DIY Bride

Lissa’s DIY Boho Bridal Session

We interrupt your regularly scheduled Real DIY Wedding to bring you a super styled bridal session courtesy of Expressions Photography. I have to say I’m in love with fun and free-spirited nature of this shoot. The simple styling proves you don’t need a designer budget to pull off some seriously Kate Moss boho. With some beads, a belt, great natural light, a fantastic smile and a little lace craftiness- Valerie Duvick gets the same no fuss chic it takes tons of airbrush time to create.

From the photographer:

For Lissa’s bridal session, we wanted to go for a styled look, but we wanted to style it ourselves to show other brides that it is possible to have a fun style, unique to your bridal session without spending a pretty penny. We created a bright bouquet full of textured wild flowers because for Lissa’s wedding day, she and her mother went to a field and picked flowers to create the bouquets themselves. This was a fun and meaningful addition to her bohemian-inspired look.

The whole thing just makes me want to run barefoot through that amazing field and find all those fabulous wild flowers while singing “Let the Sunshine In” with my favorite John Lennon style shades to create some fabulously organic arrangements. Oh! And that headband! So simple, and perfectly fitting. We can’t thank Valerie enough for styling Lissa all DIY and such, and we wish Lissa the best boho-chic wedding ever!

Vendor Information:

Photograper: Valerie Duvick- Expressions Photography

DIY Tutorial: Flower girl headbands

Your flower girls are probably pretty cute already, so just think how cute they’ll be when you put these ribbon flower headbands on them. Prrreeettty darn cute. Yup. Plus you’ll get to use a hot glue gun and that’s pretty fun.

Materials:

Two lengths of ribbon
Material
Thumbtack or button
Material scissors
Pencil
Hot glue gun

Directions:
Step 1: Draw a flower

Draw a five- or six- petal flower on the left (ugly) side of the material.

Step 2: Cut out flower

Cut out your flower and turn it so that the right (pretty) side of the material is facing up.

Step 3: Glue ribbon

Using the hot glue gun, stick one end of the ribbon to the center of the material flower.

Step 4: Fold and repeat

Fold the ribbon over and direct it onto another material petal, gluing it in the center as you go. Repeat this step until you’ve made ribbon petals that match all of the material petals.

Step 5: Make stamen

Stick the thumbtack or button to the center of the flower.

Step 6: Stick ribbon
flower-girl-headband-step-6-stick-ribbon
Using the hot glue gun, stick the second length of ribbon to the back of the flower. You’re done!

Step 7: Repeat

Make more, until your flower girls are as adorable as adorable can be.

Genevieve + Sean’s Retro-Rustic Book Inspired Wedding

“Let books be your dining table, and you shall be full of delights. Let them be your mattress and you shall sleep restful nights.” (Author unknown) Let them be your centerpieces and I’ll drool over every photo in this bookalicious and style filled gallery. From the bride’s amazing vintagesque dress, to her perfect makeup, amazing ink and the flowers (paper, lace, fabric and otherwise) there is not a single page that I would skip over in this gallery. This wedding deserves a Pulitzer. Or at the very least, a Cliff’s Notes end cap as a guide of how to create high style, sentimental beauty. But wait, it gets better! The bride shared her inspiration and tutorial from apartmenttherapy.com. (Hey! We can’t come up with every great idea here, you know..)

From the Bride:

“Books have always been a passion of mine and luckily for me, they are also something my husband loves. We first met on a blind date over coffee at a bookstore and immediately bonded over our love of literature. I began my wedding crafts by collecting books I had originally planned to donate. We used these planters along with mason jars I wrapped with twine and book pages to display the flowers. I also made paper hearts out of book pages along with paper flowers to decorate the tables at the wedding. I am a master esthetician and makeup artist so I had a lot of fun the day of our wedding doing makeup on my bridesmaids along with my fellow MUA Lorene Soto.”

Genevieve + Sean's Retro-Rustic DIY Book Inspired Wedding

Oh! And let’s not forget the fabric flowers created from her grandmother’s heirloom lace napkins and tablecloths that completed her cool kitten look so perfectly. While Genevieve’s craftiness is pretty rad in itself, she had the amazing hep-cat team of helpers. Kelley Truxel at Event Studio was the mastermind behind the design and coordination of this special shindig at beautiful Bluemont Vineyards. And Purple Fern Photography has totally razzed my berries with the photos that captured the mood and aesthetic of the day so perfectly. Thank you for sharing this with us and congratulations Genevieve + Sean!

Vendor information:

Photography: Purple Fern Photography

Event Venue: Bluemont Vineyard

Design and Coordination: Kelley Truxel at Event Studio

Makeup: Glow Skincare and Makeup

Michelle + Evan’s New Hampshire Barn Wedding

We all know that planning a wedding can be stressful. Some people meditate and some workout to deal with the stress. Others, clear out the card stock at their local craft stores, grab an embosser, a ton of flowers and create some tension freeing DIY. This is just a theory, but by looking at the fantastic photos of Julie Sterling Photography and the looks on Michelle and Evan’s faces as they delighted in their day, I might dare to say that DIY weddings might be a new form of stress management program. Maybe it’s the the splendiforous setting of Curtis Farm, or simply the fact that Michelle and Evan are so adorable around each other, but I think we may be on to a D-stress with DIY campaign. Who’s on board?

From the Bride:

“There were a couple factors that made me go the DIY route with a lot (most) of our decorations – I’m a bit of a perfectionist, I like crafting, and we were on a budget. Making the decorations were a fun way to unwind after finishing up my master’s program. I wanted the name settings and souvenirs to be the same – less clutter on the tables. What I did was bought a bunch of fun wine stoppers and then embossed everyone’s name onto the front of a small place card (thanks to my awesome sister-in-law and photographer). On the back, it thanked them for coming and said which table they were at. We had a map of the tables up so they weren’t completely lost because we didn’t name them by numbers. The centerpieces also ended up being a lot of fun to do. It was two pieces – a bottom stand filled with corks and a top piece for the flowers. We bought hydrangeas in bulk from Trader Joe’s and filled them the morning of the ceremony and the aisle flowers, which were ribbon wrapped plant supporters.”

Perfection accomplished, Michelle! Thank you Julie Sterling Photography for providing the embossing gun that created these fantastic favors and documenting the day with the same perfection as Michelle’s DIY. Congratulations Michelle and Evan!

Vendor Information:

Photogrpher: Julie Sterling Photography

Event Venue: Curtis Farm

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Melissa + Derek’s Eco-Friendly Backyard Wedding

I am quite keen on green weddings. Although I do love the color, I mean the green, eco-friendly- reduce the carbon footprint your union, kind of green. And although Kermit may have said it’s not easy, Melissa and Derek prove that it’s not only possible but beautiful too. Lucky for us, Sharalee Prang Photography was there to capture the beauty of green surroundings, environmentally friendly DIY, and a couple so darling it will make you green with envy

Melissa + Derek's Eco-friendly Backyard Wedding

Held on a relative’s property, (which is always a great way to reduce energy usage for those looking to go green) Melissa created the succulent bouquets, bouts, and centerpieces herself. The groom and his boys even wore recycled rubber tire sandals blending fashion conscious with eco-conscious. The fabu favors of home roasted coffee and homemade jam make a great breakfast treat for guests the day after ensuring not dust collecting goodies here. And in what I think might the best bridal entrance I’ve seen in a while, the bride’s dad rowed her in on a boat while Derek’s brother played guitar. Minimal carbon emissions and an in-house band, double earth friendly bomb! The clincher of this carbon friendly day, was a tree potting ceremony symbolizing their union. (Move over sand ceremony, I may have a new favorite tradition…)

All in all this is the kind of wedding that makes you look at all the ways you can declare your love to each other and the earth without sacrificing design and style. A little bit of boho and whole lot of chic Melissa and Derek’s wedding is great blueprint for leaving a smaller footprint. Thank you, Sharalee Prang Photography for capturing this gorgeous green day. And congratulations Melissa and Derek!