Earlier this year I had the honor of helping my good
friend Carrie plan the décor for her June wedding in Santa Fe. I don’t know too many women who would turn down an offer to help their friend dream up wedding ideas, and I’m no
different! Despite not having experience designing weddings other than my own, I was more than excited to
give it a shot and hopefully help ease the planning stress for my busy friend.
Carrie’s wedding ended up including several decor pieces
from Etsy sellers (probably no surprise that I would look there first for
ideas!). This is the final mood board I created for Carrie with all her selections:
Establishing the Overall Feel
I approached this project similar to how I would do a mood board for a room:
- Established the overall feel
- Narrowed in on the specific pieces Carrie needed
- Created mood boards with multiple options to pick and choose from
Establishing the Overall Feel
Carrie already knew she wanted a ‘bohemian rustic’ feel to
the décor and had saved a number of inspiration images. She had also chosen a gorgeous bohemian lace
dress from BHLDN. The outdoor
Santa Fe setting was already going to be beautiful, so the décor could
be fairly simple. In addition to the
table décor, she wanted to hang a number of mason jar candles from the trees
and buildings around the reception area.
Above all, Carrie wanted the wedding to be FUN!
Talk about a gorgeous bride!
Talk about a gorgeous bride!
With a setting as lush as this, less is more when it comes to decor in my mind:
The Specifics
Carrie specifically wanted me to help with the paper elements of the wedding – the invitation, programs, table numbers,
guest book, etc. She also wanted to
spend wisely and was very open to finding unique (and relatively inexpensive)
items on Etsy.
Wedding Invitation
The invitation sets the entire tone for the wedding, and doesn't this custom illustration of the couple just scream fun? Not to mention it promises "big time fun time" at the bottom. ;) I was thrilled when Carrie chose this design from the different invitation options I had suggested. Carrie worked with Etsy seller Loo Bird Press to get the feel just right. I love the custom illustration trend in wedding invites (see Rifle Paper for some other great examples). So not only was this invite fun, it was super on trend. Good work, Carrie!
Guest Book, Programs, and Wedding Wishes
The great part about the invite choice was that Loo Bird Press also
did other custom wedding décor, so Carrie ended up having her make programs, a
guest book poster, and wedding wishes using their illustrations which really
tied it all together nicely.
For the wedding wishes, each guest to wrote a note to the couple that they would open the year of their anniversary that corresponded to the guests' table number.
Table Numbers
Carrie chose a mason jar with these simple rustic heart
table numbers from Morgann Hill Designs. Guests put their
completed wedding wishes in the jar, so it served dual purposes.
Confetti
Carrie had also asked for some confetti options to add a
little interest to the cocktail and serving tables. I particularly like these
vintage custom ones she chose from Etsy seller Sweet Pea Sunday and the vellum hearts are
from French Market Events.
The Mood Boards
I'll leave you with a couple of the mood boards I initially created for Carrie. This one incorporates some of the 'bohemian rustic' pieces I found with some of the elements Carrie already had (the dress, the centerpiece) and the Santa Fe setting:
I also created a board with a hodge podge of alternative options for each of the different paper elements (almost all from Etsy):
It is incredible how many unique things you can find on Etsy – there are endless options for every aspect of the wedding and every wedding budget. Better yet, Etsy just redesigned it's wedding section. If you're a bride, you must go check it out.
While I don’t see myself becoming a wedding planner, it was fun giving her options and seeing how she chose to make them her own. The wedding was beautiful and above all SO FUN!
