeliers. The reception was held is my parents already beautiful backyard, but I spent a lot of time planting flowers and stringing lights and chandeliers all over the yard. I DIYed water bottle covers, tied together 50 pairs of flip flops for dancing shoes, and helped to pour a concrete slab that turned into the dance floor (one week before the wedding). I made the table numbers with paint, fabric and picture frames. I DIYed the entire photo booth too – from picking the fabric for the background, creating the frame, collecting the props, and buying the camera accessories (a flash and a wireless remote control). The morning of the wedding, I put together the centerpiece flowers, which were in vases of various shapes and sizes. My dad built our beautiful bar from my husband’s old coffee table – I wish I had before and after pictures because the transformation was incredible and you’d have to see it to believe it. We hung organza from posts my dad put in the ground around the dance floor, and over by the sweetheart table. In the weeks leading up to the wedding, I spent a lot of time sorting through all the vintage table accessories we had collected over the year and set up mock tables. Once a table was set, I labeled everything and put it in a bin, so that on the actual day of the wedding, everything for a table was in one bin. This was really time consuming, but I really couldn’t have done it any other way because we had collected so many beautiful things and I wanted to make sure it would all come together. I also DIYed the appetizers. We kept it simple and had help from a few family friends. My husband and I stuffed baby sweet peppers with goat cheese the day before the wedding. I made little toothpick signs for about 20 different kinds of gourmet cheese, sliced 10 baguettes, and a good family friend made 200 caprese-salads-on-a-stick (which were delicious!).
Q: What did you learn through the process, or what advice would you give to another D.I.Y bride?Let the little things go. Its too easy to get sucked into all the little details and to forget the bigger picture. I think every bride probably says this after her wedding. For example, I bought 50 pairs of flip flops at the Old Navy $1 flip-flop sale, so that guests could have “dancing shoes” as the night went on. A great idea, but I spent about 5 or 6 hours trying to make them prettier. I printed out size tags, cut them out and pasted them to decorative paper. I then cut out the size tag that was on decorative paper, and hand tied each tag to a pair of flip flops with curling ribbon. As I was doing it I knew I was probably spending too much time on this project. In the end, the shoes looked great in the baskets, but they would have looked just as fine without such an elaborate process. So, pick your projects wisely. I am a big fan of little details, but making the water bottle labels was less work and more impact.
Q: What feeling or theme were you going for?Well, we decided early on that we were going to get married in the church where my parents were married 30 years ago, so I was inspired to go vintage. Also, my mom has always had a huge affinity for antique things and she owns more vintage china than anyone I’ve ever met in my life. She and I love scouring thrift stores and garage sales for vintage treasures, so it made sense to do that for the wedding. It also made sense because I didn’t want a wedding where everything matched – no color coordinating napkins and table cloths (or even bridesmaid dresses – they all picked their own). I didn’t even have “colors”, which was hard to explain to the 2,100 people who ask you what your colors are. I did gravitate towards clear and silver vases for the tables, and cream, champagne, and muted pink for the china. Since nothing was going to match on the tables, I decided to go for all white flowers for the centerpieces, to sort of tie everything together. It also made it really easy to put the flowers together the morning of the wedding. At the end of the day, the words I associated with my wedding were: vintage, whimsical, and relaxed.
Q: Where did you gather most your inspiration?Wedding blogs, magazines and Pinterest. I found so many ideas for DIY photo booths that I knew we could put together our own fairly easily and because we did, we saved over $800 by doing it ourselves and not paying someone else to do it. One of the most helpful websites was Weddingbee, which is a fantastic community of bride bloggers who share ideas, tips, and DIY projects with each other.
Q: How do you suggest combating the "DIY-er than thou" frenzy that some crafty brides work themselves into? Ooooh, good question. This definitely comes up. From the very beginning I knew our wedding was going to be primarily DIY for 2 reasons. 1) The reception was in my parent’s backyard, and 2)I didn’t feel like anyone else should plan our wedding. I mean, it’s our wedding and it just felt right to do more of it ourselves. However, we still hired a Day-Of-Wedding Coordinator (who came with five staff members) and she was absolutely essential to the day running smoothly. But to answer your question, I would just say to make sure to follow your priorities. DIYing the table flowers was really important to me, so I spent a lot of time researching the best way to do that and enlisting help the day of. Napkins were not important, so I ordered them from a website and didn’t give them another thought. Although, if I could go back and do it again, I would buy them at IKEA, where you can get 100 dinner-size napkins for $1.99. So, just know what your priorities are and follow them.
Q: What projects do you think brides shouldn't DIY?I think brides should DIY whatever they want, because all of us have different skills and talents. For example, a LOT of brides I’ve seen online have DIYed their own wedding invitations. I DIYed the engagement party invitations and the wedding programs, but they were very simple and nothing special. For the wedding invitations, I wanted something more intricate. I came across The Aerialist Press (www.theaerialistpress.com) who created the most beautiful letterpress invitations for us. I would have loved to be a bride with the creativity to DIY my own wedding invitations, but I am more a collector than a designer. Play to your strengths and it’ll be great!
Q: And lastly, where did you find such a handsome ring bearer?Awww, that’s the easiest question of them all! My beautiful best friend married a handsome Marine, and they created one of the most handsome little boys I have ever seen. He just happened to be three years old when we got married, so obviously he was the top candidate for the job ☺ He looked SO handsome in his little suit and the pictures of him with the flower girl seriously melt my heart. So, a big shout out to Brooke & Noah for flying across the country to be a part of our big day! We love you.
Sneak peak from her photographer
HEREThank you so much Adriana for letting us be a part of your special day! We love you and will see you again in July!
Here she is with her little cube.
And here is the bib i made her. I had these cite scraps of fabric, and since i had never done a bib i decided to sew them all together to try my very first bib. I lined the back with minky, and it ended up coming out SO cute. Of course i had to jazz it up with a little flower on the neck as well. I've made a few more since!
