So here's a few of the things I made for our wedding. I really did a lot myself (with tons of help from my sister and mom). It was very important to me to have a sense of of who we are represented in our wedding. I chose two main design themes of buttons and maps that did just that. The buttons were for me. I used buttons in my artwork and for me they are a literal translation of bringing two things together--in this case--me and hubby. The maps were representative of our love of travel and hubby is actually a total map geek and will study them for hours. So those elements along with bright colors was the theme of the entire wedding. (Beware: Lots of pics ahead)
These are the other bouquets I made for the ladies. A bit smaller then mine but with the same types of "flowers" made out of buttons, felt and fabric. I used the tutorial
here for the fabric flowers. They are so easy and turned out really great. I think you can make all sorts of themed bouquets with these flowers for holidays and parties. Lots of possibilities. I made extras of all the bouquet "flowers" to use for the table decorations too!
I used my grandmother's Ball jars and some of my milk glass vases for the tabletops. We were on a pretty tight budget so i really tried to use things I already had--I didn't buy any fabric, buttons or ribbons for these. I only had to buy more wire for the stems.
There's even one in my hair.
This is our invitation. I wanted this to be the thing that tied all the themes together. So I sewed a button on each and used maps in the background. I used four ink colors. It was simple but really pretty. Again, I used things I already had. I used our old road atlases, buttons from my collection and we got the card stock free with hubby's Staples Rewards!
This is our program. I tried to make it look like a luggage tag to go with the travel theme and using the words "Away We Go." Again I made all of this using stuff I had. I used a lot of the scrapbook paper I've accumulated over the years. I also used little hearts punched out of maps on the front that I totally loved.
I ordered these totally awesome
button-shaped suckers and had to display them somehow. I just made little "trees" out of Styrofoam covered in ribbon and stuck the suckers into them. Simple, easy, cute.
This gives a few of the tons of
Martha Stewart tissue paper poufs I made in all sorts of colors. I had them hanging all throughout the barn which is where the reception was and I hung two in the oak tree where we had the ceremony. They are so easy to make and really look great hanging all together.
I used some of the leftover tissue paper to make smaller versions of the poufs and made some garlands that I put on the chairs at the ceremony and hung some inside the barn for the reception. Really added a punch of color to the boring brown chairs we used.
I also made garlands out of the maps I had. I really loved how these turned out. I had them lining the chairs down the aisle and again more inside the barn for the reception. Again, to me these were so simple but really made an impact and carried out the theme I was going for. I saved them too and have them hanging in our apartment.
These are the favors I made--just simple glass stone magnets. We punched a bunch of hearts out of map and glued them to the back of the glass, then covered that with a small colored piece of paper. Add a magnet to the back and it's done.
These are the napkins that my mom ordered. I used a tree symbol to echo the oak tree we were married under. Here you can also see the awesome cupcakes I got from Sam's. They were SO good. I also made cupcake picks with a Martha Stewart button punch I got at Michael's. I just punched then out of old magazines and glued them to a toothpick.
Here's another cupcake table shot. My stepfather made the amazing cupcake stand for us! Isn't it great. I just added a little ribbon and a button to the sides. I know we will use this for years to come. The top two cupcakes were for me and hubby. The toppers for those were some scrapbooking stickers I found on clearance at Michael's. How appropriate--they even had a little button on it and a tag saying "love". Too cute.
And to end things--I didn't make this--but check out that beautiful pork barbecue my uncle cooked for us! This is NC after all---what's a party without some good food.
Phew--that's about it I think. It was a lot of work but so worth it to me in the end (plus it saved us a ton of money). Our wedding really reflected the two of us as individuals and as the couple we've become.
