My mom encouraged me to write everything down from what I would call the most perfect day ever... so here goes!
I want to thank everyone who so graciously helped put things together piece by piece for this wonderful day. Here are the details on how to have a CUSTOM wedding on a budget ... and only planned in 5 months!
To start off, I will say that my mom and I met every Saturday for 5 months for 3-4 hours. We came up with a vision and made a list of things that needed to be purchased on the first Saturday, we bought the majority of what we needed on the second Saturday, and the third Saturday we began making things!
I asked my bridesmaids and Maid of Honor to stand by my side with a little burlap bag stuffed with a mini picture frame of the two of us together along with a torn off piece of notebook paper and a handwritten card. I hand stamped the C on the burlap bag -- a total of $10 (for 5 bridesmaids and 1 MOH? That's less than $2 a person!) The baggie, stamp, frame, and card came from Michaels.
(Thanks Leah for taking a picture!)
Both sets of our parents just celebrated 30 years of marriage! My parents were married in Oklahoma, and R's were married here in North Carolina. We were able to get married in the same church R's parents got married in 30 years ago! We were very fortunate to have been able to use the church free of cost because his grandmother still attends and does so much for the church. We wanted to get married at a venue that was sentimental and cost efficient -- and it turned out beautifully!
Berean Baptist Church - Hamptonville, NC
(before)
(after)
We were thrown a couple's shower by the sweetest Whitney and Ethan Chapmon about a month after R popped the question. We fell in love with the cupcakes at the shower, that we used the same person to do our cake and cupcakes for the wedding. She charged about $160 for a "naked" cake and nearly 100 cupcakes for the reception. Alice, Ethan's mom, helped Whitney make a corsage for me to wear at the shower. We thought it would be the perfect detail to add the corsage to the bouquet that my mom made for me. We used artificial flowers for three reasons: 1) they are cheaper 2) we could make things ahead of time instead of the day of; we did not use a florist 3)I could keep it forever We displayed the cake and cupcakes on wood that a co-worker chopped for us. (more free!!!)
(cupcakes @ bridal shower -- yes those are edible antlers!)
("naked cake" with Willow Tree cake topper and cupcakes at wedding reception)
(corsage at the bridal shower)
(mom made the bouquet and wrapped a piece of lace from her wedding dress around it and attached the corsage to it)
The ribbon banner that hung over the baptistery was the most time-consuming project. My mom and sister helped me measure, cut, and tie ribbon onto the rope very early on in our planning. The ribbon banner was also used at a bridal shower! (and is currently hanging up in our dining room)
Here is the banner at bridal shower number 2 @ Sarah's. The 'Mr. & Mrs.' banner attached to the ribbon banner was made by Kenz and used at the head table at the reception.
(MR & MRS banner at the head table)
We had a "light refreshments" reception with a couple of yard games (cornhole & giant jenga) so the only tables were those with drinks and food and our head table. Behind the head table we displayed pictures of R and I from high school all the way through engagement pictures. We used gifts given to us (large "C" tile, "Crouse" wooden sign ((used at shower #1)), and an engagement picture printed on a tree slice) mixed in with the pictures Kenz also gave us old window frames that we used on just about every table. Mom printed the pictures for the canvas from vista print and made our canvases for us.
The same friend of mine from work that cut the wood for us, also let us borrow mason jars that were already wrapped in burlap and lace. Kenz and Mom made bows to hang them on the pews with and we picked up baby's breath from Lowe's food two nights before the wedding.
Alice did a wonderful job stringing magnolia to drape with the ribbon banner and she also made two wreaths for the doors. I wrote a song for R for our first dance and when she heard it she made a sign with the lyrics "together forever" and surprised us with it when she came to help decorate.
We were very fortunate to have had such amazing friends help us out with pictures. Lindzi took our engagement and reception pictures (and a few at the wedding, too!), Jeremy took my bridal portraits (both Lindzi and Jeremy did this out of the kindness of their heart) and a friend from church, Hannah Boyd cut us an amazing deal -- a blessing, that's for sure -- for pictures of the wedding and wedding party.
(bridal portraits by Jeremy Gardner; PS-- this LOVE sign was used above the ribbon banner in the wedding)
(wedding pictures: Hannah Boyd Photography;; Mom made my calalily bouqet, the groomsmen/best man/groom's boutonniere, the mothers/grandmothers' corsages too!
And a quick story about the bridesmaids' flowers.... We originally had planned for each bridesmaid/MOH to carry one single calalily, but the calalilies that we had did not open in enough time, so we took the flowers that were on the table from rehearsal dinner the night before (R's mom handpicked them for rehearsal dinner centerpieces) and mom made all of the girls' flowers!)
reception hall (old school house turned into an event center through the ruritan club) BEFORE
reception hall AFTER (it was 1.5 miles away from the church)
(Reception pictures by: Captured by LinZ ;; The bubbles were leftover from one of Kenz's friends weddings and she gave them to us! The reception was held in an old schoolhouse about a mile down the road from the church. We paid $100 to be able to get in and decorate on Friday and to have it all day Saturday.)
For the bridesmaids/MOH dresses, I asked all of the girls to find a navy dress that fit their body type and their budget and to wear burlap toms. My grandmother hand beaded my veil and also made my niece's (flowergirl) tutu. Mom made the flowergirl's crown and she wore a ballet leotard under the tutu with her cowgirl boots. The guys were asked to wear khakis and a white button up and R gave them all silly bowties to wear as their gift. My cowgirl boots that I wore under my dress were a gift from R's mom and grandma for Christmas.
(flowergirl;; handmade tutu by my grandma)
(bridal party)
(hand-beaded veil and cowgirl boots)
(GRAMMA!)
I was fortunate enough to not need any alterations done on my wedding dress except to take a couple of inches off the bottom (5'5" bride - ha!). My grandma did a wonderful job with alterations, the veil, and Annie's tutu. I'm blessed to have had all of these things made with such care and love. My parents blessed me by buying my wedding dress -- but I still managed to find it on sale at David's Bridal!
A few more [very important] details:
Bridal shower #3 was thrown by R's mom and it was a sweet brunch in the Chapmon's packhouse.
Bridal shower #4 was thrown by my mentor at school with another sweet brunch at Two for Tea.
[surprise] bridal shower #5 was thrown by amazing kindergarten team! They also blessed us with a knife set off of our registry. (We had an online registry through myregistry.com which allowed us to add things from different places.
We had a peanut table set up with take home bags for our favors (I can't seem to find a picture of that... /: )
For easy set up, mom and I put together tubs for each table at the reception and any other decor that was needed at the church and the schoolhouse. We set up everything on my dining room table, took a picture of how we wanted it set up, put all of the necessary items in the tub, and taped the picture we took under the lid. This was a great way for people who had volunteered to help us set up be able to take the bucket and match the table/room to the picture under the tub.
R and I were talking on the way back from the honeymoon that there wasn't one thing we would have changed about this amazing day. Our officiant, Richie, did an amazing job preaching the gospel and sharing with our closest friends and family about what marriage truly is about. His wife, Tricia, did a fabulous job singing. We are blessed to have such great friends in Richie and Tricia.
I cannot thank the people enough for making this special day so perfect! Thanks mom for meeting with me every week for 5 months (and the wedding dress; and the bouquets; and everything else you did)! Thank you Alice for all of your help decorating the church and helping us craft along the way and for stringing tons and tons of magnolia! Thank you Gramma for ALL that you made: my veil, Annie's tutu; the bridesmaids jewelry. Thank you to R's grandma for making baskets for all SIX of the bridesmaids. Thank you Kenz for EVERY.SINGLE.THING. you did -- If I tried to list it all, I would forget something! Thank you Beck for all that you did keeping me sane oh "most beautiful maid of honor of all the land". Thank you to Whit and Sarah for opening up your houses and allowing me to be showered with gifts and love. Thank you to Ms McBride for the wedding signs that we put on the road, the mason jars, and cutting the wood. Thank you to Ms Hall for the beautiful picture frame and stand and for throwing a wonderful shower. Thank you to Ms Kimbro for allowing me to borrow such beautiful wreaths and giving us the fabric to drape over the baptistery. Thank you to the Crouses for a special rehearsal dinner and for all of the food! Thank you to each and every one of our friends and our families for coming out to share this special day with us and for contributing various things that made the wedding even more sentimental!
We had our rehearsal dinner in the church's fellowship hall hosted by Richard's family. His mom made this beautiful cake topper that we have displayed in our living room now. We had a baked potato bar for rehearsal dinner along with soup.
We had our rehearsal dinner in the church's fellowship hall hosted by Richard's family. His mom made this beautiful cake topper that we have displayed in our living room now. We had a baked potato bar for rehearsal dinner along with soup.
-xoxo-
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