Elegant Woodland Wedding with DIY Touches

Goodness gracious do I love a wedding with a vision... and from the start, Shaine and Michael's wedding had vision: whimsical, quirky, elegant woodland. Shaine and Michael are serious outdoor folk so it was not too much of a leap. 

Woodland Arrow Motif Invitations

The first thing I designed for the couple were invitations based off of their beautiful engagement photos shot by Wild Saffron Photography. Drawing from inspiration of love birds carving their names into trees with the iconic heart with an arrow through it, I also threw in an arrow motif that I tried to tie in throughout the wedding. Wax seals with a double arrow wax sealer finished the invitations off nicely. We ordered the sealer stamp from an Etsy seller in Hong Kong, which was mildly terrifying... but it was super inexpensive and arrived without issue. 

PS, I made these invitations in PowerPoint (yes, really) and printed them using Digital Lizard.

Photography

Wedding photos were done by Sharon of Wild Saffron Photography (who also shot the engagement photos) along with a couple assistants. All photos in this post are my own, but stay tuned for a future post with the "real" photos by Sharon & co. Here are a few behind the scenes shots from my camera:

Ceremony Decor

Shaine and Michael were lucky enough to have relatives with a gorgeous, well-manicured space with lots of trees for us to use for this wedding. For the ceremony we chose a spot surrounding a cluster of three trees. Between the trees my husband and I hung long birch branches with gold DIY arrows (that the bride and groom helped us slave over) created from cardboard and actual sticks spray painted gold. I'm sure finding the birch branches wouldn't have been too difficult, but I got them on super sale at Michael's (the craft store--not the groom) so I went ahead and just bought them. 

Six gold-framed mirrors were hung from trees surrounding the ceremony spot. I found the mirrors for around $15-$19 each from one of those overstock warehouse places that gets old hotel furniture. 

I was not in love with the white folding chairs, but a) they were included with the tent and table rental so the price was definitely right and b) I knew there would be more people than chairs gathered here for the short ceremony and that they would not even be visible. All the same, I dispersed some more rustic seating choices throughout for good measure. 

See? Told ya you wouldn't see those chairs. 

Flowers & Tent Reception Area Decor

I am not a florist, but I've certainly arranged my fair share of flowers and this wedding was no different. I was VERY lucky that the groom's family owned a landscaping company so rather than having to go out and buy or order flowers, carts of flowers still on the bush were wheeled in for me to play with. 

The bride's bouquet was comprised of hydrangeas, black-eyed Susans (Maryland's state flower), daisies, and goldenrods. I wrapped the stems in burlap and lace and finished off with pearl pins. 

Reception tables were topped with crisp white linens and a mix of burlap, sheet moss, moss balls, milk glass floral arrangements (flowers were from the same batch I used for the bride's bouquet), birch votive holders and vases, and mercury glass votive holders. No two tables were the same.

The moss that was laid out organically was purchased from Amazon and the burlap runners, mercury votive holders, customized birch vases and votive holders, moss balls, and sheet moss (that I cut into circles) were all purchased from Zulily. 

The DIY Bear Head Masks even made an appearance. 

The tent, tables, chairs, and white linens were all rented from ABC Party and Tent Rental.

Cake & Favors

It rained off and on all day while setting up for this wedding so, while we originally planned on a mostly outdoor event, in the end it was safer to house the cake and food inside... and it ended up working out great. 

I'll admit, I'm a bit of (okay, a lot of) a control freak and I was concerned that the cake with cascading moss would not turn out how I saw it in my head... or at least not at a price that would fit in this wedding's budget. So I asked the bride and groom to find the most delicious cake (and cupcakes) that they could, but to request just plain white icing. Chef Lou's Desserts did a great job with the delicious cake and cupcakes. I added the moss (which was not edible, btw... it was just picked off thoroughly before given to guests) and the bride made this absolutely incredible cake topper herself. (Side note: the bride also made the most amazing narwhal cake topper for my own wedding a couple years ago.) 

Shaine's mother is no longer with us so a special table was set up in her honor. A tree was adorned with miniature versions of the DIY arrows from the ceremony next to a photo of her. In lieu of very expensive sequined table cloths, I instead bought sequined fabric and just tucked under the rough edges because I can't sew. Same big impact but a fraction of the price, and no one knew the edges looked like they'd been chewed by a dog (because I didn't even bother to cut the swatches in a straight line). 

Although they're slightly visible to the left in the photo above, I otherwise completely spaced on taking a photo of the clever DIY S'Mores wedding favors at the event. Luckily, I did take photos as we were assembling them (see below). Not only are s'mores delicious and easy, but the S'M in s'mores worked perfect for Shaine and Michael's initials. 

Simple kraft paper pillow boxes were filled with birdseed for guests to throw as the couple departed at the end of the night.

Food, Drinks, & Fun

The food at this wedding was supplied by The Wright Caterer and was SO GOOD. Seriously delicious and well set-up. 

I might have gotten a little creative with the food labels. (I know the photo below is a bit hard to read, but those are vegetables labeled as Candy.)

Woodgrain napkins and paper straws were purchased from Zulily.

For the photo area I purchased an adjustable backdrop stand from a photographer friend who was clearing out his stash and attached an arrow motif backdrop purchased from Zulily. A table I had laying around the house was topped with photo props the bride and I hand made, as well as blank chalk boards from Michael's and chalk markers for guests to make their own custom signs. 

A family member of the couple supplied the empty gold frames as additional props. I picked up the green mid-century chair at an estate sale and the paper lanterns were from Oriental Trading. It was pure luck that this wisteria vine so perfectly topped the photo area.

The bride painted two sets of corn hole boards herself for the wedding: one set for guests to play with and another set for guests to sign as a guestbook. So clever right?!

To tie in with S'More favors, a DIY s'mores station was set up next to the fire pit.

So happy with how this wedding turned out and can't wait to share the photographer photos here!