DIY Woodsy Michigan Wedding
This Michigan wedding is absolutely stuffed to the gills with handmade rustic decor, sure to inspire any bride out there! Seriously, how amazing is their floral chandeliers at reception? We love that it looks like it appeared out of nowhere in the middle of the woods! Shot by Lauren Gabrielle, this DIY wedding was truly a labor of love.
From the bride, Karrie: When Joe and I were first engaged we had already mulled over what we wanted our day to look and feel like. As we were excitedly discussing our June nuptial plans with family and friends the one word we found leaping out of our mouths constantly was “cozy”! With “cozy” being the theme in mind, the only place we could picture exchanging vows at was my Aunt and Uncle’s home in the quaint town of Owosso, Michigan where I grew up.
When I started to dream up what the ceremony and reception would look like, I knew I wanted a lot of handmade details and vintage aspects and I knew I would need some help if I were to pull it all off! We have an incredibly talented set of family and friends that really made the process of planning fun and stress-free. We collected vases from local thrift shops for months, and made our table cloths and runners out of inexpensive painters tarps and burlap from a hardware store. We ordered our flowers from a wholesaler and my aunt and friends took on all of our floral design.
Our dear friend and wedding planner Sarah Starr created all of the decor for our reception site from estate sales, thrift shops, and family heirlooms. We had countless family members making our assembling, and hand burning our whimsical paper poofs made from coffee filters for months! My mother made the ring bearer pillow, the flower girl basket amongst many other things and I did my bridal parties make-up and up-dos. I loved that everything from the ceremony location, to the place cards, had a memory and significance attached to it. The end result was a whimsical, warm and dreamy celebration that everyone took personal pride in, and much to my husband’s and my delight the ambiance was undeniably communal and cozy.
View all images from this wedding in the gallery
Wedding Vendors (Owosso, MI):
Reception Venue: Wrought Iron Grill / Wedding Photographer: Lauren Gabrielle / Event Coordinator: Sarah Starr / Wedding Dress: White by Vera Wang / Wedding Shoes: Badgley Mischka / Bridesmaids’ Dresses: David’s Bridal / Bride’s Jewelry: Local thrift shops
Aww… so gorgoeus! I love the ceremony site!
so cute! The pictures are amazing.
loving all the details!
This wedding is soooo beautiful. I have ‘pinned’ so many of the pics. Xx
I love the bride’s glam look in contrast with the cozy, rustic setting of the wedding.
It was a very beautiful setting to exchange their vows!
Gorgeous wedding and love the event styling. Her big lashes and red lips are total glam!
gorgeoussss details! can you please tell me about your cardholder names? i want the same!!!!!! so awesome! such a nice cozy warm feeling. Congrats!
Oh… where is the beautiful flower headpiece from? It’s gorgeous.
I can really feel the love here. Love the shot where they were still kissing and there were no more guests. Love it!
So lovely! It is so evident that a lot of care and thought went into planning this event. The details like the doors and the rustic location were spot on! Congrats to the couple!
This post reminds me of my wedding flowers. I also DIY’ed my wedding, best choice! I saved so much money. I ordered flowers from Bloomsbythebox.com last summer for my wedding and it was my favorite part of DIY. I had never worked with flowers and I felt like a florist! I used a lot of inspiration on your page, I was just surprised how well I could put the arrangements together on my own. I guess I am proof that anyone can really do it :)! Thank you for sending me back to my wedding memories with this post!
WOW!! So special window escort cards!! Love the rustic style!!The bridesmaid dresses are beautiful!!(Lovely bride in the first photo!!)
Thank you for the gracious comments…you all are so darling:) Guiltypleasure* The headpiece was a garage sale find, I was looking for months for something that was unique that didnt cost $700 or more lol and out of no where we found it. Thrifting wins;)Shirin* The name cards were made by my aunt and a family friend, and are simple to duplicate if your willing to make a day or two out of it;) We just took cards folded then and burned the edges…out side to be safe;)If you know of someone who has great handwriting then hiring a calligraphy professional is not necessary. We took extra burlap that we had lying around from the reception site and cut small circles and bought a box of buttons which we sorted and spray painted according to our wedding color scheme and glued them in the middle. It seem tedious but the small things make a big impact. Good luck on your crafting! Jesse, without a doubt if your arrangments are simple… go whole sale;) It is amazing what florist charge for something that a little youtube research can get you for flower and supply cost alone. If your looking to trim the fat in your wedding budget visit wholeblossome.com,they hooked us up and offer promo codes sometimes. Kelly, thank you. They are all Davids which I was vehemently against initially, but if you have a look in mind and search for it with tunnel vision, (oh and mix fabrics) the result can be just as lovely as that from Thread and Anthropology and fro half the price. Thank you for the kindness, you all make me smile;)
I need that headband!!! where can I get it?!
The wedding theme is so nature friendly. This gives me an idea about DIY wedding. the pictures are so cute especially the head dress.
I thinks its so much fun when family and friends help plan a wedding! I love all the handmade details, they truly create that cozy atmosphere the bride and groom were looking for.