Wedding DIY: by Love is... {guest post}

One of The Gentle Flower's sponsors, Andrea from Love is... is guest posting today!
She's sharing some lovely DIY ideas for a beautiful wedding! <3

Meet the super-talented Andrea, and please visit her blog and show her some love!
Thanks for the lovely post, Andrea :)

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Hi there, The Gentle Flower readers!  I'm Andrea from Love is...  = )

Love is... is a place where I talk about my life & everything going on in it!  I like to post about a little bit of everything - DIY tutorials, clothes, makeup, books, fitness, family... You get the idea!

This past September, I married the love of my life, Michael.  Our wedding was everything I could have ever dreamed of.  We put a lot of work in to make it personal & our own & I wouldn't have wanted it any other way!  After planning our wedding, I realized I have a bit of a knack for that stuff!  I found it really enjoyable & would love to get into doing it for a career one day!

Like I said above, we made our wedding our own & we did that by making a lot of the things for the wedding, which is what I wanted to talk to you about today!  = )

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I was on the fence about having a hairpiece or veil for the wedding.  I then asked Michael if when he thought  of me walking down the aisle, did he see me wearing a veil?  He said no & that helped me make my decision!  Then I was on the hunt for something to wear.  I decided to go the DIY route & made my own hair flower.  I talked about it & show you how to make your own, in this post!

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Michael made this hanger for my wedding dress, along with the other name hangers for my bridesmaids, which I gave them as part of their gifts for the wedding.  They turned out great & Michael enjoyed making them.  He may have been a little to good at them though, because since the wedding, he's made 5 different ones, for other people that were interested in them!  

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My grandpa died a few years ago, so I knew I wanted some way to acknowledge him on my wedding day. I had heard of these memorial bouquet pendants, but wasn't willing to spend around $30 for one.  I knew there was a cheaper route.  So, my maid of honor/sister in-law Kay & I, made a trip to Michael's on the hunt for something we could use to make our own.  Kay found this little locket there, which was on sale for $3, I found a picture of my grandpa & ta-da... Memorial bouquet pendant!  It turned out perfect & it was a great way for me to keep him close to me all day long!

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I made this established sign, which we displayed at our reception out of 100 year old barn wood & acrylic paint I had laying around!  (Sorry for the blacked out bit... I just don't want my last name all over the place!)  I think it turned out super cute & have even had some requests to make some for other people!

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This was another barn wood project of mine!  We knew we didn't want to have assigned seating at the reception & we were on the look out to find a way to tell our guests that.  I found this saying on Pinterest, from this pin.  I loved it & knew it was exactly what we were looking for.  I then decided to put it on barn wood, to stick with the rustic feel we had with our wedding & I think it turned out beautifully!  One of my favorite projects!  = )

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Michael & I both love birch trees & we decided they would make a great centerpiece.  We came up with this idea together & we couldn't have been more happy with the final product.  We found some lovely people, in a town up north, that let us cut down some trees on their property.  We then used a drill bit to place the candle holder & the birch was ready to go!  We found the chargers at Wal-Mart on sale & the fake leaves, berries, small pumpkins & pine cones we bought or gathered outside, in the months before the wedding.  I LOVED our centerpieces & still have them all, because we just can't let them go yet!

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We had a few reserved tables at the reception & some other signage we needed, such as signs for the pie table.  To make these signs we used our Cricut & I loved the way it all turned out!  To hold up the signs, Michael took the pine cones, & used a skill saw to flatten the bottom & put a slit in the top, that the sign could go in.  It turned out really great & helped us stick with our theme for the wedding.  

We also made the burlap table squares that were on each table.  My dad embroidered each square in two of the corners with either leaves, pine trees or pine cones.  (You can see the embroidery in a few of the pictures above).  I loved the burlap squares & felt it really pulled the table together.

For the pie table, we cut up a tree on our property up north, & used the slabs to place the pies on.  We also used more burlap for the table skirting & made skirting for the pie, gift & head tables.

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For my something blue, I decided to do a dress label, which again my dad made using our embroidery machine.  We stitched it in to the inside bottom of my dress, so when I lifted it up, you were able to read it.  I loved this & thought it was a great way to include my something blue!

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I made these decorative mason jars, for the head table & I have a detailed tutorial here!  The candlelight looks so amazing coming through the grapevine & burlap.  They are really beautiful & I can't wait until we have a house, so I can put them up!  = )

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This monogrammed N, was located above our pie table.  It's made out of natural coffee filters, foam board & LOTS of hot glue!  I found the idea for this on the Faith. Home. Love. blog & loved it!  My maid of honor/sister in-law Kay, helped me put it together & I loved the finished product!  Again, it's something we still have, that I plan to put up in our future home!  = )

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This is another one of my favorite wedding projects.  I saw this picture on Wedding Bee & knew that I HAD to have a tree stump card box.  Michael wasn't to keen on the idea, knowing it would be a lot of work.  I may have pulled out some puppy dog eyes & got him to agree to try & make it for me.  He & my father in-law, put it together & did an AMAZING job on it!  Michael then chiseled out the heart & used a wood burner to get our names in it.  I love it so much & we again, plan on using it in our future home somewhere!

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And that's the bulk of our DIY wedding projects!  I hope you enjoyed it all & reading about how we came up with our ideas.  And my advice to any of you brides out there... If you want your wedding to be about you & your husband & the things you love, put in the work to make it happen.  It takes a lot of time & energy, but in the end, when you see it all together on your wedding day & hear everything people have to say about it... It's totally worth it!

Thanks for having me Katrine!!  = )