Wedding Wednesday: Decorations & Details

Today I'm sharing decorations and details. The entire wedding was DIY and I pretty much did all of the preparations. The day of is a completely different story. I seemed to run out of time and my lovely mom, dad, in-laws, cousins, brothers, nephews, sisters-in-law, etc. etc. set everything up and it was exactly as I hoped it would be! I couldn't be more grateful for all of the help we received in the days leading up to the wedding.

I will say that it is tough to plan a destination wedding, even when the destination is your in-law's backyard. Setting up arrangements with the hotel, the caterer, the photographer, etc. all long distance and without any knowledge of how it will actually all come together is stressful. But having help makes a big difference!

Did you know it pretty much rained and was dreary our entire wedding weekend? That's a chance you take when you plan an outdoor event. But the crazy thing was that it rained before and after all of our events, but not during. So it was dreary for the entire rehearsal dinner but didn't actually start raining until about 30 minutes after our guests left. Then it rained all the way up until it was time to start setting up the tent the day of the wedding, but none that day. It certainly looked like it was going to pour right before our ceremony started, but it just didn't. Crazy how that works!

We had the ceremony and reception on my in-law's property. The ceremony was in an open area and the reception was held about 25 yards away under a tent! Made it super easy for all of us!

the arch we were married in front of...

my mom put this whole thing together!

aisle markers made from mason jars 

hanging from shepherd's hooks

the ceremony site from a distance

the entrance table

my homemade programs, which also served as fans

place markers 

our sand unity table

Inside the tent...

this piece of art was the first thing I bought for the wedding

and set the tone for the theme - vintage & rustic

one of my favorite song lyrics that I wrote on a chalkboard

a frame with old pictures of us as babies and kids 

our photo guestbook, made on shutterfly 

I made all of the glasses for the guests with personalized handstamped tags

I found this vintage window frame with a flowerbox

so I taped engagement photos to the panes

we used vintage suitcases as a decoration

and made one a card box 

the drink table, guestbook area, and card box

personalized napkins from The Knot

drink signs and descriptions

The tables, my mother-in-law did all of the flower arrangements

with flowers from her own garden! 

 I made these burlap silverware holders and 

stamped the hearts as well as the tags

each guest had this thank you letter at their seat 

The favors table

I made homemade peach jam and peach chutney

I also made candles!

and all of the labels and tags 

I hope you enjoyed these pictures of our decorations. These photos were definitely my favorite of the bunch. It was fun to look back again at all of the details. Next up, I'll share ceremony pictures!

All photos taken by Kirstin Bimson Photography.

Wedding Wednesday: Salon/Prep

All photo credit goes to Kirstin Bimson Photography.

Today I'll be sharing photos from my trip to the salon for hair and makeup, as well as both Chris and I getting dressed for the wedding. I was so pleased with how my hair and makeup turned out (done by Ashley and Tara at JF3 Salon in Newport, RI).

Here are some shots of my dress and accessories as well as actually getting dressed for the wedding.

I purchased one of those "last name" wedding wire hangers from Two Broads Design on Etsy, but I forgot to pack it! That's why my dress photo has an ugly plastic hanger...I was so mad about that!

My bouquet was done by Carlone's Florist in Portsmouth, RI. They were very nice to work with and affordable.

All of my jewelry was ordered from DivineJewel on Etsy and I couldn't have been happier with my order. The seller's communication was excellent. I really procrastinated on finding jewelry to wear and she was able to send me the pieces within a week of the wedding.

We were both running so late getting ready for the ceremony. I think I had about an hour to get dressed and Chris was so far behind that he had about 15 minutes after his shower to get ready.

I gave Chris a little present before the ceremony and here's a funny story. I bought a really cute card, but there wasn't much room inside to write a message so I wrote it on the back of the card. He thought I gave him a blank card so when he sent over my present and I opened the card, it was completely blank. I was so shocked because I had written such a nice message in his and all he did was give me a blank card! Later we figured it all out and had a good laugh. 

That's it for this Wedding Wednesday. Next week, I'll share pictures of the decorations and details (my personal favorite since it was a DIY wedding!!).