All Things Wedded

Ceremony Items:

   Other items we opted to make were the flower girl wands, ring bearer book, bridesmaids bouquets, boutonnieres and corsages, ceremony cord and ceremony decor (trees).  The nice thing about DIY projects is that you can think of what you want and **poof**, you're off to making it.  It is totally understandable that not everyone digs the idea of making everything but we found it enjoyable.

Flower girl wands:  Very simple to make.  All it required were ribbons of various widths, colors and styles, a dowel and hot glue.  It is something the girls can keep and use for dress-up and other play.  Luckily they did not use these wands on each other the day of the wedding.

Ring bearer book:  This was a nice change from using a pillow.  After thinking about it, a pillow would have been cool but I liked the idea of a book.  Half Priced Books for something you're going to end up ripping apart, ribbon, glue and an embellishment for the front (if you wanted).  I really did go to the extent of cutting a hole inside the book even though it was never intended to be used.  Not sure why I did it . . .

Bridesmaids bouquets :  Opted for something that was a little long with only a few stems.  The bridesmaids had two stems of white orchids with cherry blossoms and ivy, the maid of honor had one stem of white and one stem of yellow orchids with cherry blossoms and ivy.  Each bouquet also had a brooch at the base of the flowers.  My friend, Sue (bridesmaid), received a pink brooch with three girls dancing and Hazel (bridesmaid) received a similar one in green.  My sister, Jocelyn (MOH) received a pendant with the faces of two girls.  Faux floral, lasts and nice keepsake.

 

Boutonnieres and Corsages:  Just like making them with real flowers with the luxury of making them a couple months in advance and saving as a keepsake for others.  We chose green orchids with ivy for the groomsmen; white orchids for the fathers, god fathers and special guests; white with pink orchids for the mothers and white orchids for the god mothers and special guests.

Ceremony cord:  Our ceremony included hand-fasting as we wanted to incorporate Jim's Irish heritage (note the awesome custom kilt).  We picked out six colors to weave based on his clan and family colors.  The ribbons had different designs and some metallic-like to add a bit of personality to it.  It was basically like weaving a friendship bracelet.  It came out to be about 5 to 6 feet long, enough to perform 6 wraps around our wrists.

Ceremony decor:  We liked the idea of using trees at the "alter".  Again, we opted for faux because they are much easier to transport and care for, no worry of losing leaves prior to the day of and can be reused as home decor.  My mom picked up two from A.C. Moore (or Michael's).  I picked up the corresponding greenery for the base at Hobby Lobby.

Reception Items:

   There were also several items we made for the reception.  They included the seating chart, card cage, favors (made by a friend), guest sign-in (made by my sister) and big pot of gold candy (made by my mother) when people sign-in.

Seating chart:  We created a seating chart based on the planets with our table being the Sun and it worked perfectly.  We used powerpoint to create the chart with a picture of the Horsehead Nebula as a background.  My sister took the image to Staples to be blown up and mounted on whiteboard.  We later had it mounted in a black frame at JoAnn Fabric.

Card cage:  Since our invitations had a presence of birds, I thought a bird cage would be a nice idea and something that could be displayed as home decor after use.  Very simple decoration of cherry blossoms and an ivory bow to match the metal of the cage.  We placed our table centerpiece and our cord in the cage afterwards.

Guest sign-in:  My sister was very excited to make this and it turned out fantastic.  It was a scroll that would be housed inside a box on top of a silk pillow.  The pen used was a feather pen.  I think she mentioned having to drink two bottles of champagne in order to but that perfect touch on it  :)

Pot of Gold (Candy):  My mom had made a pot of gold candy for my CT bridal shower which we also used at the reception.  It was really cute, especially the rainbow.

Botbox Favors:  These were absolutely awesome.  Handmade by my friend's mother (Erin's mom, Carole).  The also incorporate Jim's special interest and targeted career path  :)

Paper Projects:

Invitations, programs and thank you notes were also part of the DIY journey!  Yellow, green and grey were our colors and the paper projects really took to incorporating birds.  Overall, I don't really think there was a central theme to the wedding, like most would have.  I think each piece of the wedding had its own theme.

Invitations :  We made a 5x7, postcard-style invitation.  The base was a textured grey cardstock.  The second piece had some texture and was 3/4 embossed with Provo Craft CuddleBug bird swirl and we used Martha Stewart Bird Branch Punch Around the Page on the corner and side.  The third piece was a textured green cardstock with rounded corners on one side and punched with the bird branch.  We added a few yellow flowers (CuddleBug dies) for accent.

Reply cards :  Also a single page, post-card style.  Plain white with bird branch punches at the top.  We decided to add something fun as an RSVP :  "Yes, We'll be there with our kilts on" and "No, Our kilts are at the dry cleaners".  Since it was a buffet, no need for food selection.  We also included a line to make song requests as "We promise to dance if you play....."

Thank you cards :  Plain white with bird branch punch on the side and a "Thank You" stamp on the front (not seen here).  On the inside, we added a strip of green (same color and paper from the invitations) to go underneath the punch on the front with a yellow accent flower.   Some people received one with a grey stripe and green flower accent.

 

Ceremony programs:  Real simple here.  We alternated white and green.  The inside left listed the order of the ceremony.  The inside right listed all participants of the wedding.  On the back was a little history of hand-fasting, a remembrance of those no longer with us and a thank you to our friends and family.