Outdoor DIY Wedding by cotton + clover photography

If you want to infuse more of you into your wedding, lots of DIY is the way to go. Wedding DIY is not for the faint of heart but if you have a tremendous love for crafting and patience of a saint go for it. From the Bride: When Hayden and I met in math class our sophomore year of high school, we had no idea we would ever mean so much to each other. We fell in love gradually over Mexican food and movies, and keep falling in love every day. After five years of dating, Hayden proposed at our favorite date spot: the movies. He rented out the entire theater and packed it with our families and friends. He surprised me by having a video slideshow play that was filled with memories set to the Matthew West song, “When I say I do”.

When we were looking for inspiration for the wedding attire, I knew even before we got engaged that I would want a backless dress. Hayden and the rest of the wedding party knew that they could choose what they wanted to wear as long as it was within the color scheme. They all have fantastic taste so not only did they look amazing, but it also took some of the deciding stress off of me! My dress was at the top of the list of most important wedding details. I went to one shop, I Do Bridal and Formal and tried on almost every dress before I found the one.

My favorite part of our wedding day was the intimate first-look and photo session my groom and I did before our guests arrive. With over 500 of our closest friends and family on the guest list, we knew we would not have much time to spend together once the festivities began. We also let each other read our hand written vows privately during this time before reading them to each other during the ceremony. After months of planning, being able to spend our last moments before marriage to soak it all in was priceless.

Since my mom is a wedding planner, almost everything was DIY in some capacity. The main DIY projects for me were the signs we placed around the venue. My favorite DIY was the dance floor chandelier! We made it from box springs that were my mom’s when she was little. Once we cleaned it up, our lighting specialist helped us decide which type of lighting would be best for our project. We went with strands of individual bulbs, which we placed in each spring and around the frame. Finally, we went to our favorite antique store and found the crystals. It was not until later that we realized they hung on a chandelier in the atrium of a hotel in downtown Mobile, Alabama (where I grew up) in the 1920s. The same era we drew a lot of our wedding inspiration from! After carefully washing the crystals and hanging the box springs above the dance floor, we hung the crystals around the frame as a finishing touch of the perfect wedding detail. Photographer: cotton + clove photography | Bride’s Dress Boutique: I Do, Bridal and Formal | Bridesmaid’s Dresses: Bella Bridesmaids | Rental: Blue Rents – Equipment Rental | Tuxedo and Men’s Attire | D&K Suit Discounters | Band: Mo Jazz Band | Catering, Flowers, Cake, Decor: Emma Mitchell (bride’s mother)