Wedding Reception Photo Booth

One of the highlights of our DIY wedding was a photo guest book idea I borrowed from this fantastic site

http://www.weddingbee.com/2009/01/23/that-wedding-photobooth/.

In place of a little book with signatures, our bride and groom will have a book full of pictures of their guests giving them personal messages written on a chalkboard. We also provided props, for those interested in using them. I was a little worried that guests wouldn't be too excited about doing it, but that wasn't the case at all.

Here are a few photos from our wedding. It was fun to see all the encrypted messages- via inside jokes, or other languages (any else translating the Albanian??):

We were very happy with how it all turned out. Next, we'll upload the photos to an online printing company and have it made into a leather bound book.

Black and White Damask and Yellow Wedding

Coming soon!!

All the details of our DIY Black and White Damask & Yellow Wedding. We had a very limited budget and did everything on our own (with a lot of help from friends).

I'm waiting on photos- because I know you'll want to see them!

But for now, here are some things to get you started in case you are in the middle of planning your own DIY wedding.

We bought everything we could on sale, using coupons, or used. Joann Fabric and Michael's put their floral on sale for 40-50% off every few weeks (or every week for a short time). Michael's also puts their ribbon on sale 40% off. So watch for that as well.

We also used 50% coupons from the Joann circular. Ask your friends if they can hold onto theirs for you. You can use one coupon per full priced item. These came in really handy for the apothecary jars we needed for the candy buffet.

Michael's prints a coupon after your receipt for either 40 or 50% off. You can't use it until the next week, and it's one coupon per customer per day, so that makes it more difficult- but not impossible. I also bought apothecary jars using these coupons.

I bought the table coverings used from a previous bride.

The lanterns I found at http://www.justartifacts.net/index.html were the least expensive online that were in the colors and sizes we wanted. I thought the quality was great!

If you're just starting out on your DIY wedding- I have a few tips for you:

Bookmark everything you like so you can find it easily later

Get as much help as you can

Do as much in advance as possible

Shop around for the best prices and buy everything on sale

Keep your receipts in one place so you can easily return what you don't need/didn't use

Look at sites like The Knot to get ideas and find your style- then search using keywords (like lemon wedding- in our case)

Be flexible

Good luck- and check back in a few weeks for the details!!!

Black &White Damask and Yellow Wedding

My daughter's wedding is just a few weeks away, and we've been busy getting ready! She chose black and white damask, and yellow as her colors, and lemon is the theme. We are really pleased with how it's turning out. Her aesthetic is a simple elegance, with a touch of nostalgia.

I've scoured the Internet and magazines for HOURS getting ideas. As I've mentioned before, I'm very good at borrowing ideas, and then adding my own personality to them.

First up: Boutonnieres

Somehow I happened upon a great blog and found this fabulous idea from a blogger named Camille (thanks for the idea!). Rachael loved it! Who would have thought of using buttons for bouts?? Well, apparently more than Camille, because it was also featured in Real Simple Wedding (I LOVE Real Simple)- a different style though. In keeping with our theme, I tweaked it a bit and came up with this:

Groom's

Father of the Bride

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Small fry younger brother

And the remaining four menfolk

They aren't having Bridesmaids or Groomsmen, so all the family men will wear bouts and the family women who are sisters etc will wear matching flowers in their hair and matching yellow necklaces; the "older" women (MOB etc) will wear corsages and the necklaces.

A friend is making the corsages and flowers for hair. I'm not superwoman after all!!