DIY Wedding at Chetzemoka Park
There's never a dull day here at SMP. And this fine Friday? We're serving up the DIY goodness like you've never seen before. Think causal-meets-modern with handmade moments from first beginning to end. Alexandra Knight snapped every little detail, and you can get your morning dose of pretty in the gallery right here.
From the Bride... I didn't have my "dream wedding" envisioned going into our engagement, so every choice was somewhat unique. As a result, I spent a LOT of time in Joann Fabrics leading up to the big day, trying to piece together the little details. Overall, we wanted it to feel like a big party with all the most important people in our life. We wanted a modern speakeasy feel that wasn't too stuffy or over-themed.
We had a huge DIY element - we handmade each table's stylized table number, handstamped each guest giveaway bag and seating chart, bought old small stemware to hold candles on each table, my sisters and I assembled all the centerpieces, including hot gluing lace and twine to each mason jar vase. My husband also picked out a lot of old black and white photographs from the 20s/30s/40s, including a few of old Seattle and Port Townsend.
Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Blue: The jeweled pins in my hair belonged to my deceased grandmother. Something New: Where to start! My dress, my shoes, my clutch, etc. etc. The pearl earrings I wore belong to my sister. And something Blue: the necklace I wore. My sister bought it for me from my stepmother's gallery. It was seafoam green, white, and light blue pieces of reclaimed glass alongside pearls.
When we got engaged, the first thing we did was each make a list of the top five priorities for our wedding/honeymoon engagement. We agreed early on what these were and tried not to let the other things stress us out - not that they didn't! We didn't get into a single fight about wedding choices. We knew what was important and made compromises to get that to work out.
I'd also recommend planning your honeymoon for just as long as you're planning your wedding. Too many people skip out on this, and it is a really cathartic escape after such a stressful time. When we listed our top five wedding priorities, honeymoon was at the top of the list. A wedding lasts one day, but our honeymoon was 9 days of just us, exploring new places together. To us that was way more important an experience, so we cut our 300 person wedding down to 50 and took a trip to Italy when it was all done.
Finally, put photography high on your list of priorities. Again, the wedding day itself lasts one day, but those pictures will last lifetimes. There's one picture in particular that when I saw it, it reminded me of one I have of my grandparents on their wedding day. Your best wedding pictures are the types of heirlooms that your kids and grandkids will fight over. Spend the money.
We had a huge DIY element - we handmade each table's stylized table number, handstamped each guest giveaway bag and seating chart, bought old small stemware to hold candles on each table, my sisters and I assembled all the centerpieces, including hot gluing lace and twine to each mason jar vase. My husband also picked out a lot of old black and white photographs from the 20s/30s/40s, including a few of old Seattle and Port Townsend.
Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Blue: The jeweled pins in my hair belonged to my deceased grandmother. Something New: Where to start! My dress, my shoes, my clutch, etc. etc. The pearl earrings I wore belong to my sister. And something Blue: the necklace I wore. My sister bought it for me from my stepmother's gallery. It was seafoam green, white, and light blue pieces of reclaimed glass alongside pearls.
When we got engaged, the first thing we did was each make a list of the top five priorities for our wedding/honeymoon engagement. We agreed early on what these were and tried not to let the other things stress us out - not that they didn't! We didn't get into a single fight about wedding choices. We knew what was important and made compromises to get that to work out.
I'd also recommend planning your honeymoon for just as long as you're planning your wedding. Too many people skip out on this, and it is a really cathartic escape after such a stressful time. When we listed our top five wedding priorities, honeymoon was at the top of the list. A wedding lasts one day, but our honeymoon was 9 days of just us, exploring new places together. To us that was way more important an experience, so we cut our 300 person wedding down to 50 and took a trip to Italy when it was all done.
Finally, put photography high on your list of priorities. Again, the wedding day itself lasts one day, but those pictures will last lifetimes. There's one picture in particular that when I saw it, it reminded me of one I have of my grandparents on their wedding day. Your best wedding pictures are the types of heirlooms that your kids and grandkids will fight over. Spend the money.