Today I’m sharing a late summer DIY wedding from Brooke Courtney Photography. I’m in love with the bride’s beautiful dress! It along with her braid and flower crown make it the perfect summer bride look.
I always knew I wanted an outdoor wedding but Matt took some convincing. Once I had him sold on the idea we checked out a few venues that offered outdoor options. When we first visited Ash Mill Farm, we both fell in love instantly with the flexibility of how we could use the farm, and the fact that we could stay there all weekend with our wedding party. It relieved so much stress with preparing for the wedding and allowed me a lot of freedom to make it as much of a DIY as I could handle.
My vision was a wildflower bouquet. I wanted lots of color in as much as I could get away. The bridesmaids’ dress colors were chosen with the same thing in mind-colors that would be seen among wildflowers. Other decorations where chosen or made to have a country feel to fit the venue and fit me. I grew up in the country, riding horses, so I wanted my roots reflected subtly throughout the wedding. We also had hints of Irish pride throughout the wedding as a nod to both Matt and my Irish heritage. Basically, I wanted to whole wedding to feel like it came from us to celebrate our commitment.
I remember the nerves hit me only minutes before actually seeing Matt for our “first look.” I also remember the tears in his eyes immediately after he saw me, but they were probably even before that, if I know him.
I had my something old/new/borrowed/blue. My mom let me borrow a blue sapphire ring my dad had given her when they were married. That covered my old, borrowed, and blue. She surprised me with it that day so my back-up blue and new was my blue shoes. I also had three hankies on me, each with special meaning but none that I could bare not to take down the aisle. One was a baby bonnet of Matt’s that his mother had given me; it was meant to be carried by his bride one day. I stuffed this one in my bouquet. Another hankie had hand-made lace trim that an old friend of my mother’s had made each of my sisters and me to carry on our wedding days (I stuffed it in my corset). The last hankie was given to me by Matt’s mother as “the one I could get make-up on when I cried.” It was embroidered with my new monogram. I held it wrapped around my flowers for the ceremony.
All of our table decorations were handmade or thrifted except for the mason jars. The vases were all purchased at thrift stores, never for more than $1. The twine flowers on the tables were hand-made by the bride. The table numbers were thrifted tea plates on which the bride stenciled numbers. The bride and grooms’s families and groomsmen’s wives/girlfriends helped with the flowers and set-up. The Smilebooth backdrop was also hand-made using thrifted tablecloths and material. We tried to DIY as much as possible.
Photography | Brooke Courtney Photography | Venue | Ash Mill Farm Bed and Breakfast | Rentals | Open Air Affairs
