DIY things that we did!

Awhile back I wrote about why you don't have to make it all yourself for your wedding - today I am going to hit on the things we did do ourselves!

The pretty little ring box that sat on the altar was made by my grandpa Jim. He had some health problems this spring and I felt very blessed that he was able to be there. The ring box was just the icing on the cake!!  It was turned on a wood lathe using three different types of wood

I am a very crafty person, but florist I am not (My attempts at bridesmaid bouquets were a very sad and epic fail). My mom on the other hand has a knack for making flowers look pretty. She filled all of the cream cans at the lodge and made them look really nice! We borrowed most of them from friends and family - and some came from the lodge. They were filled with dried millet, hydrangeas, wheat and fake flowers. Mom also decorated the makeshift altar that was at the lodge with a little help from Jay. They made everything look great!

Mom had the horseshoe cross made by a guy over in Platte. It was really unique and looked great up at the front on the altar. Jay and I own purebred Herefords and wanted a way to incorporate our hide into the decorations - so we put it up front! It looks really neat in the photos. We also designed our own programs and had them printed at the local print shop. I made all of our boutonnieres and corsages from dried flowers to fit the fall theme (but failed at bouquets.)

I had two big DIY projects I did for our wedding  - designing and making the jewelry for my bridesmaids and for myself. I had a blast with my bridesmaid jewelry, customizing each piece to fit my friends' style. I finished their jewelry in June. 

The jewelry I made for myself was a little more nerve-racking. While I wanted to wear turquoise, I didn't want the jewelry to take away from my dress. My dress was delayed in getting here, so I wasn't able to really envision what I wanted until the beginning of September. As soon as it arrived, mom and I picked it up and brought it home ( I had a local lady do the alterations. She did an awesome job and was way cheaper than doing them in store! She also remade my mom's veil for me to wear) After that I hustled up and made my jewelry the week of our wedding!! 

I couldn't resist sharing this picture of my dress and jewelry! I think it all fell together pretty well!! 

Happy New Year folks!! 

Things they don't tell you about wedding dress shopping.

the dress I had saved on Pinterest 

February

I was excited to try on wedding dresses, but I was also nervous. I am not a dress girl. I am a jeans, boots and a hoodie girl. But like most 20-something women who have Pinterest, I had a dream wedding dress picked out - which cost WAY more than I was willing to spend.


So off we went dress shopping, with a dream in mind, and mom, one of my bridesmaids, my little sister and my grandma in tow, on a Saturday in February.


While the shop was very busy, our saleslady was pretty attentive (I had to wait for dresses/for her to help me for longer than I liked a few times). First she brought out a dress that was exactly like what I wanted, but was a little out of the price range we wanted to stay in. and I loved it. After that,  I tried on what felt like fifty different dresses, some in different styles, some just for fun, and some I think the saleslady (or my friends) just wanted to torture me in. When every dress started to look the same, I called it quits. I knew which ones were my favorites, so I decided to come back later and pick out my favorite.


Things I learned wedding dress shopping-
1. February happens to be prom season. Saturdays are when high school girls go prom dress shopping. If you don't like shopping, that is probably not the time to be dress shopping as stores will be crowded and you will have to wait for sales people.


2. Don't try on too many dresses. I got very overwhelmed by the end of the appointment because I tried on so many different dresses - while it was fun most of the day, by the end I was sick of white and crawling in and out of them! ( I really wanted to have pictures of some of the funny ones I tried on but apparently they got deleted from my phone :( )


3. Take the right people along. I was very glad that I had only four people along. They were the ones whose opinion mattered most to me!


4. Go with your gut. I knew the dress I bought was THE DRESS the first time I tried it on. It was the only one that gave me goosebumps and made me tear up.

At the end, I was very glad I only went one store to try on wedding dresses - Sandra Rose in Tyndall, SD.  I found the perfect dress there and didn't have to deal with the hustle and bustle of dress shopping in Sioux Falls, plus I really wanted to support a local business. 

It ended up being April 1st before I made it back to the dress store - between calving, work and the weather it just didn't work to go back any earlier. This time I just took my maid of honor with me (she hadn't come the previous time) I tried on my two favorites - and knew right away which one was the winner!!



Check back next week to learn about picking out decorations and bridesmaid gear!!