DIY wedding!

Now, before I begin... if you use different companies, planners, etc-- that is awesome. I am not trying to "dis" ANY of that. Just sharing my own experiences :)

So our wedding came about VERY quickly. We had it planned within a week of our engagement. The first thing we knew was that we wanted the ceremony to be barefoot and somewhere very earthy. We're both dancers and very laid back, outdoors loving folks so Jay Cooke State Park was our first choice. The best part? We could choose whatever location we wanted at the site (we chose the overlook-- SO gorgeous). And it cost $50 total.

The next thing was a reception venue. We hemmed and hawed a lot about this-- going back and forth between Radission, Edgewater hotel, the DECC, a theater in west Duluth... and eventually settled on Blackwoods event center in Proctor. It was closed to Carlton, it was a great venue, and a hotel AND restaurant were attached!

After looking up prices for flowers for wedding, we got really discouraged. We couldn't afford much but I definitely could not justify spending $100 on a bouquet!! I have been going to THE ROSE MAN for years for flowers for shows, holidays, etc. It's mine and my husband's favorite flower source and so we contacted them about getting flowers. I *believe* That it was about $200 for a HUGE bucket of red roses, another HUGE bucket of daisies, and SO many rose petals. The night before the wedding, we had the rehearsal at the park, dinner in the restaurant attached to the event center, and then moved to the hotel lobby. We had my aunts working on stuffing the favors (monogrammed candies and heart bubbles in a mesh bag) while a bunch of us wrapped bouquets for all the girls, made boutineers for the men, got the rose petals sorted for the flower girl, and we pulled daisy petals off of the flowers to give each guest a small cup of petals to throw instead of rice.

The day of the wedding, we spent about an hour and a half decorating. We had bought small bags of pebbles and shells, round vases, square sparkly overlays for the tables, and fake candles and disposable cameras. The event center provided square mirrors, and we made the centerpieces ourselves and also wrapped twinkle lights in sparkly tulle to line the room. Finally, we laid crazy amounts of rose petals over everything. It didn't take long, and it was pretty cheap and easy to do!

I also made my veil. I didn't want anything too extravagant, and also wanted something a bit different. So I bought a strip of ivory tulle to match the lace on my dress and cut them into smaller triangles. I then used jeweled pins I bought at Walmart to secure them into my hair, one on each side and one lower in the middle. Also a very cheap alternative, but looking back, I couldn't be happier with the result!

We printed our own programs, placecards and menus which saved a TON on cost and only took about 3 hours TOTAL to cut and 'ribbon' all of them. We also found a cheap site that let us design our own invites.

The wedding still cost more than I would have liked, but then again I hate people spending money on me, and hate spending a ton of money so... it really wasn't as bad as I think it was, haha! Hopefully this will help someone think up there own DIY crafts for their wedding and save them some stress and mulah as well <3