I will forever be grateful for all the help from our parents, my aunt Judy & Sharon for their help, my grandma, my bridesmaids, and all of our friends and family that came to spend our wedding with us!
Because Ryan and I were both students, we knew we needed to be somewhat conscious of our spending so I did all of my decorating on my own with the help of my aunts. I did all of my flowers, made paper flowers for the centerpieces, crosses for guest favors (with help from Sue), and all the guests flowers. Ryan and I designed our own save the dates and programs. The only thing that we did not do on our own was invitations because it would have been impossible to get done during classes and student teaching. So here is a look back on all of our hard work!
Save the Dates:
I came up with the idea of creating something along the lines
of a photobooth strip, so Ryan and I made signs and took our own pictures then
created our save the dates in Photoshop. To finish them off, I added magnets to the backs.
Centerpieces:
I knew taking on this task alone would be almost impossible, so I met up with my Aunt Judy
who is also very crafty and also loves to think out of the box to help me come up
with some really unique decorations for the reception, and she was able to take both of our ideas
and make them into centerpieces that were just my style!
(Judy spent a lot of time covering these vases in zebra print fabric)
I was so lucky that my Aunt had a lot of glassware to work with so we were able
to come up with three different settings for the tables. The largest ones were the tall zebra vases
that were filled with tree branches that my dad and I spent a lot of time picking and cutting,
and he also spent hours spray painting them black for me. We then hung jewels, my paper flowers,
and fake candle votives from the branches.
(My paper flowers made out of tissue paper. To finish them off we glued two together to make a ball to hang.)
(Centerpiece 1)
(Centerpiece 2)
(Centerpiece 3)
(Head Table - my brother spray painted vases for the bouquets to sit in)
Favors:
I came up with the idea of making crosses for our guest. Sue helped me finish putting them together
and printed up cards to place with them including a special thanks and a bible verse.
(I put them together using pipe cleaners and clear beads.)
The Cake:
I am not much of a cook let alone a baker...although I try, so for our wedding cake, I contacted Susan Krieg from New Bremen to make our cake. Susan is known for her amazing tasting cakes and pies and believe me our cake was a perfect example of that. I met with her a couple times and she was able to make my cake just like my vision. I wanted some simple but elegant that could compliment our other decorations and it came out perfectly.
The Flowers:
So as some know... my Grandma Brackman used to be a huge fan of flowers and was so talented with her arrangements. I guess I can thank her for my recently discovered talents of flower designs! I knew that I really wanted flowers that looked real, but with the tough times I decided to take on the job of doing all of my own. My bouquet, the bridesmaids bouquets and all of the flowers for the groomsmen, parents, grandparents, and helpers. I have to say I was quite proud of my work!
My Bouquet:
Bridesmaids Bouquets:
Groomsmen Boutineers:
Mothers Flowers:
Programs:
Programs were the last thing on my mind during on the wedding planning so that would explain why we didn't finish them up until the week of our wedding. We were already having to send hundreds of dollars here and there so we figured we def. had to do these ourselves. Ryan sat down and used all of his talents from UNOH and put together the programs just like my design in my head on the computer and while he was busy working I finished them up and Sue helped us get them printed up. My mom and I had to take a trip to Toledo while picking up my dress to Michael's to get some heart shaped Brads and I sat and put all of them together. And I loved them!
Misc. Decorations:
Here are just some things that we added to the look of the reception. Ryan and I both felt that we should honor our parents, our grandparents whom have past so we made sure we had their photos on display. Some other adding touches were just things that I added to the look. Many things I found to add to everything were from TJ Maxx and hobby lobby...so just a little advice!!!
Special Thanks!
Aunt Sharon - For doing the bows at church for us and the wonderful prayer!
Aunt Judy - For all the help with the reception decorations
Our Parents - For all their help, support, and generous giving.
Our Grandparents - For all their help and generosity.
And of course to our wonderful wedding party, friends, guest, helpers, and family
for making our day very special. - Be expecting your thank you cards in the mail very soon!
