You are going to fall head over heels for today’s amazing handmade woodland themed wedding from Alicia King. With sweet heirloom details, cute forest animals, and an ‘Army of Aunts’ helping, this is pretty much the intimate DIY wedding of your dreams!
Our theme was “Tasteful Narnia” nobody could understand what I was saying until they saw it all put together, then it all made sense! The colors were sage, dusty rose and gold. I’m an artist and very crafty so it only made sense that I would make most of the things. And since I have always preferred older ascetics and vintage things it all came together beautifully!
Unfortunately, both of my grandmothers have passed away and both of their death anniversaries were the same week as the wedding. Regardless, I tried to embed them in as many aspect of the decor as possible! In my locket I put each of their wedding photos, so they were both with me all day. I wore Nanny’s veil during the ceremony and over us hung bunting I made from all of her old doilies. Channie’s lace ribbon was used for the flowers and decorating the ladder and her grandmother’s (my great great grandmothers) handmade lace table cloth was on the dessert table under the pies. Brandon wore his grandfather’s pocket watch. And I carried his mother’s families wedding handkerchief, 4 generations later, we all have our initials embroidered in the hem.
My “Army of Aunts” did an amazing job finishing everything while I got dressed, but they did all the flowers the night before, including Rosemary boutonnieres because it’s Brandon’s favorite food. And my Aunt Marjie made all the table numbers! I also made all the little wooden signs directing people around the property. As well as my earrings, which were made of tiny pink pearls from the Philippines, I got in a secret santa gift the year before in Korea! The show stealer (or most stolen object) was the river rocks I crocheted around. One aunt asked “you crocheted sweaters for rocks!?” Basically, yes, and everyone took one with them when they left! We also made the table seating chart out of hanging vintage window, my mom’s going to make them into cork boards now!
I made pretty much everything. My favorite was Nanny’s teacups, I made them into vanilla scented candles, so they were used as decoration but then each of my aunts and cousins got to take one home with them as their favor. Unless, they also wanted our handmade tree cookie coasters! That was Brandon’s big job and my brother helped! I spent the whole summer collecting interesting looking pieces of wood and fallen branches to use as the table settings. Which we then hid dozens of golden woodland animals amongst. There was a corresponding bingo game that you could play with the animals as well if you wanted! They were next to the guest book, which was a vintage recipe scrapbook when I found it, I replaced the hardware, added new pages and photo corners, so that our guests could have their pictures taken with a Fujifilm Instant Camera (like a Polaroid, I’m a photographer too) they added their photo and a message, which was really cool.
The next day we were talking and both of us admitted that our favorite part had actually been Nanny’s old ladder by the entrance to the tent. It was completely covered in little flowers, candles, animals, lace and moss. Decked from the very tippy top, spilling out into the entrance, it would be the first thing you saw walking in! And it was stunning, it dripping with grandmothers and gold and was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen. Later I found out that after my aunts had finished all the flowers my Great Aunt showed up asking if there was anything she could do to help, and they said to go wild on the ladder with what was left over! Amazing!
The other incredible thing was, we actually got all those important people we loved in one place for a whole weekend extravaganza! They all renting houses and hung out for days, helping to set up and tear down, we couldn’t have done it without all of them. Brandon likes to say “you know when you go to a wedding and you have your little group of people and that’s who you hang out with, well when it’s your wedding everyone is your people!” And it’s true, I remember dancing and looking around and seeing only people I loved, that was pretty amazing.
Photography | Alicia King Photography | Venue | The Thorn Preserve | Florals | Wildflower Design | Catering | New World Catering | Rentals | Rhinebeck Rentals | Gown | Ivy and Aster from Lovely | Veil | Heirloom | Bracelet | Cambodian Bomb Bracelet
