Wedding DIY: DIY Rustic Wedding Reception Decorations

Another tale from the budget friendly bride.  As I mentioned before I did most of the decorations myself with the help of my wonderful family and friends.  Here's how I decorated the reception for my wedding:

I wanted a simple, rustic yet elegant and beautiful look.  I also wanted lots of character and little touches that made a big impact.

My favorite part of the reception venue was this beautiful fireplace in the back center of the room.  It added so much to the place and was a great centerpiece for the sweetheart table which we put right in front.

I made the "Mr & Mrs" sign from some scraps of burlap that I cut to size, free-handed the letters and hot glued to some twine.

A lady that goes to my church was so sweet and helped be my unofficial decorator for the reception.  She did an amazing job! 

 
She used a crate from Michael's and decorated it with jars, candles, baby's breath and greenery from her backyard

I got this vase a couple years ago, read the review here

We used burlap for the table runners that we got from Lowe's here 
You do have to cut it to size and it gets a frayed look but no big deal...I wanted a rustic look right?

Oh and that black heart is a reserved sign I made for the bridal party tables.  I got some hearts on dowel sticks from Hobby Lobby and painted them black then wrote "reserved" on them with a paint pen and stuck them in the vase

The centerpieces I also made myself.  I had friends and family collect glass bottles and jars for me for months before the wedding and I spent FOREVER taking off the labels.  (soak in water with vinegar and dish soap) Then I would spray some water on the bottles and spray paint silver (The water droplets gave it an antique mercury look).  On the table I grouped them by varying heights and wrapped twine around them.  Then placed baby's breath in the bottles.

The jars I covered with burlap and some with lace and then placed 2 burlap jars and 2 ribbon jars with a candle in them at each table.

I would also suggest if you are going to use tablecloths to search around early.  I borrowed some and then realized I needed a few more and had to rent some.  If I had known I needed more earlier I probably could have bought them for the price of renting.  So just some bride knowledge, do your research early and know what you want to save some money! 

 

My bridesmaids also wrapped Christmas lights and tulle together and draped them up the stairs.  

I borrowed the cake stand from my wonderful cake lady and she decorated underneath it with baby's breath.  And in case you were wondering the cake was alternating layers of white and lemon with a delicious buttercream frosting...yumm!  She also was able to do a beautiful lace effect with the icing that was just perfect!  

I fell absolutely in love with this Willow Tree Cake Topper and loved the simple yet elegant feel.  

We had a really long table on one of the sides of the room and we used it as a gift/card table as well as a place to display our engagement pictures and other things. 

I love how eclectic it looked.  We also added some candle holders and baby's breath to soften and add depth.  

The card basket came from pick your plum and I painted the sign on a burlap canvas piece from Michael's

These letters came from Hobby Lobby on sale and I loved them! 

I gathered all my frames and filled them with pictures I loved of us and that was the display table.  

Wedding DIY: Groomsmen Boutonnieres

Going budget friendly for my wedding included my flowers.  I made my bouquet, the bridesmaid's bouquets, the centerpieces at the reception and the flower decorations at the ceremony.  I also made the groomsmen boutonnieres.  I did buy my groom's boutonniere but I decided to make the others.

Here's what you need:
-baby's breath (I ordered mine from Sam's and for these you need about 3-5 stems)
-scissors
-floral tape
-hot glue
-burlap
-floral pins (or extra long sewing pins)

What you do:

1. Take your large bunch of baby's breath and trim off into smaller pieces, like the one below.

2. Trim off the extra pieces at the bottom so you have a clean stem.  Take other small pieces and form a mini bouquet bundle.  You can make it as full as you want.  This is how I choose to do mine.  

3. Wrap the floral tape around the stem of the flowers to secure them.  Take your burlap and cut to fit the stems.  Use the hot glue to secure it.  

4. Use the long pins to secure to the men's coats.  

Here's a video demonstrating one way to do it...in case you need a visual demo:

And here are the boutonnieres at the wedding

I love how they turned out.  I wanted a simple rustic look and these worked perfectly.  The guys liked them too since they were pretty small and light.

You could probably use other flowers as well, I just loved the look of baby's breath.  Be creative and have fun with this!

Let me know what you come up with.

If you like these check out my bridesmaid bouquets here

Wedding DIY: Baby's Breath Bridesmaid's Bouquets

I already mentioned my cutting costs on flowers here's how to make a baby's breath bouquet:

Materials
-baby's breath (I got mine from Sam's and I used about 6 stems per bouquet)
-floral tape
-burlap
-hot glue
-scissors

optional: I also added little initial charms to the stem of the bouquet to personalize them.

Here's a video tutorial I found in case you need some visual help:

How to do it:

1. Gather your stems of baby's breath.  Start with one at a time and trim them up.  Take off all the small pieces below the bouquet top.  

2. Keep bunching the pieces together to form your bouquet top.  This part can be a little tricky but work with it until you get it to look how you want.  You might have to fluff them up and keep bunching it together.  

3. Use the floral tape to wrap around the stems and secure them together.  I didn't wrap it all the way down the stem just enough to secure the stems.   

4. Trim the bouquet to the length you want.  I used my hand to measure from the bottom of the bouquet and trimmed the stems to the base of my hand.  

5. For finishing touches I wrapped a piece of burlap around the stem to cover the floral tape.  Then for added character I attached a silver initial charm I got off necklaces I found at Michael's to personalize the girl's bouquets.  

6. I made these two days before the wedding and placed them in water.  

Here are how they looked the day of the wedding:

I loved them and how they have that pretty rustic look and baby's breath looks delicate but it is a tough little flower.

I also made one for my toss bouquet.  They take a little time but once you get one done you will fly through them.

If you like these check out my boutonniere tutorial here

Wedding DIY: Groom gift

Here is what I got my husband on our wedding day.  I wanted it to be something special and documented the day.

I got this guitar pick keychain with this sweet little note and the tag with our wedding date on it.  

He proposed playing guitar so I liked how this documented the proposal as well as the wedding day. 

I also gave him this book, it is a Christian book all about becoming the man God wants you to be.  

Here is the finished product, I just wrapped it with burlap and tied it together with twine.  

Wedding Day Details

Here are some details from the most beautiful, meaningful and amazing day of my life:

Love our rings together! 

love how she captured the details on my dress

monogrammed fishing shirt from ddpmonogramsandgifts

all my girls shoes

lace garter from etsy

love this one of my dad giving me away 

my sweet sister Rae praying over me with all my bridesmaids and my mom

I'm married ya'll! 

love little details like this

putting on my BEAUTIFUL real pearl earrings from my husbad

so sweet! 

love this cool shot

Special moments with my dad (and here come the tears...)

my dad praying over us

The preacher praying with me and my girls 

I loved the feeling that I was so surrounded by prayer that day

my sweet letter

these are probably my favorite, this is when I started to round the corner down the aisle...

and he see's me 

so sweet I am so tankful she got these moments 

I love the colors in this one!!

such a sweet moment with my sweet friend.  

I am so grateful for these pictures and to Emma Kathryn Photography for capturing these special days.  Seriously if you are in the market for a photographer in North Carolina this little lady is wonderful!!  She takes the time for you and really makes you feel special and the pictures are so BEAUTIFUL!