This beautiful and very DIY filled wedding took place at Farm Kitchen in Washington. It was filled with fresh bouquets of local blooms, a stunning David Tutera gown, and endless DIY projects created by both the bride and groom. While the bride and her ladies were getting ready, my fav wedding coordinator from the Manette Gracie team took charge of bringing the bride’s vision to life.
Overall Theme
“We wanted our wedding to be warm and romantic, but also playful and fun. And since I’m an artist, the wedding had to be artsy and full of DIY projects. I suppose the overall theme was country elegance with an emphasis on homemade and heartfelt touches, and a few subtle references to the Blues Brothers. We stuck with a color palette of teals and corals, balanced with blush, tan, ivory and wood elements.
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“The DIY list was pretty extensive: All of the desserts, centerpieces, table runners, planter boxes with paper flowers, invites, programs, place settings, arch decor, wagon decor, guestbook, ceremony wine box, bridal sash, cake topper, giant Jenga lawn game, table numbers, flower girl dresses, cake table backdrop, and ceremony speech book were made by either the bride, the groom or our family and friends. We got our inspiration from various online sites such as: Pinterest, Etsy, Google Images, various bridal websites, bridal magazines, bridal shops, and bridal shows. We took all of that inspiration and made it our own with our own personality and ideas. I am an artist and the groom is an engineer so we make an interesting duo.”
Describe the Bride’s Attire
“The bridal gown was a David Tutera from Dolce Bleu Bridal Shop, but I had Dolce Bleu add some pink tulle underneath the skirt to add that blush that I was looking for. I tried on A LOT of dresses, but just could not find the one. So I decided to alter my favorite into what I wanted and it turned out beautifully.
“I handmade the sash around my waist myself. It was very soft and romantic, a nice combination of blush and ivory, lace and sparkle.
“I had fresh flowers in my hair, a cathedral length veil with lace trim and lace trim on the bottom of the dress as well, and pearls and subtle sparkly accents in the bodice.
“I had to go with flat shoes though because the dress came in at the perfect length for me and any sort of heel would make the dress too short. I found some nice sparkly sandals at DSW ( A brand called Unisa). They had sparkles and pearls and were a warm champagne color, they matched perfectly. My feet did not hurt at the end of the evening and I wore them all over Europe too!”
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Describe the Bridesmaids’ Attire “The bridesmaids’ dresses were teal with ivory lace overlay made by Mori Lee. Each bridesmaid got to pick their own style for the top of the dress (one shoulder, strapless, thin straps, thick straps) and they all had the same straight fitting bottom. Some had a teal colored ribbon around the waist. The pattern and texture were lovely, not your average solid plain bridesmaid dress – all of my bridesmaids were gorgeous!
“For shoes I had them wear whatever shoes they wanted in a nude/tan color so that they could wear whatever was comfortable. A few of my bridesmaids had babies a couple months prior to the wedding, so I wanted to make sure they were comfortable.”
What did you give your bridesmaids as a bridesmaids gift?
“I gave my bridesmaids custom earrings and necklaces to wear for the wedding from a local company of a friend that I’ve done graphic design work. I also treated them all to a mani/pedi pampering before the big day.”
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Describe the Groom’s Attire
“The groom had his black tuxedo custom made while he was traveling in Bahrain. He rented an ivory vest from Men’s Warehouse that had a very subtle Tuscany pattern on it, along with a white shirt, and blush bow tie to match the blush and ivory in the bridal gown. He also had cufflinks with his initials.”
Describe the groomsmen Attire
“The groomsmen also had black tuxedos, I believe they were Vera Wang Design. They wore champagne/beige colored vests, white shirts, and mismatched teal ties of different patterns that we bought for them from Macy’s.
What did the groom give to his groomsmen as a gift?
“The groom handmade leather wallets for each of his groomsmen and ushers with their initials burned in. The groomsmen also got to keep the ties.”
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Can you spot all the Bride’s DIY Projects?
Table runners she sewed
All of the paper goods
Wedding cakes (Oh yes she did!)
Paper flower centerpieces
Driftwood orb centerpieces
Constructing Felt Succulents
Preparing a gorgeous map that highlighted the path of their honeymoon
Directing her very sweet groom to prepare custom wooden planter boxes to hold the paper flowers, and also served as favors for guests.
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What were the highlights from the ceremony and reception?
“Ceremony Highlights: my adorable 6 month old niece was pulled down the aisle in a wagon as one of the flower girls. Unfortunately, she was asleep the whole time and her dress got blown up into her face by the wind, but she was still adorable.
“We did not have any young boys in our family to be the ring bearer, so instead we decided to have the rings brought in on a flying drone! One of the groomsmen controlled the drone and flew it in from the side. A gust of wind got made the drone fly slightly out of control so that it went higher than expected, but was a lot of fun and entertaining. We originally planned to have the actual rings attached, but last minute we decided not to and had the best man swap out the dummy rings for the real rings before he gave them to the groom so the audience never knew!
“During the reception we attempted a waltz that we had not practiced as much as I would have liked. Also, we did not practice in my dress, and since it was so poofy it made our dance a bit more challenging and humorous. It didn’t help that we picked a fast song either!”
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Which pieces of music did you use during the ceremony?
“The groomsmen and groom walked down to the instrumental Little Wing by Stevie Ray Vaughan, and they all wore their sunglasses down the aisle! The moms of bride and groom, bridesmaids and bride walked down to instrumental A Thousand Years by The Piano Guys. The ring bearer drone came in to Danger Zone by Kenny Loggins and the recessional was Love You Madly by Cake.”
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What was the best advice you received when you were planning your wedding?
“The best advice I got during the planning stage was to make a plan for all of the DIY projects that I wanted to do and to come up with a timeline spread out over the year in order to accomplish the projects. With wedding planning it is easy to just keep putting things off to the end, thinking you have plenty of time. The reality is there are a TON of things that need to be done and there just won’t be enough time to finish all of those DIY plans that you made. I did my best to stick to my original timeline. Unfortunately some things needed to be cut out anyway due to lack of time. Overall I managed to accomplish a lot of the projects just by planning ahead.
“Another tip I can share with brides-to-be: book all of your vendors as soon as you can. I was very indecisive in deciding on a venue, and so by the time I had decided I was finding that everyone was already booked. Don’t delay on those big decisions, just commit to something and then don’t look back!
“Get as many things done as early as possible. Don’t be afraid to ask your friends and family for help! Make sure everyone knows what the plan is on the day of the wedding for timelines and where everyone needs to be so you don’t have any hiccups for photos, or not knowing what to do while you are getting ready.”
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What wedding favors did you give your guests?
“We didn’t want to spend a lot of money or time on favors that most people weren’t going to keep. Since I am a huge baker and have a big sweet tooth, we decided to provide a dessert bar full of homemade goodies. I made pink champagne cake, mini cheesecakes-chocolate, raspberry, along with keylime and plain pies. A variety of delicious homemade chocolates were made by my friend, a variety of pies and cobblers were made by my sister-in-law, and my mom made cookies. We also let people take home the planter box centerpieces.”
Pin PinPin Pin Where did you go on your honeymoon?
“EUROPE! Bill is a big traveler so I put him in charge of the honeymoon. To celebrate our marriage we planned an amazing trip to Europe for 5 weeks – the first experience in a lifetime of shared memories. We went to Iceland, Scotland, Ireland, England, Belgium, France, Spain, Portugal.
“It was a very fast paced trip with lots of different hotels, B&B’s and apartments. Our favorite apartment was La Touraine Romantique in Tours, France. Our host Pascal was such a fun character! Plus, he surprised us with a bottle of champagne to celebrate our marriage! Our favorite B&B was Acton B&B in Cork, Ireland.”
Despite her dreamy wedding blogger lifestyle, Meredith's day job is running ClassicVeils.com and a full-time mom to an active toddler. If she could, Meredith would spend her days taking cruises, helping animals in need, and watching Big Brother!
This is very informative and well put together! Thabk you for the information!