Dried Wedding Flowers...

Another beautiful fall day here in Kentucky - BUT my thoughts are very much on the people facing the devastating weather on the Eastern Coast. 

 

A while back I was asked to make some dried floral arrangements for a wedding.  I have made many wedding bouquets over the years but never a "dried" one believe it or not.  This beautiful bride knew exactly what she wanted and armed with pictures from Pinterest - here is what we came up with.

 

Simple and rustic for her "harvest-style" wedding...

 

 

The boutonnieres were simply made up of preserved leaves, wheat, some centers from purple cone flower, caspia, a needle-like burgundy dyed greenery, a touch of burlap and all tied up with twine.

 

 

 

A few corsages for the MOTB, MIL and others were a lil' larger with some preserved lime-light hydrangea and golden yarrow mixed in.

 

 

 

And lastly for the beautiful bride, Jade, and her attendants - small handheld bunches of all the flowers tied with burlap and twine.

 

 

 A few pearl pins just for the bride - still she wanted nothing fancy...

 

 

 

Her attendants were the same just a bit smaller.

 

 

 

I wouldn't hesitate to use dried flowers again - they really did turn out pretty I think - especially for this time of year. 

 

 

Best wishes Jade and Andrew - hope you have a lifetime of happiness.

 

 

 

Country Chalkboards, Sweet Signs and a Wedding Farewell...

Hello friends, I'm gonna finish up my posts on Danielle's wedding and show you just a few simple, handmade touches that made her day so special.  This was a chalkboard made from an old dresser mirror - I think this was made by my friend, Lisa Curry.  Danielle made simple stakes with dates and words on them - all out of salvaged barn lumber.

 Another simple chalkboard over the cupcake table.  I left before the yummy cupcakes arrived - I sure do hate that I missed those!

 One of Danielle's creations with her Cricut.

 These were all my chalkboards that she used over her buffet tables.  The one in the middle is the one I most recently made from a small door.

These boards worked out perfect to write the country menu on - including the "sides" as well as the "drinks".

 

A simple round chalkboard and a "love" stake.

 A "Just Hitched" sign hangs on the back of a wagon which Danielle and Taylor rode on from the chapel to the barn.

 A matching pair of signs greeted their guests at the entry to their beautiful farm.

 Danielle, thank you so much for letting me share in your special day.  You were absolutely beautiful...

 ...and so very kind and gracious to me.  Your entire family was - thank you. 

 I loved every minute of being at your family's gorgeous place, surrounded by the horses and even...

 ...the resident barn owl. 

Best Wishes to you, Taylor and your precious daughter, Braelyn.

Barn Reception..."Randomness"

Hey friends - just sharing with you RANDOM snapshots of Taylor and Danielle's reception - jus' trying to squeeze it all in - but there are still a few more even after these.

Tables - all in a row...

 Handmade signs - simple and sweet...porch lights light the entry.

 Beautiful country flowers - compliments of her sweet mom, Anne...

 Paper Flowers everywhere...

 One cool and inexpensive chandelier - Danielle and her mom made this from two different size hula-hoops - yep, you read that right - hula hoops.  They suspended the smaller one in the middle, running icicle lights on both levels - I added the burlap ribbon just to soften up the look a bit - it was beautiful lit up at night - you couldn't even tell what it was made of.  Good job girls!

The dance floor - there was a "Let's Dance" sign on the left but oops - I missed it.

 Simply ran a bolt of burlap all the way down the tables and tucked in some asparagus fern on the ends.

 The main entrance to the reception - ladders with lights, grapevine and canvas.

 Simple arrangments in mason jars for the tables along with some lanterns and rye grass baskets.

 Check back for the final pics soon!

Have a happy day!

The Barn Reception continues...

...with a wall of  "picture" windows and an old truck.  I'm back to share with you a couple of more cute things we did for Danielle and Taylor's barn reception.  

 Danielle placed some great pictures in behind the glass of these old windows... she also put her Cricut to good use again cutting out neat letters for the other panes.

 

That night, the lights behind the canvas illuminated the pictures.

 Here is a better shot - of course we added a punch of her favorite colors with the tissue paper flowers and hung the windows with burlap ribbon.

 One of her chalkboards and a cute wooden sign with their wedding date...

 Some straw bales and a fern and that was her "window" wall.

 Now for the truck - this is her Uncle Woody's old truck that he is in the process of refurbishing.  We simply pulled it in the side of the barn...

...I made a pocket of fresh flowers and tied it to the grill..

 ...Danielle's "just married" burlap banner was perfect for the side.  We placed a large fern and her mom's "window house" in the back complete with flowers and a lil' chandelier. 

 The truck made a nice backdrop for the bridal table.

 Here you can see the straw bale "couches" in front of the truck.  The truck really did have a great function - all the wedding gifts were placed in the back.

 And to top it off - more, yes more paper flowers.

I just love that old truck. 

And the Barn Reception Pictures begin...

...finally.  Yes, I'm back - I've officially survived decorating another wedding last week - but we are going to journey back a couple of weeks to Danielle and Taylor's barn reception.  I'm going to break it down into a few posts and I thought I'd begin by sharing with you what we did with a hanging ladder.  In this barn were 3 wonderful - VERY LONG - wooden ladders.  I'll show you what we did with the other two later - but this one found a home on a really long expanse of a wall that needed something that could carry significant visual weight.

This is the LOOOOOONG wall I'm speaking of - it was the inside wall of the barn - these are insulated panels - great for function but not really pretty. 

I knew I wanted to hang the ladder but I couldn't do it by myself - so fortunately, Danielle's brother (the tractor driver) and her dad (in the bucket loader) plus her fiance (holding the rope) helped me out - a BIG bunch.  Mark suspended the ladder with rope parallel with the wall.

And here is how it came together.  Mom and I ran some tobacco canvas through the rungs plus I simply tied on pieces of burlap ribbon and just let them hang down like streamers.

Danielle, the beautiful bride, is quite talented herself and just recently purchased and fell in love with her new Cricut machine - she made this banner that said "Happily Ever After" in orange and hot pink.

We hung different lanterns filled with battery operated candles plus pink and orange tissue paper flowers.

The family had this beautiful old church pew and it fit perfectly under the ladder.  On it, we placed a quilt that had been given to the bride's mom and dad on their wedding.  It was a very special piece to the family.

The whole area turned out to be a great focal point in the barn.  It was fun and festive.

Danielle, her beautiful bridesmaids...and

...her sweet lil' girl who found a place to rest for a minute.

I love the way the ladder turned out  - it was something they already had - and it fit just perfectly!  Ladders would be beautiful hanging over tables too - you could almost use them like chandeliers - of course these ladders were old and wooden - they were just perfect.

An uncle's old truck and a wall of windows up next.