.::|TheDish|::.

DIY Wedding Project #1: Saplings Bring Nature Indoors

As I mentioned in my last post, this is the first of a few upcoming posts that will shed color on some of the personal touches that went into my nuptials.

When holding a outdoor wedding in New England, I think a tent is an imperative due to the erratic and unpredictable weather; you absolutely need a back-up plan. It’s worth focusing and investing time during your planning on some personal touches to add to the tent – to dress it up – as you may just be holding all the day’s events under that one roof. By way of some miracle, it really never rained on our wedding day despite a threatening forecast – a slight sprinkle that lasted a few minutes before the reception was it – but we were definitely prepped for that everything-in-the-tent back-up plan.

A wedding tent is really what you make of it. Without some thought, attention and beautification, it can be rather stale and uninviting. So one of our primary missions was to brainstorm ways to creatively outfit the tent with some individual touches that seamlessly carry the garden and nature theme indoors. We knew we had a lot of room to work with, as the tent was dual peeked with an impressive soaring ceiling.

My mom and I came up with a fun way to tie in the tent décor with the natural wooded surroundings. We headed into the woods and hand selected some old saplings that had fallen; the particular two we chose were quite tall – about 15-20 feet – with a thin trunk diameter, and balanced long branches. We dragged the trees out of the woods and up to the house by way of my mom’s roomy 1999 Volvo trunk, where we started our project. Here's the final result, and below it, the steps we took to get there.

1. We clipped off any remaining leaves on the branches using garden clippers (note to nature lovers, these trees were dead, so we were giving them new life!).
2. Picked up a dozen or so silk branches with blossoms, per tree, and a dozen or so sets of sill leaves, per tree, at Michaels’ craft store.
3. Using wreath wire (that skinny green wire that comes in spools) we attached the leaves and the flowers to the bare saplings by winding the wire around the stems. We left the branches a little sparse, as these were intended to be young trees just blossoming.
4. We attached the trees with bailing twine at the base of the thin trunk to the large poles that were securing the tent; we tried zip ties first, but the poles were too wide, but the twine worked just fine.
5. We then added some decorative tulle to the base of the trees where the twine held the tree in place; the tulle hung down, soft like a bridal veil, and covered up the base of the tree and the securing twine
6. Large canister lights for illuminating the tent were wired about half-way up the pole; we ensured the trees were not interfering with the light (it get’s pretty hot) but also positioned the branches above the lights to illuminate the trees from below.

The trees were a total hit with the guests, and pretty simple to assemble. I still have them, and really don't plan to use them again, so shoot me a note if you are interested in them for your big day!

Our Wedding Projects: All the Little Details

Finally now that our wedding is over, I have the time to share some of the fun little details of our big day. If you know me, you know that I can't take any type of planning nonchalantly; I am always pushing the limits, seeking inspiration from my surroundings and digging for something a little more creative and innovative, that may not have been done. Yes, admittedly sometimes I bite off a little more than I should, but usually it’s worth it. So, naturally my approach didn’t change when it came to planning my wedding.

I am going to put together a few posts highlighting some of the fun things that I did to add some personalization to our big day; but, first I’ll explain a bit about our broader approach, the venue, and our theme, so you can see why we chose to do what we did.

We elected to get married on my parent’s property in Central Massachusetts for a few reasons, mainly because it’s symbolic of many things that are important to us both: family, hard work, passion, nature, modesty, and love. It’s a farm that was passed on from my grandparents to my parents, and has since been transformed from a heavily wooded and rustic area into a gardener’s and nature lover’s paradise, all with my parent’s dedicated and adept own hands.

Our decision to apply a garden and nature theme to our wedding festivities was a natural and harmonious fit with the surroundings. I chose a few do-it-yourself projects that would carry this theme throughout various elements of the day, though careful to keep a natural flow – much like the environment – and not force the theme.

The next few posts to come will detail the DIY projects that we tackled with some step-by-step instructions on how you can do the same. Feel free to comment or email me with any specific questions or thoughts.

Enjoy!

Running of the Brides

 

After seeing this photo, and the below video, I think I would run away from the Running of the Brides, the bi-annual battle of the wedding dresses from Filene's Basement, that's been going on since 1947, and was held at the Hynes Convention Center today. I am all for a bargain, but wedding planning is stressful enough; and picking out your dress should be an intimate, careful decision (I found mine with my Mom, and we cried, we knew it was "it"). But regardless, it must be pretty amazing the find "the deal" and weather this storm! More crazy coverage, in this video:

Honeymoon Booked

OK, so cut me a little slack. I know I have not been posting regularly, but I have a pretty solid reason: I am in full wedding planning mode, and if you have planned a wedding, you understand how much work it is and how planning can pretty much dominate all your free time. I have had little time for extracurricular activities, but I am fine with that, as it's a pretty monumental time in my life so it has to be (almost) perfect :)

However, I do have some exciting news, that warrants a blog post and a break away from all the spreadsheets, phone calls, and number crunching madness. Our honeymoon is booked! Thanks for all the advice and tips, we finally locked in on Greece for 13 nights. Here's our itinerary:

3 nights at the Electra Palace Hotel | Athens:



4 nights at the Mykonos Grand | Mykonos:

2 nights at Villa Marandi | Naxos:

4 nights at Ikies | Santorini:

I worked with an amazing agent, Shirley, from Meander Adventures; if planning a trip to Greece, I'd highly recommend working with them. Now if only I could speed-up the clock :)

Kui Buri Resort, Thailand

I have been starting to playfully and casually search for honeymoon destinations. I really want to go somewhere that I haven't been to before, somewhere unique, and far away. So I was perusing the October issue of Travel + Leisure mag the other day, and keyed in on the cover story: 25 emerging destinations where the dollar goes far (always a plus!). I came across a resort called Kui Buri (pronounced goo-wee... boo-ree). Located 3 hours south of Bangkok, Thailand, this resort hasn't turned a year old and it is simply stunning and pretty affordable! The area surrounding is rather underdeveloped, with only small neighboring fishing villages, and the resort, comprised of 23-semi private villas with terraces, gardens and pools, sits on a "virgin beachfront". Paradise! Though what most do there is simply relax, there are plenty of other activities for the more active or adventurous, like: mountain biking, scuba diving (yay!), yoga (yay again!), golf, and fishing. And the 4K (pronounced "fork") restaurant and bar serves up international fare featuring local ingredients and great wine.

As far as pricing goes, believe it or not, it is affordable. This bungalow here is listed at $115 (though that is a "low season" rate I think, but still)!

Though if we hauled all the way across the globe, we just may have to chose this:

So, we may not be going to Kui Buri for our honeymoon, as it's on the cusp of monsoon season (though the more I research, I am realizing it doesn't rain as much as you may think), but man I want to get there some day before everyone discovers this secret.