Category: DIY Wedding Blog
We love garlands here on Once Wed so when Laurie threw out the idea of creating a fresh flower garland I immediately jumped on board with the project. Not only does the garland above look beautiful hanging on an entryway, but it could also act as an affordable but fun way to display escort cards or favors. Not a big fan of birds? You could substitue them for cut out hearts or choose to use just the garland by itself. Did I mention it’s also super easy to make? Thanks, Laurie!
and available through any floral wholesale house, flower shop, or
grocery store florist. There are many on-line resources as well.
Fabric coated wire is available in the floral section of your craft
store.
garland, unwrap your bunch of Gypsophelia, trim the stems and place
in warm water. Allow the flowers to drink for a couple of hours
before proceeding.
off the end of the sprays, leaving just a little stem. (see figure 1)
just past the loop. Pick up your wire spool, and wrap the wire around
the flower stem and support wire. (see figure 2)
wrap the wire around the garland end several times to secure. Make a
loop on the end with your support wire. Trim your flower stems to make
the end of the garland tidy. (see figure 4)
water, and place it inside a plastic garbage bag. Put it in your
refrigerator, or in the coolest spot available. It should stay
fresh for 24-48 hours depending where you keep it.
sheet of card stock. Cut out the birds, and trace them onto your
decorative paper. ( I used 10 pairs for a six foot garland)
Ever since featuring Jen’s
amazing wedding on Once Wed, I’ve been a bit obsessed with her paper
goods. Brilliant is usually the first word that comes to mind whenever
I see new work from her. Not only does she created beautiful
invitations, but she also takes care of all those other little details
like custom favors, cupcake flags, and now drink stirrers. She recently
made the the stirrers and cupake flags above for a Knot event here in
Atlanta and I’m in love. To see more of her work, click here.
Our reception was at the local restaurant and art gallery, Chase’s
Daily where our invitation invited you to a "feast of locally grown
and hand harvested goodies" . The menu used all local produce and
cheeses with hand made breads and seasonal salads. We had 3 types of
tiny savory pies all made in my kitchen. Root vegetable, Blackbird pie,
and my favorite The Boleta Tart with wild mushrooms hand gathered by
the grooms family. We also put together an heirloom tomato salad with
over 30 lbs of farm tomatoes!
We switched up the cocktail hour for ‘apple hour’ where all the treats served were apple inspired. Apple cider, apple tartlettes, candied apples.
Our place cards were apples picked from a local orchard with calligraphy leaves.
We wanted our tables to really bring home the woodland theme and decorated them with moss, Chinese lanterns, acorns and tiny pumpkins. The favors were sachets of rose hips from my parents garden.
We also invited guests to share their handmade favorites and to bring pies, tarts, cakes and the like to add to the bounty.
We knew pretty much every artisan involved except our cake decorations which were Wendy Kromers "Magical Marzipan Forest Cake Kit & Birds" our big splurge.
We were lucky to have our fantastic photographer Karen
who used both digital and vintage film cameras and made sure our day
translated so lovingly to print! At the end of it all it was so
wonderful to sit back and see what the hands of everyone we know and
loved had created for us…and our own hands too!
List of vendors:
Rings: Hannah Clark
Photography: Brownmouse Photo
Wedding Canopy: J Rusten Furniture
Venue: Chase’s Daily
Cake: Let Them Eat Cake!
Cake decorations: Wendy Kromer
Flowers: My mom
Boutonnieres, Flower girl wreath: Mosey Handmade
Jes, thank you so much for taking the time to put this together. Your wedding was beatiful and I admired the sense of community surrounding the whole day. Also, congrats on the arrival of your baby girl!
[Images c/o Brown Mouse Photo]
Since our wedding took place close to the fall equinox, traditionally the harvest time, we were very inspired by the the natural color
palette of fall. Rosy apple reds and Japanese lantern oranges, bittersweet yellows and ruddy root vegetables. We drew our inspiration from our location, the rocky eastern coastline, the mossy green woods, the apples growing in the nearby orchard.
I made my own veil of simple tulle with a pearl rosette from my great grandma’s wedding dress (something old and blue), my grandmothers pearls (something borrowed) and my dress (something new).
Alexander wore a natural linen suit and all the grooms men wore orange ties.
They each wore crowns of vine and vintage millinery of toadstools and crab apples made also by me. My mom made my crown from bittersweet vine and rosemary.
The flower girls’ dresses were simple white cotton embellished with satin and grosgrain ribbon.
We got married under a very simple huppah (jewish wedding canopy) that was fashioned by a friend. I stitched up the canopy from duponi silk and my mom decorated it with bittersweet and crab apples from our yard.
Our ceremony was simple and took place overlooking the ocean. The music for the ceremony and reception were the Brothers Yentes on cello and violin playing a mix of Appalachian and Gypsy Jazz melodies.
Our rings were one of my favorite details. Fashioned from rose gold with a look similar to tree bark, I just loved how it tied everything
together.
Stay tuned for Part III coming up next!
[Images c/o Brown Mouse Photo]
Jes creates the most adorable lovelies out of felt for her shop, Mosey Handamde, so when I read on her blog about her handmade wedding in Maine I jumped at the chance to feature it here on Once Wed. I broke up the wedding today into 3 parts because I couldn’t resist including all the gorgeous images from Brown Mouse Photo of her family and friends gathering and making everything the morning before the wedding. Here is a little more from the lovely bride, Jes….
I am a crafter of recycled woolens at mosey.etsy.com but also have a small line of wedding goodies (cake toppers, boutonnieres, simple dresses) so I knew I would be obsessing over the tiny details. My husband, Alexander, is a librarian and musician. We met at a show that a mutual friend threw for my birthday and had invited his band Ponies in the Surf to play. I remember calling my dad that night and saying ‘I met the boy I’m going to marry’! I have been crafting full time for a few years and really wanted to make my wedding a handmade event. Almost everything was handmade, handpicked, hand sewn and handcrafted. We employed a number of friends who were artists and bakers, farmers and gardeners to help make this our perfect day. Lucky for me my mom is pretty crafty herself and was there the whole way — making and baking and putting the finishing touches on everything with me. We really wanted to make everything as local as possible. Alex works summers on a nearby sustainable farm where most of our produce was picked by friends and all of our lovely flowers grew. We wanted a simple but polished feel.
Our flowers were picked the morning of the wedding by the ladies in my family. Ranunculus, larkspur, yarrow, eucalyptus, straw flower, snap dragons, Chinese lanterns, zinnias.We had a wonderful time getting out there in the misty morning and collecting the finds for the day. It was a great time to relax a bit and literally smell the flowers before the big day really started.
Stay tuned for Part II coming up next!
[Images c/o Brown Mouse Photo]
