the idler wheel

DIY explosion

So, a lot of the aspects of my wedding were do-it-yourself projects with the help of my amazing friends. The first thing was the succulent book planters. We got the DIY instructions from Green Wedding Shoes, and afterwards they even featured our wedding on the site: California Handmade Wedding: Melissa + Johnny!

I got the old hardcover books from thrift stores and the moss, craft supplies, and succulents from Home Depot and Michael's. Check out the succulent planter DIY here. The place settings were all DIY too. I-- against the rules-- helped set up all the way until I had to get ready an hour before the ceremony.

Below is the seating chart with hand-typed guests' names on kraft hang tags I made, decorated with mint green washi tape. I got the wire frame to hang them on from World Market.

The daisies were strung together by me and my friend Cindy two nights before. We made three or four long strings of them and hung them from the tree in front of my ceremony. You can see a picture of us under them in the post two below this one!

 

We also made our own little buttons to give out as party favors, along with little bags of tea from Teavana that we assembled ourselves, and put them in little kraft boxes topped with a j + m stamp, or with painted cardboard butterflies that we glued on. The glasses for the reception were mason jars, also little takeaways so our guests had little chalk name tags on their glasses for iced tea at home! My mother- and sisters-in-law helped with that.

  

We had two separate guestbooks in the form of paper and a typewriter, or this book made out of chalkboard paper. My best friend, Abby, bound it for me and I put out polaroid cameras and film for people to take pictures and write a message.

 

The photo booth was made by me and all the props were supplied by me too. 

 

 

At our engagement party in December, we bottled the wine for our wedding. We even printed out custom labels and put them on the wine ourselves. You can see us, and our guests, put to work at State Street Winery, here.

My baby sister did my makeup since I don't know how. :)

And we wrote our own vows!

         

It was so much fun planning and creating and everything. I'm such a perfectionist I wouldn't have had it any other way. If you guys want to know more about how I made things, or if you want me to make something for your wedding, or any other questions, just let me know!

summer travel guide: redlands

Don't forget to check out my blog post on Blooming Leopold for Lauren's Summer Travel Series. Other participants have been Josie from Frances Baker, Hannah Metz from Hannah and Landon (and TheLovedOne), and Rhiannon from Liebemarlene. Thanks for including me, Lauren!

If y'all are looking to do any blog collaborations, let me know! I love the community aspect of blogging. 

Also, I'll be reading from my thesis manuscript (my book of short stories entitled Activities of Daily Living) tomorrow night, and the rest of my week will be devoted to finishing up my thesis. The final submission is Monday! Then grad school is over. 

Wish me luck! 

picture book

Hey, all! As a continuation of my wedding posts, I give you my wedding photo booth pictures! The backdrop was a tapestry that I hung up on foam core and then I put up empty/not-empty picture frames. One of my many DIYs for the wedding last March. For props, I had paper peacock parasols, animal masks from my friends at Sundries and Plunder on Etsy, some slingshots, giant flowers, vintage hats, chalkboard signs, an old broken guitar, and anything my guests could get their hands on (props from all over the wedding reception).

Here are the ones of me throwing a bunch of hydrangeas from the ceremony up into the air. The rest are compiled into the video below, featuring one of the best Beach Boys songs ever "You're So Good to Me". Enjoy!