As I mentioned in Tuesday’s blog post, the bride in this Country backyard wedding did a lot of DIY touches. She spent a long time designing and “crafting” for her wedding. I was lucky enough to work with her on some of the hand-painted touches such as the music themed wedding invitations, thank you cards at each person’s place setting, escort cards which were strung on an antique windowpane, and Country Cobblestone thumbprint guestbook.

The couple both shares a love for music so they included that love visually in their wedding invitation design with the music notes graphic. Laura is a wonderful singer, who wrote and recorded their first dance song at their wedding. This song literally gives me chills…it is so amazing! Craig plays the guitar, so they had a white guitar at their wedding for guests to sign with a gold metallic Sharpie marker.

Impressed by the amount of DIY touches, the bride created for her wedding, I asked her a couple of questions about her tips for other DIY brides out there, as well as how paper products are incorporated into a DIY wedding.

Allison: How did your wedding paper tie into the look of your wedding?

Laura: The Hand-Painted Wedding touches captured the the rustic elegance I was going for. Purples and greens were bled together in a simple, understated elegance as the backdrop for my wedding invitations, escort cards and personalized thank-you cards at each place setting. I chose the Country Cobblestone thumbprint guest book which was perfect because it looked just like the dirt road behind the alter at our backyard country wedding. I hand made almost every decoration in the wedding and so I really appreciated the originality and the beauty of the Hand Painted wedding paper. Allison Krosnick is so talented and I feel so lucky to call her my sister.

Allison: What tips do you have for other DIY backyard wedding brides?

Laura: “Be easy on yourself! Seriously, if you are anything like I was, you are putting way more pressure on yourself than other people are. After a year of planning and crafting, a million pins on pinterest, and a few dozen spreadsheets, the wedding finally came. It was clear about two hours into hair and makeup that things weren’t going to go as planned. Tents were flying upside down, I was a full table short of place settings, and half the lights on my DIY backdrop made with organza and Christmas lights wouldn’t stay lit! The groomsmen forgot their boutonniere and my aisle runner was blowing in the wind as I stood at the alter!

And it was STILL one of the most amazing nights of my life. I stressed out trying to make everything perfect and then nothing went to plan and I realized it didn’t matter anyway, and no one cared. So please brides, be nice to yourself, you are only one woman.”

Come back tomorrow to learn the bride’s favorite moment.
Photos by Neal Palumbo at Studio 11 West.