Our wedding

Our wedding was on July 9, 2011 and we were married in a little chapel in the town I grew up in.

The reception was held in the backyard of my parents' house which is the same house and only house I grew up in! 

It was a stressful decision to have it at the house and there were many things to consider:
What if it rains? Where will people park? What if it's 100 degrees? WHAT if it rains??
But through planning and some sheer luck, everything went perfectly and it did not rain!

Our wedding was very DIY thanks to a lot of help from friends and family. 

For example, my sister designed the save-the-dates, the invitations, and the ceremony programs.

She's super talented and has since designed invitations for many weddings.

She also designed our escort cards, which we had displayed in the slats of an old shutter window. 

My mom found this vintage sign to go on the top of the shutter.

Finding the dress was not the smoothest process. It was difficult finding a dress within my price range that fit my style and that also fit the vibe of the wedding (semi-casual backyard wedding). Also, the thought of a potentially very hot July wedding day ruled out a lot of choices. After many visits to different bridal shops, I chose the Arabelle gown from J. Crew and used the flower belt below from their Sascha gown.

J. Crew

J. Crew

Here it is put together:

My sister-in-law came up with the idea of framing the flower from the belt after the wedding,



and I also included the geometric fabric from the runners we used on the tables of the reception.

As for the veil, would you believe it was from a creation from a garage sale? If you know my mom, you would believe it. She found a vintage wedding dress at a garage sale and cut out a layer of the tulle. Then she found the brooch at another sale and sewed it to the tulle. I guess that was my "something old"!

 

We rented our tent from Sperry Tents.
One of my favorite things about the inside of the tent was how the paper lanterns looked.
One of my least favorite things was trying to hang them the night before in ninety degree heat with fishing line and a ladder.



My mom and mother-in-law made the runners for the tables.
Everything else we rented through Party Rentals LTD.



I used Etsy for the table numbers, "Mr. and Mrs." and the "Just Married" signs.

Dana from DHM Photography was our photographer and did a great job capturing all the important moments from the day. It was also her idea to take pictures in front of my parents' detached garage (Dana referred to it as "the barn" which sounds much nicer).

    

For our guest book, we had a Polaroid camera for guests to take pictures of themselves.

On the table, we also had glue sticks so that they could add their picture to the book.

We also had baskets full of flip flops for guests,

and a lot of homemade signs around the wedding including these arrows that pointed in different directions.

     

Instead of having a big cake,
my sister-in-law made one little cake for Chris and I and cupcakes for the guests.



They tasted just as good as they looked!

If you have any questions about having a backyard wedding or want to know about other vendors we used, just ask!