A wedding inspired by wildflowers. How amazing does that sound? Well, that’s what’s coming your way thanks to Sarah Postma Photography this morning, and it is all just as gorgeous as you can imagine. But as beautiful as the blooms may be, it’s the heart and soul in the sweet DIY touches found around every turn that will really make your heart melt – making this gallery one you simply can’t miss.
From the Bride… The inspiration for our wedding day was the wildflowers surrounding Mill Creek when Jason and I first toured the venue. It was late summer and absolutely gorgeous. We loved the idea of bringing those flowers into our ceremony and reception, so we chose all local wildflowers as our wedding flowers.
Some of the flowers were even grown in my mom’s backyard. We wanted our wedding to be personal and to tell the story of events, people and places that helped us become husband and wife. Burlap invitations from The Blue Envelop were a perfect way to invite our guests to become a part of our story. We included a snippet of our story on the invitation envelopes for guests to get a sneak peek to our wedding day. Jason and I decided early in the planning stage to name each table at the reception after a place we visited together. We included a story about each place on the tables so guests could learn more about our Love Story. Guests enjoyed going from table to table to read our story and were sometimes surprised to see their name pop up in the story along the way. For months leading up to the wedding, Jason and I created scrapbook pages of all the places we visited together to put on display at the “Welcome Table.” Our guestbook was made with empty scrapbook pages to match the display pages. We put the scrapbook pages and guest book entries into a book after our wedding. It is so fun to look at from time to time!
To go along with the personal vibe, we incorporated customized and DIY projects as much as possible. Friends and family helped us collect mason jars which were later decorated with burlap, lace and buttons from my grandmother’s collection. My bouquet included buttons from her collection and even some from my other grandmother’s wedding dress. We also used her buttons for the escort cards. My mom and grandma made the bunting that hung from the head tables, bar, candy table and lemonade stand. As part of our love story, we played tribute to our home states (Illinois and Michigan) by including only local items in goody bags for our out-of-town guests and Michigan beer at our reception. A dear friend made a bean bags set with a vintage map from each state and the bags were from our alma maters.
Since the wildflowers were the inspiration for our wedding, we wanted the reception décor to be carefully planned. I wanted to DIY all the flowers, but it seemed impossible to be a bride and florist at the same time. Our good friend Kristen France was a lifesaver and made all the bouquets, corsages and most of the centerpieces. She also set up everything on the day of the wedding. I was still insistent on arranging some of the flowers, so my mom and a couple friends helped me make about 40 flower arrangements they day before our wedding. It seemed like a perfect stress reliever to me! With the local wildflowers being lots of bright colors, I decided to have each of my bridesmaids wear shoes to match the flowers. It just happened that they were each able to wear their favorite color! It was fun to put their gifts together to match their shoes – handmade gift bags and boxes, flip flops, clutches and tote bags. I loved seeing all the colors come together on our wedding day.
[dotted]
Photography: Sarah Postma Photography | Wedding Venue: Mill Creek in Geneva, Illinois | Portrait Photo Venue: Peck Farm Park | Floral Bouquets: Kristen France Designs | Wedding Cake: The Cakery | Wedding Invitations: The Blue Envelope | Wedding Stationery: DIY by the Bride + Groom | Burlap Sign: Victorian Station | DJ: Toast & Jam | Wedding Dress: Watters via A’L’Amour | Bride’s Shoes: Design Your Pedestal | Bride’s Necklace: AMI Designs | Bride’s Earrings: Divine Jewelry | Handkerchiefs: Pink Roses and Pearls | Bridesmaids’ Necklaces: My Wedding Jewelry | Bridesmaids’ Clutches: ModDot Textiles | Men’s Attire: Men’s Wearhouse | Custom Ties: Otis James | Tie Clips + Cufflinks: Spiffing Jewelry | Hair + Makeup: Annabella Salon