We’re wrapping up the week with a sweet Southern wedding with soft colors and lots of rustic DIY touches. And get this – the couple put together all this gorgeousness for less than $8,000! And that includes the vacation house they rented which not only did they spend the weekend there with friends and family, but it also was their ceremony and reception site! Of course, it also helps the bride is a professional chef who prepped side dishes the morning of her wedding, and found her stunning Maggie Sottero dress on eBay. Seriously, how lucky can a bride get??? Stephanie has provided us with bunches of DIY and budget tips to help other DIY couples pull off a similar awesome wedding weekend. But be forewarned, you may feel the need to take a little nap after reading about all the hard work this couple put into their wedding day. But you’ll see from the pictures it was SO worth it!
From the bride: “I was definitely a budget bride and managed to pull the whole thing off for less than $8000. I didn’t really have a theme to our wedding other than wanting it to blend in with our natural surroundings at the venue. People would often ask me what my colors were and then give me a strange look when I said I didn’t have any. Our ceremony and reception was held at Myer’s Mountain Home in Waynesville, NC, which is a vacation house we rented for the whole weekend. We were able to spend the entire weekend with our best friends. We even had a cookout/slip n slide the day after!
“I ordered my flowers in buckets from Floressence Flowers. They assembled the bouquets and bouts for me but I made all the table arrangements to save money. I collected vintage flasks and blue mason jars during our long engagement (18 months). My new in-laws also bought me a bunch for Christmas one year. Most of the vintage jars were bought from local antique shops. I also peeled the labels of some cool jars I had in my fridge and used them as cheap fillers among my other expensive jars. You’d be surprised how good a pickle jar can look once you throw some amazing flowers in it! Buying flowers that were local and in season saved me a lot of money, along with only using baby’s breath tied with raffia for my ceremony.
“My dress was Karena Royale by Maggie Sottero (an eBay find for half price). My sash was custom made by House of Fabrics (Asheville, NC) and I made my fascinator. My bridesmaids all picked their own dresses; I loved the way it turned out.
“We had a ton of fun DIY details! My mom and I made all the burlap runners which turned out to be a ton of work but saved us a lot of money. My mom is a fantastic artist and drew our thumbprint guest tree along with our chalk board menus. I made the escort board myself and made the push pins out of my Great-Grandmother’s old buttons. The table numbers were handmade from Kraft paper and a lace punch. Since we had BBQ I wanted to have cutlery bags, I made those using a custom stamp I ordered from BrownPigeon (etsy). I made all of the programs using a roll of Kraft paper and purple string. My dad cut our cake stand from a Red Oak tree that fell on his property. I also wrapped all of our votives in lace and some mason jars in twine. Our favors were cookies made by my mom, we put them in small Kraft boxes tied with twine along with a DIY stamped tag that read “thank you.”
“Our friends at Big Mountain BBQ did our entrees and I made the side dishes the morning before the wedding. I hired an old friend from Culinary School to come in and set up the buffet for dinner. I’ve been a catering chef for many years so from the beginning I had planned to do my own food. I can’t say I would recommend this for anyone that is not a professional chef. It can be very overwhelming to prepare a meal for that many people. Our cake was done by Short Street Cakes (Asheville, NC). I wanted a very simple cake that tasted like my grandma made it. Short Street Cakes are known for their southern style cakes so they were perfect. Our flavor was Bananas Foster with Spiced Cream Cheese Icing.”
Congrats on your beautiful wedding, Stephanie and Phil!
DETAILS:
Photographer: Aria Images Photography
Venue: Myers Mountain House, Waynesville, North Carolina
Caterer: Big Mountain BBQ – Waynesville, NC
Florist: Floressence Flowers – Brevard, NC
Cake: Short Street Cakes – Asheville, NC
DJ: Creative Sound Events – Charleston, SC
Invitations: Minx Letterpress – Asheville, NC and etsy
Calligraphy: Rachel Carl – Etsy
Dress: Maggie Sottero – Karena Royale
Sash: House of Fabrics – Asheville, NC
Stamp: Brown Pigeon Stamps – Etsy
Submitted via Two Bright Lights
I am a HUGE DIY fan and I think this wedding came out beautifully!