REAL WEDDINGS | Caitlin & Jeff
What do-it-yourself projects did you do? I had several things I made on my own for the ceremony and reception.
Table numbers: This is where my theme of showing our relationship through the years came into play. It started as an idea I originally saw on Pinterest but I then made into my own design. I assigned each table number a year from our relationship and then I found a picture of Jeff and myself from that year. For example we graduated high school in 2005 so for table number 2005, I picked a picture of us in our graduation gowns taken right after the ceremony. I displayed each of these pictures on the table along with the year as the table number. Our friends and family loved seeing pictures of us together through the years. For the picture frames, my mom and I searched all the nearby thrift and drug stores for 5x7 silver picture frames. We were not only looking for inexpensive frames but unique frames that would create a vintage feeling to match the ambience of the old mill where we held our reception. Lastly, we ordered navy blue picture frame mats in bulk from an online vendor and we printed the year numbers on card stock from our printer at home.
Meet the Wedding party: This is another idea that originated on Pinterest that I put my own twist on. In keeping with the theme of displaying who Jeff and I are as a couple, I wanted to show the importance of our friends and family who supported us throughout the years. I asked each member of our wedding party to write a short paragraph about our relationship (something about how we know each other or a favorite memory) and asked them to pick a picture of us with them. So each groomsman/groomswoman picked a picture of them with Jeff and the bridesmaids picked a picture of them with me. I gave them free rein here and told them they could make it as embarrassing or as sentimental as they wanted. To display these at the reception, I borrowed two old windows from Jeff’s sister. I thought this would go with the décor and exposed beams of the old mill reception hall well. My dad sanded and painted the windows. My mom and I bought navy foam board from a craft store and glued the printed paragraphs and pictures to it so each picture and paragraph showed through a separate portion of the window. My mom used a glass pen to write “The Bridesmaids” and “The Groomsmen” on one section of each window. The windows were displayed on a table near the entrance so all of our guests could see
them as they came into the reception.
Video Messages: I took this idea from our friends who got married a few months earlier. Jeff and I had decided we didn’t want to hire a videographer for our wedding ceremony because we decided it wasn’t something we would watch frequently. However, we did ask one of our friends to set up his video camera on a stand in the corner of the reception hall. The microphone was on and the camera was rolling the whole time and the DJ invited everyone to stop by and leave us a message. We also had a sign set up next to the camera so our guests would know it was already on and to just start talking into the microphone. This video turned out to be one of my favorite things from the wedding because instead of just capturing the events of the night, it captured all of our friends and family sharing in our special day with us.
Wedding programs: In an effort to save money, I made our wedding programs myself. Our church had given us several programs from previous ceremonies to use as examples of formatting. I chose a font, color, and style I liked and typed it up on my computer at home and had them printed on ivory card stock.
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DIY WEDDINGS |
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