“If you have never heard of the expression Do it yourself (DIY), once you have seen the amazing pictures of Erika and Camilo’s wedding, you’ll know what the term means. DIY is a concept by which you create and make your own things instead of purchasing them. This results in a unique product that reflects the couple’s true essence. Everyone should be unique and, you know it by now, we LOVE that. After seeing all the time and effort they put into it, it’s safe to say Erika and Camilo really know a thing or two about DIY. All of the decorations one can possibly imagine in a wedding, they thought about and made them themselves! From the invitations to the paper lamps, the jars of jam, the photobooth, the bar, the floating candles in the pool… they truly impressed their guests! The wedding took place on the family property in Venise-en-Québec near Lake Champlain. Everyone was so happy and had a lot of fun. It was truly a beautiful celebration. We told them before and we’ll tell them again: Congratulations for all the little things you did for your guests. It was a unique wedding that we were delighted to be a part of. We hope that these pictures will help remind you of that special day of your lives.” – Bonnallie Brodeur Photographe
What is your favorite wedding day memory?
My favorite wedding day memory, I think, is at the church. It was a strong moment; everybody was so emotional. My dad cried when he saw me, then all my 8 bridesmaids were crying. It was real: after all this time preparing the wedding, we were really there.
What did you DIY for your wedding?
We DIY-ed the most we could! We spent the entire summer preparing this event. I was off all the summer and my husband took a month off. We spent so much time thinking about every detail. Seriously you can’t imagine all we did by ourselves, and when I think about that- I do not know how we did everything. We were so happy to get married. My husband built the bar and he used wine corks to make big letters B, A and R to put on his bar. He built the DJ booth and the photo booth. For the photo booth, we used some cute gift paper wrap as tapestry. I did all the decorations on the tables. We decorated almost 100 mason jars with lace, burlap etc. For the runner we bought a burlap roll. We painted the little birdhouses and we constructed the pinwheels that we put over the birdhouses. We used wine corks for the individual names on tables. We painted some wooden tissue boxes for the tables’ flowers. We cut an old tree, a dead tree and we put some slices on the tables with candles on them. We used wood letters for the table names, and we build our Mr. and Mrs. with these wood letters too. For the candy bar we made the streamer say sweet table and we used some crocheted bedspread made by my husband’s grandmother from Chile. It gave a vintage look to the candy bar table. We bought the lights and the hanging glass balls from a website. We put on the hanging glass balls some crystal jewelry we ordered from eBay. I ordered the flowers from a wholesale florist and I kept them in a cold room where I took the temperature every hour. My husband’s cousin, Daniela, did all the flower arrangements in the decor and all the bouquets and the boutonnieres; she was amazing! Our Chef was a good friend of ours.He was used to doing this kind of event. He made us a dream menu; everything was perfect! Everyone still talks to me about how the food was amazing. We made some homemade JAM for the guests, and we decorated the jars like old-fashioned JAM. I ordered some cushions, my wedding fans and some coasters and we personalized them with our wedding monogram. We had a lounge where people were smoking shisha, and we built the tables for shisha with wood pallets, and we painted them in white. We use a lot of old thing thats we found in the basement of our parents or on the internet, some people just want to get rid of their furniture give them to us for free, so we take the furniture and we used it for many different things. We borrowed my parents’ white leather sofas and set them on the ground next to the pool. My parents also had old Adirondack chairs and we painted them in white too. We took wooden boards and we stuck some foam under them for pool floaters, so that we could put the wooden boards in the pool with candles on them and they would float. My husband made a wood panel pole where he put the name of the country of every different guest with the distance to get to the wedding reception from his or her country. Pinterest really inspired us!
Something old, new, borrowed and blue?
Almost everything on me was ‘new’, except my panties LOL! I had the perfume ‘something blue’ by Oscar de la Renta, it’s funny because the smell of this perfume reminded me a perfume my grandmother wore when I was little. My hair piece was lace and was given or ‘borrowed’ to me by a friend who had worn at her wedding.
Any advice for brides currently in the planning process?
Just have fun, no stress and no worries; everybody will enjoy and you will too. The day goes by so fast so try to enjoy everything you do for the wedding; it will make the fun last longer. Do the things you want for your wedding; don’t bother about the preferences of your guests. Eat, drink, and do what you want to do because this day is yours. If your guests love you they will enjoy the day, even if they don’t like the food or something else. The day of the wedding don’t do anything, give all the duties to someone else. – Erika, the bride
Event Credits
Photography: Bonnallie Brodeur Photographe // Venue: Family Residence // Dress: Alvina Valeta // Florals: Bridal Floralz // Men's attire: Simons // Catering: Sweet Couture // DJ: Dj Felipe
