Weddingbee Blog

Hive, the time has come to share all of my tiny little details. During the course of my wedding planning, I accumulated a number of crafts and projects for the big day. It was incredibly rewarding to see each and every one of them come to fruition at our venue.

First: what we wore. I spent a lot of time and effort putting together my attire and the bridal party’s attire, and I thought it came together beautifully (I’m biased).

My gorgeous lace dress…James Clifford style 1820. It was the first dress I put on at the dress shop I bought it from. My grandma cried when she saw me in it. I still love it to this very day.

I hand crafted the ivory peony I wore on the wedding day. Because I wasn’t wearing a veil, I wanted the flower to be a statement, and I absolutely loved my enormous hair flower!

My shoes were a pair I already owned for a few years. They were perfect: blue, textured, and already broken in! Mr. Buttons also wore a pair of Converse sneakers after our ceremony was complete: they looked great!

My bouquet was one of my favorite details from our wedding day. Debbie at The Bride’s Bouquet did an absolutely spectacular job of creating this beauty (which I swear weighed about 10 pounds). It included blush and white peonies, garden roses, rosemary, and seeded eucalyptus. It was beyond gorgeous.

The bridesmaids wore an assortment of silk chiffon dresses in vintage blue from J Crew. They carried similarly beautiful bouquets filled with garden roses, creamy colored stock, lisianthus, white cymbidium orchids, and seeded eucalyptus.

Our flower girl carried a pomander of faux flowers and ribbon that I created one afternoon. Her older brother, our ring bearer, carried a handmade ring pillow made by BusyButtons on Etsy.

Next: the ceremony details. The wonderful folks at Carlouel were kind enough to construct a pair of GORGEOUS mantles for their fireplaces. They were above and beyond what I had envisioned: the wooden detailing they added was amazing! Our florist, The Bride’s Bouquet, did an excellent job of filling the mantle with beautiful pink peonies, garden roses, greenery, candles, and ceramic birds.

The mantle on the opposite wall was decorated simply with greenery, candles, and birds.

The aisle chairs were tied simply with poufs of baby’s breath and ribbon.

Our ushers distributed programs to each guest before the ceremony. I purchased a ream of card stock from Kinko’s to print them, and we bound each program with satin ribbon purchased from the dollar store!

My parents were kind enough to help me with the construction of our wish tree guestbook. We set an assortment of manzanita branches in plaster and spray painted them a soft pewter color. We placed the branches in a pretty blue ceramic pot that I picked up at T.J. Maxx, then covered the top with moss to hide the plaster. I took light green card stock and ran it through a die cutter to make heart shaped “leaves,” then we punched a hole in each leaf to attach a hook. At an after-Christmas sale, I picked up a few packs of beautiful ornament hooks for 75% off that added a little extra sparkle.

I also added a few crystal shaped ornaments to the tree to add a little extra sparkle…

Across from the wish tree was the gift table and the card box. We used a mailbox as our card box – Mr. Buttons spray painted it gold with an ivory crackle coat on top. It looked fantastic, and was a very cheap project to complete!

The tables for cocktail hour were set simply with a white tablecloth, green ceramic birds, and garden roses in wine carafes.

Our escort card display was a simple but effective project. I found some vintage-style wooden trays and decided that they would be the perfect vessel to display our escort cards in. We lined them with moss and placed our simple white doily escort cards on top. Originally, I had plans for more involved escort cards. However, due to limited time before the wedding I scratched that project and decided to utilize some Martha Stewart cards. I think they did the trick.

I know I already gushed over my cake, but it was probably my favorite detail from the day. My bird cake topper, created by Vintage by Crystal, looked absolutely spectacular. And the lace detailing on my cake? So gorgeous.

Next up: our reception tables. Each of the round tables was set with floor length white linens. In addition, each table featured a green pintuck overlay. All of the linens were lovingly created by my grandma – she did a fabulous job! Each table featured an assortment of various mercury glass vases (which my mom and I purchased from various stores) filled with baby’s breath, ceramic bird figurines, and votive candles.

I used the same card stock from the ceremony programs to print the menu cards, which were folded inside each guest’s napkin. We rounded the corners and punched two holes on the top of each card, then thread some sheer ribbon through.

I used letters instead of numbers to label each table. They were such an easy project – I painted the letters in ivory, the circular bases brown, glued them together, and added some moss with my trusty glue gun! Ta-da!

At the end of the evening, each of our guests were able to take home a homemade favor: a “doggie bag” of puppy chow! We wanted it to be a tribute to our pups, who were responsible for our meeting!

All in all, I was so happy with all of the little details from our wedding day! It took months to acquire and assemble all of our projects, but being able to see them all together at the event was such a wonderful experience. To those of you who are currently planning all of YOUR little details, just know that it all comes together in the end (I know I had my doubts during the course of my planning)!

*photos courtesy of Pilster Photography*

Previously…

• The girls got ready, then the guys got ready.
• I became a bride, but our first look wasn’t what I’d hoped.
• We took some photos alone and then with our bridal party.
• Everyone hopped on the trolley and then we took a few family portraits before my cake arrived.
• I gathered myself before the ceremony, our bridal party made their way down the aisle, and I followed afterward.
• Our ceremony began with some readings and ended with a handfasting ceremony.
• My ‘maids helped me adjust my bustle and we entered the cocktail hour.
• We had fun in the photo booth then took some photos on the water.
• We made our grand entrance, shared our first dance, and then danced with our parents.
• Toasts were made, food was eaten, and a sunset was enjoyed.