This guy makes me truly happy inside. You know what else makes me happy? This headband I made. Because my hair is always so big and puffy in this weather, and the headband really reins it in. And another thing that makes me happy? The boy that likes my big, fluffy hair.
I made the headband using this tutorial, and an old t-shirt. I am going to try another version this weekend.
My ma has this really big bell. So big it is mounted on a big post. We decided that when we said I do, someone needs to ring the “wedding bell”. GET IT??
So we also made little miniature versions for all the guests to ring. They are just little scraps of leftover fabric and ribbon, tied onto wooden dowels. It took me some hunting to find some suitable bells that weren’t too big, still made noise, and didn’t cost a fortune. Once they were done, we stuck them all in a little flower pail and added a sign. We saw lots of the little ones running around with them after the ceremony, and at the end of the night, everyone rang them as we drove off together.
These ribbons are only if your wedding guests are the very best, like ours were. I started making them as a busy project a couple months beforehand. It was one of those instantly gratifying projects. I first got the idea when I made this ribbon for my ma. And my ma is always my inspiration.
I took some leftover fabric scraps from some other wedding decorations, and I made a million yo-yos. I then scrounged up some felt in coordinating colors, and glued on the extra bits. I attached a pin back to the back of the ribbon.
On wedding day, we put them all in berry baskets by the wedding programs. It made me very happy to see everyone wearing them!
(photo by our amazing photographer)
Our wedding was very homemade. Like the it-was-in-my-backyard-and-we-made-all-the-food brand of homemade. We planned out most of it, but there were a lot of little serendipity projects right at the end. We just happened to have certain things lying around at the exact moment we got an idea. So I thought I would share a couple of those projects. The first is a wooden sign.
We were thinking that this tree needed a little something, and we happened to have this old piece of wood. So I whipped up a little sign. I painted on the letters, and the guy tied the rope around it. Teamwork.
I have read lots of things online about the little details at weddings. From some wedding websites, you are led to believe by the amazing photos that all the little details matter. Others advise that by the day after, all people will really remember is the overall feeling, and won’t even be able to recall the centerpieces.
I have always been a very detailed oriented person, so the little details do matter to me, even if no one else notices. I love focusing on my little projects. I am really excited to spend the next week getting everything ready!
I thought this was one of my more brilliant ideas.
We included a recipe card with our RSVP cards, and asked our guests to write down a favorite recipe to mail back with their response. We thought it would be a great way to start our own little family recipe collection, with handwritten recipes from our loved ones.
It has been so fun to open the responses, and guess what kind of recipe they included. It has been more love than we could ever imagine.
Recipe cards from Rifle Paper Co. Scalloped cards from Paper Source. Self made sticky notes.
I made this little award badge for my ma. Because she is the best ma, and she fills my heart with rainbows.
I have been searching for pocket squares for weeks. I knew I wanted a variety of patterns. I knew I was going to sew a little something on them. I found these squares at Hugh & Crye. I really liked the fun patterns, and the great price, so I snatched up a bunch of them.
I wanted to make them a gift for the men in the wedding. I cut out some little hearts, and sewed them into the corner of each square. What was once just a pocket square is now a special gift, because I put a little heart into it. (get it??)
So real talk: It took me a very long time to make our wedding invites. Now, I did choose something crazy, and I totally knew what I was getting into, but there were times when I thought that they I wouldn’t be done until after we were already married. They kept me up at night. I thought about them all day. But even though they haunted my dreams, I loved making them. The guy would leave me sweet little notes of encouragement on top of my supplies. They gave my hands something to do instead of worrying about weddings and stuff. I was a little sad when I finished them, because the time in my life when I made our wedding invitations in my every spare moment was now over. So here is a little photo timeline of our wedding invites in the making.
Things I learned about save the dates:
1. If you have an idea in your head of what you want, just go for it.
2. If you make them yourself, something will probably go wrong, and you should just remember that it would be a boring story if everything went perfect.
3. Sometimes it is cheaper to make something yourself, but you have to be willing to spend more time.
4. No matter how soon you send them out, you are already late (fashionably).
Basically, I searched the internet for over a month looking for save the dates that caught my eye. While there are gorgeous options out there, I really wanted something that was “us” (don’t we all).
Anyway, I doodle a lot at work to keep my hands busy, and one day, my doodles reminded me of the middle school notebook when you doodle a cute boy’s name all over it. I thought that might be a cute idea for a save the date.
So we spent an evening making little drawings and doodles. I spent about one movie making all the doodles into tiny pictures on the computer. We bought paper and envelopes from Paper Source, and some washi tape from various Etsy stores. We got into a big fight with our printer. We won. We mailed them only 5 months in advance, and no one freaked out too badly. And this was one of my most favorite art projects of all time.
guy and his girl 