I searched for ideas, our first wedding was very traditional, we were young and poor, and my mother in law took over. I didn't get to buy a dress, she just started making me one. (for all new mother in laws, I do not recomend this approach, Or atleast ask first, don't just tell the bride this is what I am doing after you already have it started. It makes for awkwardness, and perhaps hostility, and anger. Just saying.) I settled on a rustic theme, and searched out a venue. This seems the most economical way to go, and the venue was only $200.00. It was a chariming little barn, on a conservation area, built in 1840. It was equiped with a kitchen and bathrooms. We could hire a caterer, and entertainment, obtain a liquor license and have our own bar. Seemed perfect. I paid the deposit and began making the rest of the plans.
All winter I sewed burlap runners, edged in lace.
I made little bags for gifts and put iron on transfers on them. I made little clay tags than hung to the side with twine that were stamped with "Thank you" and filled them with coffee and tea
I crafted tissue paper flowers in vaious soft colours, and decorated mason jars with paper doilies that I printed love song lyrics on with my printer. These were also adorned with clay tags that said "love" attached with twine.
I used tree limbs from our yard and set them in concrete to make memory trees, I used those cute little clothes pins to hang picture on through the years.
I enlisted my husband to make birch log candle holders. And he did an amazing job.
I also printed up menus and fixed them to the front of kraft paper bags, I used them to decorate the dinner plates and hold the napkins and silverware. The tops were punched with a Fiskar punch just to dress them up a tad, and a small white or yellow daisy was attached with a glue dot.
Next I focused on the bouquets I really wanted the brooch bouquet, but knew with 2 kids in university it wasn't practical to purchase them at $250.00 a piece. I set about trying to find the supplies I needed, Amazon and Ebay were very helpful here. I checked pinterest to see what I wanted exactly and then tried to find You Tube tutorials. I didn't follow any one idea, rather tried to sort it out on my own, in the end it worked out but I recommend following all their advise.
I abhor eating off paper plates, and my intention was to use birch wood plates with matching cutlery. However, I opted to use real china. I was able to buy all the dishes from a church that was shut down and it was less money than paper plates and such. Also there is a web site called http://www.webstaurantstore.com/ and I was able to purchase cutlery from there and also salt and pepper shakers. I also purchased a box of restaurant crayons to put in the little ones grab bags.
I figured I could always sell off all the stuff after, and it looks like I have it all sold, so that makes it an economical route to take.
I purchased a lot of stuff from this site also http://www.giftsintl-us.com/. They sell bolts of fabric and bows and such. Great prices all around. I highly recommend them. I needed a lot of burlap to make a fence and I called our local bag making factory, They make sand bags and feed bags, etc. I purchased 25 yards of burlap for $22.
It seems as though I had it all figured out, everything was planned and then the unexpected happened 3 weeks prior to our event. I received a call from the conservation area informing me I could no longer use the barn, the Municipal Fire Inspector had been in and had shut it down. This barn was built in 1840 and donated to the conservation area. They in turn had installed a kitchen and bathrooms, he felt that it needed to be rezoned, since there were so many weddings happening there. So until they could do 100,000.00 in renovations no one could rent it for any purpose. I now had a tent!!!! The exact thing I said I would never do just became my reality.
This is where the wheels fell off, but luckily we were able to get back on track and come up with solutions in a hurry. A tent does not having lighting, so Thank the Lord, Walmart puts their Christmas decorations out so early, we were able to buy lights. The next issue was no dance floor, We had a DJ but no floor, I work in construction and we were able to get road signs, which are black on the back, and one of our brokers also owns a pallet company, I called and he came to the rescue with 9 pallets. My husband and his friend spent an afternoon putting it all together, and then we edged it with burlap so it didn't look like signs and skids.
I purchased a chandelier off a facebook sale site and we designed a way to hang it at the entrance, Again construction supplies came in handy as we used 2x4 holders to but it all together.
I would recommend using a fuller looking fabric though, our issue was it was raining for 2 days and I was in a hurry so this was the end result. I used battery operated candles in the chandelier and our daughter is going to hang it in her dining room.
Our service was at 4:00pm and the rain finally quit at 2:30. I was a nervous mess by this time. We hustled and got it all together, We had set it up the day before but the pews had to be dried off, and we were ready just in time for the guests to arrive.
And finally the party began. The drinks were ready. We stored the wine in a portable fridge that we used on camping trips. Our meal was wonderful, a southern treat!
We danced all night long. It was a wonderful night, and I was lucky enough to share it with my favourite peeps.
