Perhaps the easiest way for every bride to wrap up a wedding is by looking at the pictures and ask herself how she felt about it. No doubt it would be both blissful and rewarding.
Being a hands-on bride…and groom, it is gratifying to see all our ideas transform into a beautiful reality.
Sharing here some details of our do-it-yourself wedding that you might want to consider.
SCRATCH OFF INVITATION and LINED ENVELOP
I’m a huge fan of surprises so I though of adding a “scratch off” sticker to our invitation card.
While we tried making our own scratch off paint (1 part washing liquid: 2 parts metallic silver acrylic paint), we were not able source out contact paper (used to protect the photo upon applying paint) here in the Philippines. We ended up buying a ready made scratch off sticker from Etsy – Enchanting by Design and had it shipped (via EMS option) to Butuan City Postal Office in 2 weeks.
We used two photos from our recent out-of-town getaway 5 months before our wedding as our backdrop and did the wording and lay out myself. The minimal cost of our invitation afforded us to print the entourage page for all the 100 pieces as courtesy to all our guests.
DIY: Invitation, Garter, Boutonniere
For the envelops, we used sampler paper stacks, wrapping books and paper dollies from Bee Happy. Modge podge is extremely important for this project.
BOUTONNIERE, BOUQUET, FLOWER CROWN and GARTER
A florist would have been a wonderful addition to our wedding but we decided to slash this off our budget and besides I am lucky enough to have an equally gifted sister, Janice, who made the bride and maid of honor’s bouquet. I used fancy crystals and swarovski from worn out bracelet and necklace for the boutonnieres. An old gray scarf and my outdated gown’s tulle were used for the garter.
DIY: Coin Holder (from old lacey key chain and empty flat bottle) and Boutonniere
PAPER MEDALLION and PRINTED WOODEN LETTERS
Well we did not cut the wooden letters ourselves but we laminated it with printed papers. Again we used mod podge (matte) since we needed to put it on top (and not underneath) the paper stack (we do not recommend commercial gift wrappers).
The medallions were pain in the ass. It took us 2 months to finish these deceiving decors, our only church decor by the way. While they look so easy to make, trust me they’re not. Good thing we allotted 11 months to prepare for our wedding. We made a total of 100 pieces.
TRIVIA: My husband and I placed the medallions and rolled this red carpet ourselves a day before our wedding, very do-it-yourself there. To date, these medallions have been used by our friends in 2 parties already.
BRIDAL CAR WREATH
Even before Toni G tied the knot, I had always wanted a wreath for a car bouquet so I did one myself which comes handy as christmas decor after the wedding. That’s just very me, having an ‘post wedding day’ use in mind.
CANVASS BAG AND WRISTLET
Online search led me to Recuerdos where we were able to get these canvass bags and wristlets at reasonable prices. My brother-in-law did the lay out and hot pressed printing all the way from Cebu. I got the bags as early as February 2015. *will update this post for better photos of the souvenir once the official photos come out
To say that our wedding was plain simple is an understatement. It was undemanding, basic, candid, dear, serene and full of love. It was a type that would bring only pleasant memories. And no matter how many times I go over the photos, I always feel all the love and I could only wish the same for all the wives reading this.
Xoxo
Mrs Q
*more of the wedding at RJ Giberson Photography facebook page
februarylove18 