Rustic Wedding Inspiration ~ 4 Months to D Day!

Hello, and welcome to the Married Doula!

I am a MAJOR PROCRASTINATOR, I need help! My count down tickers informed me today, we have exactly FOUR MONTHS until our wedding day! What?!

So, I've basically done nothing. And by nothing, I mean add a million things to my pintrest board, but haven't ordered a single thing (though we did print out Save the Dates - they're in a drawer in my kitchen right now - we printed them a month ago!). I also haven't really blogged about it, so I figured I'd get this post down today.

My Wedding Inspiration

Location

We are a "redneck" couple - not so much in practice, we do have indoor plumbing and all of our teeth, but as a hobby. My fiance has built up his big, lifted, shortened short box 1975 Dodge since 2011, when it was handed down to him from his father, who was given it by his father (my fiance, H's, grandfather).

We're also an outdoor couple, long before we were dating we would hike up mountains or climb trees all day, so we feel particularly at home in nature (though I do admit, lately we've been sticking closer to home and not going out as much as we would both like). Because of that, the most logical wedding location for us would be the great outdoors - specifically up in the mountains behind our Okanagan town. 

My fiance has always said he wanted to get married at a certain camping/hunting spot up there, but it's on top of a large hill and there is just too much wind for me. He took me all around the area last year, and one place in particular had stood out to me, even then. The first thing I thought was "What a beautiful place to have a wedding!" so... 

We are having our wedding in a beautiful clearing, surrounded by trees. It's so remote, it doesn't even have a name, but it is gorgeous, and relatively easy to give directions for, which is important with a nearly 100 person guest list. Best of all, it's free, and we can hold the ceremony, reception, and even camp the night up there! 

Theme/Colours

With our beautiful forest wedding in mind, a theme was easy - country rustic, with as many ties to nature, wood and burlap as accents. 

At first, I wanted a statement colour, and thought a rustic red would make a big "pop"...

but I soon realized that adding those pops of red to the centerpieces and decor were going to be more trouble (and money) than the statement would be worth. 

We decided to go for a more "grown up" theme, simple and easy as many of the natural items up there would fall into this "earthy" colour scheme, to go with various shades of wood and beige colours...

It definitely makes for a more rustic and small-town feel, and many of the items are going to come in unfinished wood anyway, which is perfect!

Dress

First of all, can I mention we live in a smaller valley, so there is definitely no big-city shopping like Vancouver, Calgary or Toronto would offer. While I'd love the whole to-do of going to a dress shop and trying on dresses, crying when we find "the one", the limited selection for big-belly brides and family dynamics around here would make for a less than special day. I'm pregnant, hormonal, and just *know* I will resort to tears at some point in that kind of emotionally-charged day.

I'm also a thrifty mama, so I'm not into spending $1,000+ on a dress I'm going to be wearing for one day (and never again, considering it will have to be big enough to accommodate a 30 week belly, I'd drown in it when not pregnant!).

So, online shopping I went!

Let me also just say, I am hesitant to buy such an important feature of the day online, from unknown sellers. The horror stories and sudden panic of "it's not like the picture!" or "it doesn't fit!" or "it's so cheap, it's falling apart!" are definitely swirling around my head, here. Luckily, my lovely sister in law ordered her dress from a certain company several years ago and had no problems, so I'm comfortable ordering from them for my dress.

I've finally narrowed it down to three choices, which I will show you here:

                       

#3 I found on Pintrest months ago, and instantly fell in love. It's all I could think about, and I can really imagine a belly framed gorgeously under that lovely a-line "V" waistline. My one want, as much as possible while 7 months pregnant, is to show off the belly without looking "wide" in the waist or breasts, I want my belly to be the only "big" thing about me. #3 also got the most (overwhelmingly most!) votes on my mom groups.

Both #2 and #3 are corset back, which is of course a must when we're not exactly sure how big I'll be for the big day. We do have an amazing seamstress here that will be able to alter the top & length (I'm quite short) as needed, but we still want lots of wiggle room in the belly area. 

#1 Is a softer, frilly-er look I wasn't really going for, though my rustic theme lends itself well to lace and a babydoll style. I'm not much of a lace-and-doily person though, so I threw it in there but don't really consider it a "real contender". 

#2 is a surprise entry, I nearly turned it down the first time, but the longer I looked, the more I started to consider it. As I was making the collages, I realized I liked it much more than I did even #3! MY concern is the gold embellishments, I'm not too trendy and don't know how gold will go with my complexion, gold earrings but silver rings... I'm just altogether not sure at all!

Hair 

I also already have someone lined up for my hair, though I do need to finalize the number of bridesmaids and if they'll have updos or not (I think they will). I decided to go with an easy, beautiful mostly down style with flowers threaded through braids along both sides. My fiance is very adamant about my hair being down (and make up minimal, he likes me "au naturale", so I compromised by dressing up my hair while down:

Cake

My cake idea has always been simple, nothing outlandish or outrageous, just a simple white with 3ish tiers, and I'm thinking burlap ribbon and/or bows. I absolutely LOVE this initials "carved" into the cake idea!

Simple, elegant, most likely on a large slab of tree like in the photos. 

Decor

        Signs

                                         

I actually made (chose the wood, had it cut to size, sanded & stained myself, then put all the numbers & words on it myself) a beautiful wooden growth chart for my son for Christmas this year:

So I'm very excited to do these signs as a special DIY and keepsake for the wedding <3 The second sign (on the right) will be reversible, the ceremony side will have a poetic way to say "Please, no photography during the ceremony, we have professional photographers that need to get the perfect shots, and prints will always be available after for your keepsakes!" and the reception sign will have the "no seating plan" poem, so our family is free to mingle and not be stuck in assigned seating for the party).

        Centerpeices

 I'm not wanting to spend a lot on flowers for the centerpieces (we gave roughly 100 guests, though many are kids, so we'll need about 14 guest tables, then the head table, food tables, etc), so I've decided to follow these rustic inspirations. I LOVE the rings of tree on each table, and it will be so easy to get up there in the bush (we go often, so we'll slice up a whole tree and bring them back to sand/possibly carve a few weeks before the wedding). We also have matching mason jars from our son's first birthday:

So we will use them (without lids) with the raffia tied around and a floating candle. We may or may not add a little vase of baby's breath to each table (the rule of 3!), if I can find some matching vases.

Personal Touches

This has been, by far, my favourite part of the planning. I absolutely detest planning all the big, important details (time, location, day, guest list), but love thinking about the perfect that little details that express us as a couple!

Our wedding will be mid-afternoon (probably), so the reception will be still up in the woods, in the evening/night. Of course we'll need lots of lighting, which is where this beautiful idea came in!! Camping lanterns under white table cloths give off a lovely glow, and I can bet most of our guests have never seen lighting like that before!

These little gems have a special place in my heart, the bell especially. My late grandmother (who, along with my grandfather died when I was just 5 years old) collected bells in all shapes and sizes throughout her life, and her collection as been a particular comfort to my mom and I while healing from her/their passing. I thought this "Ring for a Bell" (to initiate the bride and groom to kiss for a photo) was the perfect way to incorporate that love into our wedding day. The sparklers as a way to avoid throwing rice or other messy items to celebrate our first dance, and will make for amazing photos!

Of course our amazing little boy, who will then be 22 months, will be our ring bearer. While I trust him to walk (maybe run) to us faithfully on the day, I don't particularly trust him to balance a pretty pillow or other object holding our precious rings. I thought this box, another personalized DIY project that I can use for years afterwards, would be the perfect thing for him to hold on the big day. I'll make it in advance and have him practice lots before crunch time, to be sure.

This idea is absolutely perfect for our forest wedding! As we take the wedding photos after the ceremony, and everyone is mulling around nibbling on snacks, I think this is the perfect thing for our guests to do. Walk down a trail lined with photos of our beautiful story, which honestly is making me tear up just thinking about it, our story is so perfect and unique! Another DIY project I can hang in the house after the big day. 

So, I am basically a mess - all the little details are very thought out, the big stuff not so much - thankfully I have amazing family to help me!

I am very excited for our beautiful, personalized, perfect (for us) forest wedding. I couldn't ask for anything more!

~ The (almost) Married Doula

{Began writing February 13th, 2015, finished & published February 16th!}