My DIY Wedding

Matt proposed to me along side crashing waves and under a full moon on Coco Beach in July of 2010. By the follwing morning I had already picked the date, location, and colors; we had dated 9 years so some of the details were easy. I knew I didnt want to get married in a church so my parents open yard was a perfect fit. As soon as we arived home I started sketching out how I wanted to arrange the yard.  I came up with: marry in the front yard, eat drink and be merry in the side yard, and party in the back yard with a bonfire. We planned on a 4:30 wedding so that the sun wouldnt be blareing on our guest during the wedding and by the time it was over we could watch the sunset as we ate. After the sun had set we had an area set up for a bonfire!

I am quite the seamstress so I knew that I would be making my own wedding dress. I drew out my design and found a similar pattern to my idea. You can find my designs on my etsy. I found just a simple halter dress pattern and altered the crap out of it! I shortened it and added tulle and  all the black lace and a layered bustle to the back. For every complement I got someone was asking why I chose black and red instead of the traditional white. Easy answer: I look terrible in white. Just awful on me. Plus I wanted to show off my tattoos. Total cost of the dress was $75. I know amazing right? AND it only took me two days from start to finish to make it. What can I say, I knew what I wanted!

The shoes are vintage. I interened at Venus & Mars the Showroom so I saw these heels before they went out and payed $35 for them. Something New: A red ruby and dimond set gifted from my Lewis Grandparents. Something Old doubled as my Something Borrowed: it was the dimond bracelet my Granny Lewis wore at her high school graduation and I painted my toes for my Something Blue.

 And everyone in the wedding party and the groom wore Converses!

I also made my "veil' which was a flower made from my dress scraps and netting that draped over part of my face that was on a head band. I made headbands with just the flower for my bridesmaids and flower girl. I had a pair for myself that I slipped on after the wedding! The girls also got cute little chandelier necklaces that I found on etsy from jHen Sunsine 

I bought goodies headbands from Walmart and wrapped them in a velvety ribbon. For the flower on the headaband I cut out circles of all the fabric used in my dress. I put a dab of hot glue in the center of each of the circles and attached them into the headband. I made 4 for the bridemaids, one on a clip for the flower girl. I made pins for our mothers and grandmothers. Our fathers and grandfathers got the same boutonneiers as the groomsmen.

For the Matt and his groomsmen I made boutonnieres from shells of bullets that he had shot and torn pages shaped and glued around a cork with a little tulle wrapped around it.

I folded books and added a rose and a black feather to the center with some white fillers that I found at Hobby Lobby.

We collected wine bottles that I covered with music sheets and glued down with modge podge.

Instead of buying a set for the unity candles I found candles and holders I would enjoy using after the wedding. We used one of our old tredle sewing machines for the table to hold the unity candles.

Total: $15 I bough on sale from Hobby Lobby

To decorate the front porch and the alter area I bought old windows and painted them black with a white stencil that mached my theme. I spent $70 on 7 windows and $10 on the paint and stencil.

We used quilts to cover the gift table and guest sign in table. My Great Grandmother gave us a Double Wedding Ring quilt that covered the gift table and a white and red cross stitched quilt covered the other table. We handed out matchbooks with out names and wedding date on it.

I seperated yard with what looks like sails. I draped red sheer fabric over pvc pipe my dad had laying acound the barn and it was held up by metal poles that he also found. They closed in the area were the guest sat and also divided it from the dining area. We borrowed tables and chairs from our church. Because we were limited to the amount we politely asked the guest and groomsmen to move the chiars from the wedding area to the dining area.

For the food dad made his famous BBQ with homemade sause and mom made the beans and corn. Our cakes were made by my best friend Samantha! She did such a great job! She was also  kind enought to do all our make up!

We use christmas ortaments for our topper because we didnt like any of the traditional toppers and plus they matched our tatoos! We love The Nighmare Before Christmas!

 For the dance floor we strung up a ton of lights that came from the top of the house and surounded the dance floor. By the time everyone was done eating it was tine to turn on the lights and get the afterparty started!

We played our music from borrowed speakers and my co-workers supprised us with singing "500 Miles!"

All in all it was a great wedding and im glad everyone enjoyed it as much as I did!