our diy wedding (photo heavy)

A year ago we got married. While we are sneaking away (exploring a very old, very haunted hotel) I thought I would share a bit about our special day.

Before we tied the knot, we bought our cottage. We had decided that we wanted to spend the majority of our money on a home and not on a wedding. With a limited budget, we decided to have a very casual affair. More of a party than a fancy pants wedding. Creating a more casual atmosphere reflected our style (Hubby will never wear a suit) and it relieved some of the pressure associated with trying to create the "perfect wedding." Not to say that there wasn't pressure...more on that in a minute.

First was the location. We wanted a place that was casual, a bit rustic and where we could cater ourselves. This proved way more challenging than we anticipated. Turns out a lot of really neat places don't let you bring in your own caterer. However we ended up finding a beautiful old barn that was part of a historical museum.

Once the location was out of the way it became much easier to figure out the theme and atmosphere. We wanted our wedding to be whimsical and reflect our personalities. With the barn as our backdrop we started brainstorming. We began thinking up inexpensive ways to spruce up the barn and add pops of color. We decided to make cloth pennants and my sister thought up the amazing idea of paper pinwheels. We had pinwheels everywhere! They lined the isles, the walls, and guests took them home. My friend Rachel even gave a pinwheel to a lady she met on the train!

 I wanted my colors to be yellow and gray. I chose these colors because I LOVE daffodils and since we got married in April I knew the forsythia would be in bloom. My mom, sister, a couple of friends and I arranged all the flowers. It was so much fun and since we got married on Easter weekend they were all on sale! Oh and all the flowers went into mason jars that my mom found at the dump! We didn't pay for a single vase!

At home the day before the wedding.

Me and my crew: Mama, Sister, MOH

We also knew that during the wedding we wanted some sort of activity. We wanted a game or something that would keep our guests entertained because we knew not many people would dance.

One night I had this genius idea to have a book swap table at our wedding. We asked all of our guests to bring a book to our wedding and trade with someone else! Since we are avid readers, it seemed like a great way to include our personality and give our guests something fun to do. Of course, we ran with the book theme and used books as our centerpieces too. Also, (thanks again to my amazing sis) she found a web site that sold reprints of old postcards. She bought loads of postcards that had reading themes and we lined the barn walls with them.

The best part of the day was the ceremony. We had our family members walk down the aisle before us (our song was "Rainbow Connection" sung by Kermit the Frog) which was a lot of fun and really sweet. They all waited to sit down until I entered with my dad and they all waved at me before I walked down the aisle. This was a really special moment for me and I loved walking into the barn to all the smiling faces.

We had Husband-Pant's grandmother read us an old Irish blessing and my baby brother wrote a special prayer for us. We had written our own vows (which were funny!)  It seemed appropriate to write our own vows because we put in a lot of jokes and unique promises. Our vows were lighthearted and sweet. It was amazing that everyone was laughing and crying at the same time.

The most difficult aspect of our wedding was the food. We knew that we had to feed everyone but since we were on such a tight budget we couldn't go for all the options you usually find at a wedding.

We decided that since it was going to be such a casual wedding we should just have a barbecue! As luck would have it, we had a connection to an organic beef farmer so we ordered a ton of hamburger and hot dogs. The meat alone wasn't enough because I have "vegetarian tendencies" and a lot of vegan friends. We decided on a super elaborate, "everything you could ever want" salad bar. IT WAS INCREDIBLE!!! Plus, since we were catering the wedding ourselves we simply prepped all the food ahead of time (storage was a bit of a problem I will admit.)

Yes! I ate at my wedding! You can sorta see the salad bar behind me...

We served all of our food on compostable plates and used organic bamboo utensils so when the wedding was over we composted all our waste.
Oh and we served pie instead of cake. Apple, pumpkin, mixed berry and chocolate maple pecan...YUM!

Yes, it was a bit stressful doing EVERYTHING ourselves but we hired a friend for the day of. That way, anything that happened during the actual day was her responsibility and that took stress off of us and we were able to talk to people and celebrate. We had tons of help from some dear friends too which was a godsend. We hired some of hubby's clients to grill, cut up pie, run the ipod etc. and that helped too. We were very lucky to have lots of help and support. Thanks guys! We love you!

Our servers all wore tuxedo t-shirts.

 Looking back, it was a wonderful day. We had a great time celebrating simply and I am so glad that we stayed within our budget. There were many things that I wanted to do but when it came to the $$ we just couldn't afford it. I am glad we didn't use our credit cards. Our simple celebration was great and many people say it was the best wedding they had ever been to. Would I do it all again? Yes, but I probably would have shelled out the money and just hired a caterer and clean up crew. Yes, we had to clean up everything when we were done. My maid of honor made my husband and I matching yellow and gray aprons but sweeping in my wedding dress (a little drunk) still sucked.
But it was OUR day and it was wonderful. I am glad we stayed within our budget and guest list and our priorities...it was an awesome way to start our life as husband and wife.
All professional photos were done by my fabulous brother.
Thanks for looking. Lots and lots of LOVE, Ms. Kate.