I'm excited to soon be in the same state as some of my favorite fellow wedding blogger friends. I've been following Jasper's budget DIY wedding at Car Tires 'n Chicken Wire since the planning stages and I am so happy she's agreed to share her wedding recap with us here. I'm so impressed by all the thoughful details and the group effort it took to make this backyard budget wedding so special. Thanks Jasper - see you in Oregon!
My husband Devin and I held our wedding at our home in Portland, Oregon on June 19th on a budget of $5,000. The decor was kept simple. Our invites were a printable DIY file from an etsy vendor. My mom sewed all the table runners and I made miles of bunting to line our entire fence, both out of Pendleton Wool fabric scraps (that had been donated to my mom's art class) as a nod to my husbands home town. We bought flowers at the local farmer's market the morning of our wedding and my husband's best lady made my bouquet.
I bought about 170 mason jars off of Craigslist - this was my earliest project and I was very happy to have done it. I washed many old tins from my mom's collection for centerpieces and stored up baby food jars to use as votive holders.
Another Portland bride emailed me her Haiku forms, which were a huge hit during the reception, and now we have poems written by our guests to cherish forever.
My grandpa eloquently and emotionally read EE cummings " i carry your heart with me" during our ceremony, which our friend officiated. He started with classic Prince lyrics that he and my husband planned as a joke for the rest of us. Our ceremony was held in the middle of a big field that our gates open into to. It was funny, touching, animated, sentimental, the best part of the day. We had our guests stand and gather in around us so there was no "aisle" during our ceremony, and when we turned to face everyone after our ceremony I was overwhelmed by the love and support and amount of people that came to share in our celebration and love!
Dinner was catered and served family style. A simple meal of bread and cheese, salad, lasanga and chicken with vegetables. For dessert we had kahuna bars from a local bakery, cheesecake, Nanaimo bars made by my mom, and our three-tiered chocolate espresso stout cake made by my best friend. I painted our family cake topper with NakedPeggies from etsy. We have a blended family of three girls - mine, his and ours, and we wanted to represent them on the cake. My aunt generously made 120 chocolate toffee bars as favors for the guests and drove them up from southern California.
We had live music donated generously by a western/swing/jazz band that my dad plays drums for, and afterward my cousin and little sister blared a mix of dance hits until the neighborhood noise curfew. I sang "The way I am" by Ingrid Michaelson with the band as a surprise to my husband.
Vendor List
Toffee Bars ~ Sweet Sherree's Sweets
Rentals ~ The Party Place
Music ~ Los Cowtones
Custom Tattoos ~ Body Graphics
Dress ~ Watters
Photography ~ Ron Hope
Back Up Photography ~ Chris Lae
My husband Devin and I held our wedding at our home in Portland, Oregon on June 19th on a budget of $5,000. The decor was kept simple. Our invites were a printable DIY file from an etsy vendor. My mom sewed all the table runners and I made miles of bunting to line our entire fence, both out of Pendleton Wool fabric scraps (that had been donated to my mom's art class) as a nod to my husbands home town. We bought flowers at the local farmer's market the morning of our wedding and my husband's best lady made my bouquet.
I bought about 170 mason jars off of Craigslist - this was my earliest project and I was very happy to have done it. I washed many old tins from my mom's collection for centerpieces and stored up baby food jars to use as votive holders.
Another Portland bride emailed me her Haiku forms, which were a huge hit during the reception, and now we have poems written by our guests to cherish forever.
I bought my dress at a Bride's Against Breast Cancer gown sale, where they sell donated gowns from brides and bridal stores and the proceeds benefit the Making Memories Foundation. My bridesmaids dresses were from Anthropologie and JCrew and had some form of ruffle in them to tie in with the ruffles on my dress. The Groom and groomsmen ties and vests were from a local thrift shop called Hollywood Vintage, and they wore their own shirts and jeans.
My grandpa eloquently and emotionally read EE cummings " i carry your heart with me" during our ceremony, which our friend officiated. He started with classic Prince lyrics that he and my husband planned as a joke for the rest of us. Our ceremony was held in the middle of a big field that our gates open into to. It was funny, touching, animated, sentimental, the best part of the day. We had our guests stand and gather in around us so there was no "aisle" during our ceremony, and when we turned to face everyone after our ceremony I was overwhelmed by the love and support and amount of people that came to share in our celebration and love!
Dinner was catered and served family style. A simple meal of bread and cheese, salad, lasanga and chicken with vegetables. For dessert we had kahuna bars from a local bakery, cheesecake, Nanaimo bars made by my mom, and our three-tiered chocolate espresso stout cake made by my best friend. I painted our family cake topper with NakedPeggies from etsy. We have a blended family of three girls - mine, his and ours, and we wanted to represent them on the cake. My aunt generously made 120 chocolate toffee bars as favors for the guests and drove them up from southern California.
We ordered custom temporary tattoo's for our guests to wear which were a heart with Dev + Jas in the banner.
We had live music donated generously by a western/swing/jazz band that my dad plays drums for, and afterward my cousin and little sister blared a mix of dance hits until the neighborhood noise curfew. I sang "The way I am" by Ingrid Michaelson with the band as a surprise to my husband.
It took many hands on deck to put on our wedding and I am so grateful for all the help. If you are throwing your own party don't even begin to think it will be easy, even if its really simple.
The biggest hitch we ran into was unpredictable weather. The reports turned from sunny and 70's to rainy and low 60's just days before. My husband spent time up until our ceremony attaching a tarp from our roof to our fence to keep us dry, just in case. Turns out all we had was a light sprinkle, but the comfort of knowing we would be dry if things had been worse was worth it.
Vendor List
Toffee Bars ~ Sweet Sherree's Sweets
Rentals ~ The Party Place
Music ~ Los Cowtones
Custom Tattoos ~ Body Graphics
Dress ~ Watters
Photography ~ Ron Hope
Back Up Photography ~ Chris Lae
