Multi-Color - DIY Bride

Real Wedding: Sarah + Matt’s Colorful Chicago Wedding

Today we bring you Sarah + Matt’s colorful Chicago wedding. They got ready in their apartment before walking just a few blocks over to Palmer Square Park to say ‘I do’ in a very relaxed and intimate ceremony with friends and family.

Sarah + Matt didn’t want to spend a lot of money on their wedding, so they used a lot of DIY elements to add color and personality without breaking the bank. Sarah made a ton of colorful tissue paper pom-poms, and they made a huge impact on the stage framing the stage where the band played.

Sarah also made tissue paper flowers for the centerpieces. They put them in wine bottles that the collected throughout the year.

Matt is great at graphic design so he created escort cards. He also created sweet note labels for their succulent favors which were planted in cans collected by the couple.

If you’re noticing a piñata theme, it’s because there was one and it was adorable! They had a huge piñata to give away as a prize for their dance contest.

We love all of their personal touches and think this wedding really captured Matt + Sarah as a couple.

We hope you loved Sarah + Matt’s wedding details as much as we do! Let us know what you’d like to recreate in the comments!

Nicole + John’s Timeless DIY Wedding in SoCal

Boy, oh boy, do I have a beauty to show you lovelies today. From the talent behind Viera Photographics, today’s feature is a very classic and neat DIY wedding that the bride described as “Jonathan Adler meets Great Gatsby”. Nicole + John decided to get hitched in Palm Springs, California since not only does the place suit their sense of style, but also because they wanted to get married by the Father and in the church that Nicole’s late mother was very fond of. Despite the raging SoCal heat of 106F the day of their wedding, Nicole + John planned well for the decorations they were going to use so that nothing is welted.

Enlisting help from her group of friends, Nicole and her girls spent a few get-togethers crafting away. One of the favorite projects that Nicole loved doing for her wedding was the crepe paper flowers project. She opted making these flowers instead of using the real flowers so that these would last a lot longer in the high SoCal summer heat as well as for the ease of packing for travel. She’s even re-purposed some as gift decorations post-wedding!

Since their wedding was on the 13th, Nicole gold-leafed dice on 1 and 3 and mailed a pair with all the invites. She had some leftover so she also used them as decoration around the reception.

In Nicole’s own words about her table runners: “The table runners were stenciled on butcher paper then spray painted in an ombre sea mist to teal. I had a slight panic attack when the smell seemed to take about a week to dissipate, but some Febreeze and time did the trick and they were easy to roll up and transport to the site.” Great tip!

The Adler-inspired clay animals as table decorations? Yep! Handmade by Nicole’s friend Staci. Those were cool!
From Nicole’s gorgeous and timeless wedding gown (and the veil!) to all the special Adler-inspired decorations, Nicole + John’s wedding was as classic as it gets. Thank you to Viera Photographics for the incredibly beautiful photos and sharing them with us here on DIY Bride!

Congratulations to Nicole + John!!!

Photographer: Viera Photographics//Wedding Date:09.13.2013//Ceremony Location:Sacred Heart Palm Desert//Hair Stylist:The Light Fantastic Salon Spa//Event Venue:The Parker Palm Springs//Band:The Titan Ups//Event Planner:Vivacious Design and Event Planner//

Submitted via Two Bright Lights

Glamorous Navajo-Inspired Concept Shoot

We’re featuring a super gorgeous wedding styled shoot today. Brought to you by the talents behind Frenzel Studios, this Navajo-inspired concept shoot is not only glamorous and rustic, but will also make you fall in love with the Southwest charms.

Gosh, what don’t I love about this styled shoot. The big fiery red bridal bouquet, gold-dipped feathers, the bride’s hair and jewelry that flow so well with the theme, the gorgeous fondant cake, chocolate-dipped churros, hanging dreamcatchers, the big spacious barn decked out in lights, and the oh-so-pretty invitation suite. Seriously, there were some amazing work in place here!

Thank you Frenzel Studios and the awesome vendors involved in this styled shoot for bringing us such gorgeous inspiration! I hope all you lovely DIY brides/grooms will be able to find some inspiration here!

Photographer: Frenzel Studios//Dress Store:Altar’d State//Invitation Designer: designs in paper//Event Planner: Modern Vintage Events//Tuxedo and Mens Attire: Street Tuxedo Green Hills//Dress Store:The Spoiled Lady//Reception Venue: The Wren’s Nest//Submitted via Two Bright Lights

Additional Vendors:

Farm Table and Dessert Stand: Vinewood Home Creations
Chairs, arrows and vintage Items: Stockroom Vintage
Cake: Creative Crumbs
Flowers: SOUL Flowers
Hair and makeup: Rebecca Paschall
Bridal Jewelry: Altar’d State

Rachel + Michael’s Artistic DIY Wedding

Here at DIY Bride, we not only seek for DIY + prettiness aspects of a wedding, we also seek uniqueness and different interpretations of a theme. Don’t get us wrong, we love Pinterest and all the inspiration that’s out there offering us a chance to do the same thing for our own wedding/event, but when we come across a wedding that’s completely refreshing and unique? Well, we’re pretty darn excited.

Rachel + Michael is a very artistic couple that we’re featuring on this lovely Friday. Seriously, Rachel was so resourceful and determined to make their rustic-nature-DIY wedding as unique as it is money-saving. Yes, you read that right. They only spend… *gasp* a little over $700 on everything. Rachel tried really hard (and succeeded!) in using as many free, recycled, or thrift shop finds in the décor as she could, and enlisted friends and family for everything that they couldn’t do or needed help with. With super pretty details and unique finds, Allison Pense Photography did a wonderful job capturing them all on film.

Rachel and her DIY projects were pretty awe-inspiring. She did all the art on her invitation suite, programs, treat bags and table signs. Something super special and unique during the ceremony was that Rachel’s bridal bouquet was literally made as she collected the flowers from 17 of their guests as she was walking down the aisle. Her maid-of-honor then wrapped the stems to create the bouquet! What an awesome cool way to allow the guests to be involved.

Other DIY projects made by the couple as well as friends and family:
Michael’s vows were created in the form of origami fortune teller (Salt Cellar). All the hand drawn art by Rachel for the treat bags, matchbooks for favors, seating labels, and place cards. She grew half of the flowers used for the wedding, including flowers for her bouquet and center pieces. The ring pillow was hand made as well using small baskets with moss and hand made clay mushrooms. Yarn was used to wrapped bottles, jars, monograms, and lamp (photo backdrop).

Much congratulations to Rachel + Michael!!

Photographer: Allison Pense Photography//Wedding Date:09.14.2013//Cake:Laura Zinsman//Fortune Cookies:Carol Jeans Confections//DJ:Elite Entertainment//Favors and Gifts:Fireball Printing//Restaurant:Our House//Submitted via Two Bright Lights

Margo + Chris’ Beautiful Rustic Summer Engagement Session

This Summer engagement shoot by Daphne and Dean has got to have one of the most props I have ever seen. Margo + Chris have lots of gorgeous vintage pieces for their table decorations and big window panes hanging as one part of their backdrop in their beautiful engagement session. Check them out!

At the time of submission, Margo + Chris’ photography team Daphne and Dean told us that they’re prepping for their barn wedding. If they put in this much detail into their engagement shoot, I absolutely cannot wait to see what their wedding would be like!

Photographer: Daphne and Dean//Shoot Date:08.25.2013//Event Venue:The Dudley Farm//Submitted via Two Bright Lights

Heather + Chris’ DIY Wedding at the Family Farm

Our second feature for the day is brought to us by Nikki May Day Photography. This colorful summer wedding was held at a farm belonging to Heather’s relatives in Pennsylvania, featuring Lake Erie (for the ceremonial site) and a big barn where the reception was held nearby.

Both Heather + Chris are creative people (Heather art directed and Chris handled design and production). Together, they put lots of neat special touches to their day. From the photographer:

“They designed their own Save the Dates, Invitations, Thank You’s and Programs and they were AWESOME. They even designed their own H&D temporary tattoo’s (which were a huge hit) as well as making their own light up H&D sign. All of the direction signs were hand painted, the wedding pie was home made, the linens were all collected by Heather, and even Heather’s engagement ring was customized by Chris.”
I super adore their invitation suite, I mean, how can you not when you have a couple who are incredibly talented as Heather + Chris? I also love how they are not afraid to use bold colors such as yellow and red to showcase the playfulness of their wedding. Flower seed packets for favors? They totally have my heart!

Congratulations to Heather + Chris!!!
Photographer:Nikki May Day Photography//Wedding Date: 06/15/2013//Dress Designer: Saja//Dress Designer: Saja Wedding//

Submitted via Two Bright Lights

Kassie + Chad’s Swoon-Worthy Historical Park E-Session

Kassie + Chad definitely hit the jack pot with their engagement shoot location. George Ranch Historical Park, a 20,000 acre working ranch near Houston, Texas, features historic homes and buildings… and horses. Swoon-worthy photos by Dana Fernandez Photography, this engagement shoot is gorgeous to boot. It certainly helped when they were able to shoot at this picturesque location with no one else around (it was closed on Sunday, the day they had the shoot) since Kassie’s dad knows the owner of the Park.

What a dreamy location! I love all the buildings, the trees, and the space! I also adored their use of props- the sign on their dog, the gold-painted ampersand sign, and “I’m marrying him” chalkboard sign. Although we haven’t seen their wedding, but I can already picture just how sweet their wedding must have been!!

Photographer: Dana Fernandez Photography//E-Session Date: 05/19/2013//Event Venue: George Ranch Historical Park//Submitted via Two Bright Lights

Jamilynn + John’s Summer Camp Wedding

Jamilynn + John’s wedding, brought to us by hillary maybery photography, really makes you feel like you’ve arrived to a cool, chilled, and fun family-run camp for the day that just happened to be also hosting a wedding at the same time. Seriously, this wedding was DIY, rustic, and so incredibly laid-back as they (and Jamilynn’s pretty little girl) said their “I Do’s” in front of mountain peaks, grassy meadows, and blue skies.

Lots of DIY went into this rustic wedding, from Jamilynn:

“We had saved glass jars for months and we painted the insides of them to hold our flower arrangements. We also saved soup cans and planted succulents in them to add to our centerpieces. Kaiser cut a large letter “K” out of sheet metal, then painted and aged it to look antique. People signed the back of the letter as our guest book. Now we have an “antique-sign” to hang on our wall that is great décor.

We also used reclaimed barn wood scraps for the hand painted signs we had around the wedding site. Each sign pointed to the different features at our wedding and to the other cities that people traveled from to attend. Another friend hand-sewed a variety of flags onto sisal rope for decoration on the main lodge. She got a bunch of random printed bed-sheets at Goodwill, cut and sewed 60ft of beautiful and colorful flagging.

Our guest favors were our custom napkins. We ordered peach colored bandanas and had them screen printed with the state of Idaho on the corner. All of the setup and tear-down was done by the wedding party, including fiesta lights, dance floor lights, some minor landscaping, custom wedding arch, PA system, dance floor lighting and catering logistics.”

I love how awesome everything is pulled together when family and friends get involved to help set up a beautiful wedding. Congratulations to Jamilynn + John and their beautiful daughter!!
Photographer: hillary maybery photography//WeddinDate: 06/29/2013//Reception Venue:4H Camp//Dress: ModCloth//Cake Designer: The Sweet Crumb//Food: Ketchum Grill (Pizza)/Bears BBQ/The Cellar (beverages)//Cupcakes: The Sweet Crumb//Submitted via Two Bright Lights

Rachel + Franklin’s Intimate Shoot at Presidio Park

To continue with the Valentine’s Day weekend, we’re featuring an intimate engagement shoot at the famous Presidio Park in San Diego, California. Rachel + Franklin wanted to do something super low-key and simple, so what better way than allow the nature to set the mood!

From the photographer over at Studio Sequoia:

“…[Presidio Park] is a beautiful park that is one of the few park in San Diego that is green year-round. The shoot took place on a sunday afternoon, we strolled around the park and captured quiet and romantic moments between the two of them. Afterwards we headed to northern downtown San Diego, to an area called bankers hill that has breathtaking canyons that lead to the San Diego bay. As the sun set, we captured some warm and colorful photos to close out the afternoon.”

Indeed, the views are breathtaking and so is our couple!

Photographer: Studio Sequoia//Engagement Shoot: 02/1/2013//Event Venue: Presidio Park

Submitted via Two Bright Lights

Yoko + Brian’s Rustic Cultural Wedding

We’re rounding out our day with a special Japanese + Jewish wedding from Robin Jolin Photography. This super lovely wedding is a great example of how two completely different cultures can be combined seamlessly into one perfect wedding. Marin Art & Garden Center is just the perfect backdrop for Yoko + Brian, lovers of outdoors and music, to set up their Japanese-Jewish-rustic wedding.

To blend in the two cultures and to truly make their wedding all about them, Yoko + Brian folded 1,000 origami cranes as their ceremony backdrop. For those that are unfamiliar with the significance of origami cranes, it’s best to hear straight from Yoko herself:

“… In the Japanese culture, the crane is a symbol of longevity and prosperity. Folding a crane takes time, patience and understanding. The crane is a majestic bird which mates for life and is extremely loyal to its partner. The bird is strong, graceful and beautiful. These origami cranes bring good luck, good fortune, longevity, fidelity, and peace to the marriage.

In addition, Yoko folded mini cranes to decorate for each seating place cards, as well as to be used as decorations throughout the reception.

They also had a ketubah (Jewish wedding contract) hand-made for them. They wrote their vows together and had an artist hand-painted the vows in Hebrew and English. They also worked with the artist to have her design two Japanese maple tree that join together with accents of cherry blossoms and cranes to represent Yoko’s Japanese background. This is not only something super meaningful for the two of them, but also something very beautiful that they can use to display as art!

Similar to the more well-known Chinese Tea Ceremony, Yoko + Brian had a traditional Japanese sake ceremony called “san-san-kudo”. Yuko: “Through the tradition of going back and forth by each sipping the sake three times each from 3 different sized sake cups for a total of nine times, we brought together the two families and celebrated with all of our guests. The ladies who served us the sake need to be “unmarried ladies” so I had 2 of my best friends and single ladies help me out. It was like my version of the bouquet toss.”

I love seeing how traditions from two different cultures come together for a beautiful wedding. And yes, Yoko + Brian are super cute together, but I have to say, I think Yoko + her mom really spoke to me. I love how you can see how much they love each other and what a strong bond they have!

Congratulations Yoko + Brian!!!!

Photographer: Robin Jolin Photography//Wedding Date: March 23, 2013//Makeup Artist: Nikol Elaine Makeup Artistry // Reception Venue: Marin Art & Garden Center//Submitted via Two Bright Lights