Wedding Planning Wednesday - DIY mason jar centerpieces

 This last weekend Mando and I met up with our wedding coordinator at the LA flower market to pick out flowers for our centerpieces. I knew I wanted baby's breath and peonies but I was still looking for a 3rd option. I kind of have a love affair with florals after working in a flower shop so I was happy to browse around all morning. Peonies sadly were not in season yet, but I found some gorgeous spider mums to play around with in the meantime! I also found the perfect 3rd type of flower which are those white pom pom flowers you see in the ivory centerpiece. I'm all about texture so my main goal was to try and get the perfect balance and I really lucked out finding those at the last minute! I'm super excited to do my own flowers for the wedding. It's been a long time since I've worked with flowers at all, but it isn't something you really forget! I spent the rest of the weekend experimenting with different boutineer styles and bouquet wraps which was really fun! The floral arrangements aren't the only DIY project I have going on either.... I'm also making my own centerpieces. I knew I wanted to incorporate my love of mason jars (which goes perfectly with the rustic theme) so I came up with 3 different designs for each table.

1. Burlap & lace mason jars: Burlap and lace has been a continuing theme throughout the wedding so I knew I had to use them for the centerpieces! This is just a quart size mason jar with a wide strip of burlap around it and hot glued in the back. I then wrapped it with a piece of wide ivory lace ribbon and hot glued that as well. Super easy once you have all the strips cut out! The good news is that the strips don't have to be perfectly straight or even because the frayed edges just add to the rustic charm!

Ivory painted centerpieces: I wanted one centerpiece that was different than the others so I chose to do these ivory painted cans to mix it up. This is beyond simple and super inexpensive to make! I just started collecting large cans after we used them at home and then peeled the labels off. You may have to scrub them afterwards to get any glue redisdue off as well. Then, once they were completely dry, I spray painted them in this ivory color. They aren't super fancy, but that's okay... the more rustic looking the better!

Twine wrapped mason jars: Last but not least are these pint sized mason jars! I bought some thick twine at a craft store and wrapped them around the middle adding a dab of hot glue here and there to hold it together. Again, easy and inexpensive to make!

I really love how all of these turned out. They are exactly the look I was going for and I think they'll look amazing on the tables! You can't beat pretty centerpieces on a budget! Now I just have to finish the rest of them, haha!

Next week I'll (hopefully) talk about our invitations and even share a sneek peak! Almost time to mail them out, can you believe it?! Ahh! XOXO

Wedding Planning Wednesday - The flowers

Most of the weddings that I've seen are all about the glitz and glam. The bride wants to be pampered and treated like a princess with her big, poofy dress, jewel encrusted centerpieces, and dance floor complete with a custom made monogram. I, on the other hand, would be happy getting married in a barn with 20 close friends and family members and a vintage dress. I definitely prefer the look of DIY weddings and I know that I can create a beautiful day doing the planning and creating myself with a small budget. I love the personal touches you get with a DIY wedding that you just don't get when you use an event planner!

One way I plan to save money is with the flowers. Flowers are one of my favorite things about weddings. And because I worked in a flower shop and assisted with bridal arrangements I plan to go to the LA flower market and do the bridesmaids bouquets and centerpieces for the wedding myself. Here are some of the flowers I'm thinking of using!

Baby's breath is known as a filler flower. It's what you typically see nestled in between your dozen of red roses. I happen to think that it is lovely, delicate, and understated which is exactly the look I'm going for. I'm thinking of using a big bunch of it for bridesmaids bouquets and as far as centerpieces go, I love how it looks displayed in mason jars and antique vases and tea tins. And the best part? Baby's breath is very budget friendly! 

For my bouquet I might go to a florist if I end up wanting something more complex. Right now I'm really liking unique flowers such as ranucnculus and anemones. I think the above arrangement is delicate and whimsical and having the twine wrapped around  would make it tie in really well with my theme.

That's all for now! Tonight and tomorrow we'll be looking at hopefully the last of the venues and if all goes well I'll be able to share which one we chose by next week! YAY! XOXO

**all image sources can be found on my Pinterest wedding board here.