Our Etsy Wedding

As you know, my husband and I were recently married back in August of 2011.  We planned the entire event from Seoul, only arriving in Texas two weeks before the big day.  How does one plan a wedding in Texas from South Korea?  Etsy, that's how.  I've been using and buying from Etsy for years and I love the handmade and vintage goods there.  Naturally, when I needed to plan my wedding on the cheap, that's where I looked first.  Etsy made planning my wedding a breeze and I loved that everything I bought was one of a kind and handmade.  I got everything from my dress to the decorations from Etsy sellers and I want to take a moment to give a shout out to those sellers whose wonderful products made my special day, well, wonderful.

Photo:Martinez-Sandoval

The dress:  I fell in LOVE with this dress from designer Monique Martinez-Sandoval the moment I saw it.  Unfortunately, her gorgeous wedding dresses were a bit out of my price range (the dresses are worth every penny, though).  I knew it was meant to be when one day, while drooling over the photo yet again, I noticed she had the sample dress used in the picture on sale for next to nothing.  I bought it right away, and had it shipped to Seoul.  It fit like a glove and needed no alterations.

Photo: Gioielli

The rings:  That's right.  We even bought our wedding rings on Etsy.  The rings were made by Italian jeweler Isa Gioielli out of bronze using a lost-wax casting method.  The method she used gave the rings unique waves and bumps.  She also engraved "Om Mani Padme Hum", the mantra that was also on our engagement rings, on the inside of the rings.

Photo: The Pin-Up Shop

Decorations: Etsy has an overwhelming selection of adorable wedding decorations.  I could have gone nuts and blown our entire budget on table decorations alone.  Since our summer wedding was half-outdoors in the beautiful, peacock filled gardens of Mayfield Park , we decided to let the flowers, trees, ponds and birds be the main decorations (why pay for it when nature already did it for you?).  We bought these adorable tissue paper flowers in teal and off-white and strung them throughout the gardens.

Photo: Davis Ayer

 Flowers: I think it's nutso that some people spend thousands of dollars for flowers in their wedding.  We made our own centerpieces using mix-matched vases, herbs and citrus fruits.  We used sliced lemons and limes to fill the bowl of the vases, cilantro as greenery and bulk ordered the cheapest, local wildflowers from Ben White Florist .  My bridesmaids carried small sprigs of fresh flowers and I carried one fresh cut hydrangea stem.  Total cost for ALL the flowers and centerpieces $100.  boom.

Gifts: Mikey and I also bought our bridesmaids and groomsmen gifts on Etsy.  He found these great personalized mustache mugs for his guys (and even a "Mrs. Harris" one for me).  They went great with the striped paper straws from Etsy seller Cupcake Social .

Photo: Davis Ayer

Photo: Jolie and Me

My ladies got these adorable eco friendly jute clutches from Jolie and Me .  My only regret with these was that I didn't buy one for myself!

DIY: We also had a lot of handmade items and help from our family and friends.  My sister made a gorgeous pennant banner from leftover scraps of material. 

Photo: Davis Ayer

Photo: Davis Ayer

And perhaps my favorite part of the wedding (aside from my husband) was the incredibly adorable and super intricate cake topper made by my best friend and maid of honor, Marianna .  She hand knit a little Mikey and Claire along with 2 of our kids, PIckle and Bella.  Amazing!

The After-Party: Since Mayfield Park has resident peacocks roaming the grounds, we decided to throw game bird seed for our exit as a way to say "thanks" for them allowing us to use their home for our wedding.  Since we  had cupcakes instead of a wedding cake, we filled colorful cupcake liners with the seeds so each person had their own little cup of seeds to pelt us with.  

Photo: Davis Ayer

We also snagged mustache and eyeglass photo props from Etsy seller Party Goodies .  These made the photo booth photos from the reception so fun.

Photo: Davis Ayer

Guest Gifts: For our guest gifts, we found these adorable kraft paper seed envelopes stamped with little kissing birds.  We filled them with cilantro seeds and attached a thank you note, growing instructions and our favorite guacamole recipe for our guests to make once their cilantro grows.  The cilantro seeds kept in step with the taco bar from Torchy's Tacos we had at the reception and the cilantro used as greenery in the flowers. 

Tips for Planning Your Wedding:

• Keep It Simple: Planning a wedding yourself, especially from afar can be intense.  Everyone wants the day to be perfect, but accept the flaws, bumps and changes, that will no doubt occur, as a memorable part of the process.  Don't get stressed!  Remember, it is a big day, but it's not the ONLY day.  Your wedding should be treated as one of many special days you and your hubby/wifey will share.
• Chill Out With The Wedding Porn:  It's great to look at wedding websites (I like Offbeat Bride ) to get ideas for your wedding, but be careful about looking at them too much.  It's easy to want EVERYTHING you see, and sometimes those sites make your own plans pale in comparison.   Those websites highlight incredible weddings with a wide range of budgets and time.  Remember to stick to what you like and to your budget.  
• Buy Only What You Need:  It's easy to want too much for your wedding and getting it all can throw your budget out the window in a hurry.  Think about your purchases and ask yourself if you REALLY need or want them.  I used the 1:1:1 rule.  How will I feel about this purchase in one week/ one month/ one year? If you won't remember it next week, spend a minimal amount or don't even bother.  If you'll remember it in a month, spend a moderate amount on it.  If you'll remember it in a year, splurge.   For example: The bridesmaid's dresses were not something I would think about a week later, so I ordered $11 summer dresses from Forever 21.  The decorations were important, and something I would care about for a month or so, so I spent a moderate amount on them.  The photos were VERY important for me an something I will look at for years to come, so I splurged. 
• Go Local: Buying local is always a good idea.  It cuts down on your wedding's carbon footprint and supports your local economy.  It can also mean big saving for you, too.  We bought our flowers from local florist, Ben White Florist.  They helped me by ordering flowers directly from their supplier in bulk, which saved me a ton.  Our cupcake cake was made by a local baker, who  delivered it and set it up personally the day of the wedding. Our taco bar was from a local restaurant and we served local beers and vodka.  Local vendors tend to take more pride in their product and will go the extra mile to ensure that your order is perfect.   
• DIY and Use Your Friends!  I would have loved to make more for our wedding, but alas, shipping everything from Korea to Austin would have been way too expensive.  Fortunately, we have some very crafty friends and family who made lots of decorations for us.  Our friend, Davis Ayer did all the photography for the wedding and my grandmother's cousin's mariachi band serenaded us at the reception.  And I can't forget all my wonderful friends who woke up early on the big day and spent all morning helping us decorate and set up.  I loved having all my friends involved in my wedding.  It made everything so special and seem more real.

Our wedding was perfect, and cost around $5,000, including venue rental, food and drinks for 150 people, my dress and a hand-tailored suit for Mikey.  The party was a blast and most importantly, almost everything in the ceremony and reception was handmade, done by friends or local.  I have so much more I could talk about concerning weddings, but have already said so much so I'll leave a tab at the top of the page and hopefully we can continue the conversation. 

Do you have tips or advice for planning a cheap wedding?  For planning a wedding from far away?  What is your favorite DIY wedding project?  Leave a comment and share your wedding ideas and photos!

I'll leave you with a few more photos from our wedding and you can see them all here :)