Today we are sharing the gorgeously DIY-ed wedding of Greg and Hilary that took place in a charming, rustic barn in Ann Arbor. The ceremony was actually planned for outside but a little arrived, so they rolled with the punches and moved it into the barn. Lucky for them it was just a little rain and the sun still made an appearance. With a year to plan, Greg and Hilary decided to save money and enjoy the experience of a DIY wedding, so they got crafty and took on lots of projects! Make sure to read the brides interview below to hear all about them!
“When Greg finished saying his vows he ended with saying “sometimes words just aren’t enough,” walked over to his keyboard sat down and began to play and sing a song he had written for me.. it was simply breathtaking, a moment that will be with me forever…
..What didn’t we DIY!?! We had over a year to plan the wedding so we thought, why not? Let’s make our wedding one of a kind and save lots of money in the process. And that’s exactly what we did!
We considered our wedding theme “classic country.” We got married in a barn in the city of Ann Arbor, fitting right? Our colors were yellow and gray and we didn’t stray far. My mom and I found four different yellow and gray combination fabrics which we incorporated into the entire day. This was the start to the DIY madness. My mom and I cut over 100 pennant flags and 16 table runners out of the yellow and gray themed fabric.
The centerpieces were a lot of fun to create! We had 12 inch wooden slabs and on them we placed a mason jar, vase, and frame. The mason jar was quart sized wrapped in burlap and yellow and white gingham ribbon. The mason jars held our gorgeous flowers which lined the aisle way during the ceremony. The vases were randomly found from Salvation Army and Goodwill around Lansing and Metro Detroit which we spray painted sunshine yellow. They held a dowel with a small fabric pennant flag Mod Podged onto them containing the table number. The frame was a picture of Greg and I at the corresponding year as the table number! My mom, Cindy, and the father of the groom, John, looked through years of photographs to find the perfect pictures.
We used old frames from Salvation Army (we went here a lot!) for the welcome sign, outside seating sign, bench sign, and bar sign. We used the sunshine yellow spray paint for the borders and then used chalkboard paint to paint the glass then we wrote on them with chalkboard markers. I love chalkboard! I made fabric flowers and placed them in the corners of the frames. We had a large chalkboard from Lowe’s and wrote the seating assignment in chalkboard markers.
I made flower girl buckets for our three flower girls. I found the buckets at Joann’s and added a large fabric bow and placed ribbons on the sides. For the ring bearer pillow, I sewed it out of burlap. It had a yellow and white gingham ribbon around it. I also made a small chalkboard that said, “Here comes the bride” that one ring bearer carried. They were precious!
Our “guest bench” was by far the most unique part of our wedding decor. It was made with love by our talented uncle Russ. We had our guests use Sharpies to write notes of best wishes and love to us. Such a great reminder of a beautiful wedding day!
The favors were mason jars that we personalized. We bought 156 mason jars and hand crafted a label which we chalkboard painted onto each jar. Not only did we make the labels we also made tags that we tied with jute twine to each jar thanking our guests for coming and celebrating with us. We had chalk out on the welcome table for people to grab and label a jar with their name on it. It was an extremely tedious process but we love knowing our friends and family have a piece of us regardless of how far they are from us! We also had gray, yellow, and white striped paper straws that we made flags for, so impractical but so cute! My parents, John and Cindy made snack bags were placed at each of our guest’s seats. The bags were wrapped with jute and had a stamped pennant flag on the tag.
The groom’s brother James, is a home brewer and jumped at our request to make some honey wheat beer for our reception. He not only made the honey wheat, but also made a brown and red ale. Each batch made 100 bottles, so we had 300 total when all was said and done. This was a big hit with our guests, many of whom enjoy home brewed beer. Some even got to take some leftover beer home; an unexpected party favor first for many!
Our invitations were so pretty thanks to the help of my mom and sister, Lindsey. The paper we used was from Paper Source, colors gravel and curry. My mom pressed daisies from their property which were such a special part of the invitation. We stamped our address on the envelopes using a cute stamp we bought on Etsy. I also sewed individual fabric pockets to place the invites into. So cute!
I love all the details we created and it wouldn’t have been the same without them!
..Yes! Something old – pearl necklace from my aunt Phyllis. New – my wedding dress and my fun pair of Toms. (Greg wore a pair too!) Something borrowed – my veil that my sister Erica wore on her wedding day. Something blue – our initials G + H and 7-6-2013 inside a heart my mom stitched inside the back of my wedding dress!
..Cherish every moment of it! You can only plan so much and your wedding day will not be what you planned, it will be better. Even during the most stressful moments just take a step back, breath, and laugh because at the end of the day you’ll be married to your best friend who makes you the happiest girl in the world and nothing else will honestly matter.” – Hilary, the bride
photography: Chelsea Brown Photography // dress: Moonlight Bridal , Fall 2012 Collection // bridesmaid dresses: David’s Bridal // suits: JC Penny – JF J.Frrar // event planner: Tammara Kane with Grand Jour Events // Caterer: Gary’s Catering // venue: Cobblestone Farm // cake: Gwen’s Cake Decorating and Etc. // flowers : Kristi’s Flowers of Redford, MI // coffee bar: Elliot with The Cappuccino Man // photobooth: Memory Box II // DJ: Brendan Pfaff of Best DJ Ever
