.Dark and Gloomy Day.

After two weeks of sunshine, the rain has come. 

I have a surprise day off today and it's raining. No worries, I welcome the rain. With every new rainstorm, I huddle inside with hot coffee and think about my wedding day. We planned for an outdoor ceremony in the mountains and rolling hills of New Jersey but instead were viewing those mountains through the thick fog and rain June 20, 2009 brought. The rain was perfect though, even on my wedding day. It made everyone come together and was the source of great stories and laughter from all (even the bride!). When the rain let up, my amazingly handsome husband and I posed, barefoot in the puddles, for a few quick shots our photographer and friend John Rozier captured. 

Today is dark and gloomy and you know what?

All I can picture is this incredible man who chose me to be his wife for life.

 

The best part: I get to kiss these lips for the rest of my life.

Love you Adam Everett.

.Rustic Elegance Part 4.

This is the final post for our DIY wedding crafts! I have really enjoyed thinking back to my wedding day and remembering all of the emotions I was feeling. God has blessed me with more than I deserve and I am truly grateful.


As the saying goes, "Save the best for Last!"--well, my friends, I did not do this. In fact, this is the project I was on the fence about sharing with you because it is nothing special..however, since you are currently reading this post, you know what decision I made :)


With the help of my dear friends, Caitlin and Lauren, we were able to make seating cards for EVERY guest at the wedding! It was a fun night filled with food (of course), movies, and a whole lot of laughter! Thank you girls for helping and being with me those few weeks before the wedding..I will never forget it!


The seating cards we made from Scrapbook paper and good ol' Scotch tape. The process was simple, especially when you had extra hands helping you! One person was in charge of cutting and folding, another writing, and the third taping.

That's all folks! Thank you for checking out our DIY wedding crafts, stay tuned for much much more..

.Rustic Elegance Part 3.

The DIY wedding crafts are starting to dwindle down..only a few more left to share! I hope you have enjoyed what you have seen so far and most importantly--


HAVE BEEN INSPIRED! 


After the flower bouquets were completed, I turned my attention to the men! I continued to use the artificial flowers from Michaels and the left over ribbon and berries to make the boutonnieres for the groomsmen and of course--my groom! These were incredibly simple to make and I had them finished in no time (I'm sure it helped we had a small wedding party!) I started with the extra flowers I had leftover and kept the petals on their tiny stem bundle. I used one bundle, which consisted of 3 flowers, for each of the groomsmen. I then added one tiny piece of a branch and wrapped both with wire and then covered with ribbon--it was THAT EASY! We used one pin each to secure them onto the men. 

Very simple + Using the leftover scraps = S U C C E S S 

For Adam's boutonniere, I used 2 bundles of flowers, more twigs, and added some green berries to match my bouquet. We had to make his a little different from the rest of the men... after all, he was the GROOM! 

Here is a shot of all the men together--how STUDLY are they?! 

Left to Right: Brother-in-law Brett, Brother-in-law Alex, Husband Adam, 
Brother-in-law Nathan, Brother Scott

The wedding day was rainy but we were able to step outside to snap some quick photos. Not sure if it was the lighting or setting on the camera, but you cannot really see the green color of the vests and ties. The pictures taken inside turned out better but what can I say--I still like this photo best!


Thank you for reading, only one more post to go on our DIY wedding crafts!

.Rustic Elegance Part 2.

I think today is a fabulous day to show you more of my DIY wedding crafts. Last time we took a look (-say that line fast) at the centerpieces and table numbers. Today we will focus on the flower bouquets. I had a great time making these artificial flowers come to life to create a rustic elegance with real twigs, ribbon, and berries! 


For the bridesmaid bouquets, I used light green Hydrangeas which matched the green in the groomsmen vests and ties just perfectly! I added white Hydrangeas with the green ones in the maid of honor's bouquet to make her stand out from the rest--it was subtle but pretty. 

Silk flowers and ribbon from Michaels.

Once my flowers were arranged and the bouquet secured with wire, I then cut the stems short--about 4 inches in length. I used the stems from the artificial flowers as my guide for adding the twigs. I cut the twigs all the same length--6 inches to cover the stems--using pruning shears and laid them side to side on a table. Once the twigs were perfectly lined up in a row very tightly packed next to each other, I took my hot glue gun and made 4 long horizontal lines of glue across the entire row of twigs. This held the twigs together and made it easy to wrap around the stems of the flowers. When the twigs were wrapped around the stems, I secured them using wire. When the wire was in place the only thing missing was the pretty ribbon to cover it! I wrapped the ribbon around-and-around-and-around until I was satisfied and used two pins to hold it all together. The end result looked great and I was one happy bride :)

Bridal Bouquet.

I used the same technique to make my bouquet. I used off white, almost light tan, Hydrangeas because I chose to have an ivory dress. Adam was wearing a brown tux with an ivory vest and tie. I included the green berries in my bouquet and in Adam's boutonniere which I will share with you in a later post.

I LOVE this shot.

Here is a picture of all the ladies. Adam and I were blessed to have our family members share our day with us.

Left to Right: Sister-in-law Naomi, Sister-in-law Maria, Me, Cousin Jessica, Sister-in-law Kim

Be on the look out for Part 3 coming soon! Thank you to John Rozier for capturing these beautiful images.

.Rustic Elegance Part 1.

Before I post the current crafts I have been working on, let me take you back to our wedding day. The theme of our wedding was Rustic Elegance. Adam and I are nature lovers and wanted to bring in elements of the outdoors in. To save some money and to entertain myself before the big day, I worked on numerous DIY craft projects for the ceremony and reception. Making these crafts brought peace and relaxation during a stressful time. Our photographer, John Rozier, captured the details of our wedding beautifully.

I first focused on the centerpieces for the reception tables. I had already planned on using artificial flowers and wanted to use real twigs to bring in the rustic feel. I added a touch of green berries at the very end to tie in my wedding colors of brown and green. (I think the green helped them POP out on the brown table cloths) I chose artificial flowers to help the budget as well as being able to make them ahead of time--AND--you can keep them after the wedding! I will post a tutorial on how I made these later in the week so you can get your creative juices flowing! 

Silk flowers and berries from Michaels, glass Vase from Dollar Tree.

After the centerpieces were constructed, I focused on the table numbers. I wanted to bring in the outdoors again so I used Birch trees as the base and more twigs to outline the number card. I paired these rustic elements with scrapbook paper and used stamps to make the table numbers. Together they looked exactly as I hoped they would--shout out to my husband and father for cutting birch branches days before the wedding to make this happen!

Adding a simple touch of votive candles creates the mood for the wedding reception. When all three elements are combined, they bring in the rustic elegance.

These craft projects were simple, fun to make, and cost very little! Do not be afraid to try new things..even if you mess up or finding its not what you wanted, just keep going tweaking here and there as you go--at the end your hard work will pay off and you will have something beautiful in front of you! After all, crafting is suppose to be FUN and RELAXING :)

More to come on our DIY wedding crafts!

.Today I smiled.

On this rainy, dark day I find myself smiling. I am reminded of my rainy wedding day and suddenly I feel all warm inside. With every new rainstorm, I sit on my couch with a hot cup of hazelnut coffee and look through my wedding album. As I look through each picture, it is not the rain I see and focus on, rather the smiling faces. 

                                                                                                                                                                            

Photos taken by our very talented friend John Rozier

Everything about this day was simply PERFECT.