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Melanie and Jarred originally planned to get married in April of this year, but changed their date at the last minute to November of 2013 because Jarred was able to come home from an out of state job he had been on. When Melanie texted me and said “please tell me you aren’t booked November 23” I had a mini heart attack. By some miracle, it happened to be my ONLY Saturday available for the rest of the year!

Melanie and I had an instant connection from the moment I met her, and She and Jarred go together as if they’ve been married for 50 years. 🙂 Melanie and Jarred had a 100% DIY wedding, and it was perfect in every way. They slaved over every detail, and did an incredible job. I hope you love their photos!

 

My wedding was something I could have only dreamed of. I tried to make my wedding as budget savvy as possible. I knew with the help of friends and family I would be able to have the wedding of a lifetime. We made, built, begged, stole (not literally), and borrowed almost everything. Our wedding was very simplistic, rustic, and full of antiques and lace.  Jarred and I got everything we could have ever imagined and more. Not enough thanks and gratitude could be given to all the people that helped and made our wedding as perfect as it was.  

Originally we wanted the wedding to be outside. The ceremony, reception, dance- I wanted everything outdoors. Nature did not agree with me so we moved the wedding inside our church. Our back drop was made by my husband and my father. (I added a nail or two here and there though!)  All of the materials were free, expect the windows. We used old barn wood to create the walls. It was so beautiful. Since we planned on having an outdoor wedding, the walls were too big to fit inside the church. We had to cut them down so we could fit them inside the doors of the church. We cut a large cedar tree into stumps and used them in different areas to add different textures and heights to the backdrop of the wedding.  Down the aisle I used tall tin buckets filled with pampas grass, as well as large milk cans at both sides of the backdrop. Did I mention all of those things were free!!! 

I really loved how the reception looked. All of the lace was given to me by a family friend, who had passed away before the wedding. It was really something special to me. We had to buy some lace to finish decorating, but very little was purchased. The tables were covered in white table clothes (that my church already had), lace over that, burlap table runners, and lace dollies. I purchase my burlap from a previous bride and got a small army of burlap for $75!!!!  Atop the tables were different arrangements of twine and lace wrapped wine bottles, kerosene lanterns, and my great grandmother’s goblets. 

My reception flowers were coral/red hydrangeas I purchased from Sam’s Club. They were so cost-efficient and beautiful. I suggest that to anyone. There was one stem in each wine bottle. My flowers were a mixture of burlap, wheat and white hydrangeas. The bridesmaid’s bouquets were in old glass milk bottles. They were absolutely perfect. I loved the idea of the bridesmaids holding bottles! I could not asked for prettier flowers!

You probably already know this by now but my photographer was the soon to be famous Rachel Leigh Procell. She by far is the most caring, gracious, and most amazing photographer ever. There are no leaps or bounds she would not go to, to make your day or pictures as perfect as possible. She cares more about her clients than she probably should. I gained a lifetime photographer and friend from my wedding. Her photos are out of this world, and her passion is beyond thought. She puts her whole heart into her photography. She kept me sane when I was about to lose all my marbles. There is no one else I would rather recommend to take your pictures than the one and only Rachel Leigh Procell. I just hope she remembers me when she’s famous. 🙂

Bride’s dress- Alfred Angleo
Bridesmaid’s dresses- Etsy
Ceremony Music- Janis Ivy
Reception Flowers- Sam’s Club
Food- Father of the bride
Cakes- Misty Jones, They’re Not Perfect Cakes
Groom’s cake topper- Tammy Mays, Original Art by Tammy
Flowers- Angela Wilson, Nettles Flowers
Make-up- Hannah Hemphill
Hair- Tara McCoy, Oh So Pretty Hair Salon