DIY Southern Charm Wedding
They say that home is where the heart is so when Brandi + Chris decided to get married they knew there was no better place to say their vows than North Carolina, despite living hundreds of miles north in The Big Apple. They found the perfect homey venue, with a little help from family down south, and turned their wedding into an opportunity to reunite with family and friends. Their backyard wedding is chock full of sweet details (how fun are those escort cards?!) and lot of design adorableness.
From the bride, Brandi. I was not the girl who had envisioned her wedding since childhood. In fact, I knew very little about weddings and had only been to a few in my life. But once we got engaged we knew we wanted our wedding to be laid-back, unique, and fun. Chris and I are both from North Carolina and consider it our home. Having our wedding there was a no-brainer, despite our living in NYC. I did some research online for outdoor locations and found the most perfect venue in Haywood Hall Museum House.
As an avid crafter and lover of vintage, I wanted much of our wedding to be handmade or vintage, when possible. I have a stockpile of new and vintage textiles that ended up coming in handy for our decor. I never really liked the idea of having weddings center around two colors, mostly because I knew I could never decide on just two! Instead of focusing our efforts on having everything match, we decided to just go with whatever looked good and inspired us. We ended up with a lot of blue, yellow, and grey, but never discriminated in terms of color.
In the beginning I came up with several DIY projects. I knew it was important not to overwhelm myself so I left some things, like the invitation suite and my bouquet, to the professionals. With the help of friends and family we made all of the ceremony and reception decorations, napkins (from vintage materials), table numbers, centerpieces, escort cards, and programs. It was truly a labor of love.
Any advice for brides planning their weddings now? If planning a wedding is like a 2nd job, planning a DIY wedding is like a 3rd job! Make sure you give yourself enough time to get all of those projects completed. I was very optimistic about how long it would take to complete certain projects. It came together in the end, but I wish that I would have created a more reasonable time line in the beginning.
Wedding Vendors (Raleigh, NC):
Ceremony and reception location: Haywood Hall Museum House / Florist: North Raleigh Florist, Becky Fendley / Photographer: Crystal Genes Photography / Wedding Dress: Priscilla of Boston “Vineyard Trish” / Shoes: J. Crew / Earrings: J. Crew / Hair: Amanda Farris / Makeup: Madeline Fendley / Groom’s suit: Suit by Theory, shirt by H&M, tie by Tommy Hilfiger / Groom’s tie clip: Accurate Engraving and Gifts / DJ: Jason Huggins at Island Sound DJs & Video / Caterer: Durham Catering / Cupcakes: The Cupcake Shoppe / Wedding invitations: Lark Press
ah-DORE this short dress with blue shoes! this couple is so cute, it’s ridic.
Ok…ok…where did she get those shoes??? They are my dream shoes…LOVE!
beautiful! i love the twinkling lights in the trees at the alter!
OMG! Those shoes are to die for, somebody phone the undertaker.
Love them with the dress, the bride, in the dress….the groom and the shirt with yellow tie, and especially love that the decorations were all handmade.
Labor of love, how can that be called labor? It must have been so much fun.
Love those blue shoes and those hanging table tags!
So lovely, the wildflower arrangements are amazing! Love the intimate, natural and vintage feel.
I love her dress and I love the picture with the bride coming down the aisle because it’s all of the colors on my website and for my business! HA! Excellent taste, miss!
This wedding is SO BEAUTIFUL. Is anyone else having any problems clicking on the thumbnails? I keep getting Page Not Found messages š
This is a gorgeous wedding! I completely love the blue shoes, and I’m dying over the table numbers and tabs š
thanks for the sweet comments, y’all! i still have the shoes + the table numbers if anyone is interested. š
YAY!!! a wedding in Raleigh! that is where mine is going to be š and this one is lovely!
beautiful! love the shoes. can someone tell me where to find those tags that were used for the table seating? thx!
Oh, I’m so in love with that dress…and those shoes are absolutely perfect!
I love the shoes! They really pop in the pictures.
anna — the tags are from paper presentation in NYC : https://www.paperpresentation.com/
Hey Brandi – Totally interested in the table-numbers and shoes, if you’re looking to sell them š (I’m actually wearing the same dress!) Drop me a line – jess. leigh. [email protected] (take out the spaces). I’m in North Jersey…
hi Jess~
Brandi is selling her table numbers in our classifieds section!
https://ruffledblog.com/recycle-your-wedding/browse-listings/
forgot to mention i also have the napkins + the dress available! will be putting on the classifieds section too but if you’re interested you can email me at brandi.ledesma at gmail dot com.
Hi!
LOVE LOVE LOVE your wedding! Where did you get your hanging table tags? I want this style for our wish tree and I’m having trouble finding them. I’m going to hand stamp the back of each one. Love the idea of using them as place cards too!
hi cecelia! the tags are from paper presentation in NYC: https://www.paperpresentation.com/
good luck to you and your fiance with the wedding planning! š
Hi Brandi,
Not sure if this will reach you but if so, I wanted to tell you how much I loved the dress you wore and wondered if you could tell me a little bit more about it (brand, where you got it, etc.).
Thank you so much for sharing your beautiful pictures.
All happiness to you and hubby!
Deborah