A Beautiful Woodland Wedding and A Handmade Wedding Card

We had the wonderful pleasure of attending our oldest and dearest friend's daughter's wedding last June.  They live in the greater Milwaukee area, but decided to have their wedding not too far from our home because they loved the woodland setting for their wedding ceremony.  It was a great advantage for us because we didn't even need to get a hotel.

The beautiful bride and her handsome husband were married at Burlap and Bells in Black River Falls, Wisconsin.  Burlap and Bells offers three outdoor wedding spaces:  Vine Chapel,  Cliff Top, and Tree Grove.  You can read and see pictures of each space on the Burlap and Bells website.  The wedding we attended was held at Tree Grove so this post will talk all about that wedding space.

Having a wedding in Tree Grove was so enchanting.  There is a long, grassy, tree lined path from the road to the actual ceremony.

Tiki torches line the path to ward off mosquitoes and perhaps light the way for wedding held at night.

Tall pines filter the sun.   Benches fill in amongst the tall pines.  A rustic arch is in the center front.

They did have a sound system, so everyone was heard.  I know in a lot of outdoor weddings, there is no sound system and it can be difficult to hear what people are saying.  The bride's aunt played the music for the wedding.

The bride looked like a princess in her beautiful gown.  I really loved the bridesmaids dresses too.  The color and style was so elegant and flattering on all of them.

This handsome young man is the bride's brother.

And this beautiful and elegant lady, is one our dearest friends, the bride's mom.

We are also related to these two cuties.  We call them "cousins" though, technically I'm not sure if that's what they are.  Perhaps someone who knows more about ancestry can tell me.  They are my husband's grandmother's sister's great great grandchildren.  It hurts my brain just trying to figure it out.

We had a lot of fun taking a short wagon ride from the parking lot to the wedding ceremony area.  I wore a gorgeous maxi dress from Stitch Fix.  It was such a hot, humid day, so the dress was perfect!

This is my husband and the bride's father.  They met in high school and have been best friend's ever since. It's so wonderful to reach this age and see our children all grown up, getting married, and having babies of their own.

And here I am with the beautiful mother-of-the-bride.  I didn't meet her in high school, but I met her when my husband and I got engaged and we've been friends ever since.

The reception was held at a covered pavilion.  It is lit entirely by bistro lights and is filled with a mixture of rustic tables and mismatched chairs.

I loved the bride and grooms over sized chairs.  The table was graced with long, green garland and there was a green hoop behind the chairs.  A "Mr & Mrs" sign sat on the the floor in front of the couple with a white floral arrangement in front of it.

White candles placed on log rings completed the wedding table look.

The pavilion is open to the outside.  Each opening has long white curtains and sliding barn doors on each end.

The rustic tables and chairs were decorated with a long, white lace runner and topped with greenery, baby's breath, candles, a log ring and a cute sentimental wooden sign.

The dessert table held a welcome sign and two log tiered trays filled with a cupcake assortment.

Beautiful white flowers graced the base of the cupcake tiers.

There was a small cake just for the Bride and Groom to enjoy.  It had simple white frosting with fresh flowers placed on it.

A oval sign placed near the dessert table.

A very touching and sentimental Remembrance Table was placed in the corner of the reception area.   It held photographs of all the loved ones of the Bride and Groom who had passed on and could not be there to celebrate the day.

I thought the sign placed on the table was so sweet.

This gold hoop was placed in front of the DJ area.

Here is the outside of the covered pavilion.  The dance area looks out over an open field and is lit by bistro lights.

The Bride & Groom having their first dance.

And here I am, giddy with excitement because I'm about to enjoy my SECOND cupcake.  My husband doesn't really care for cupcakes, so I got his too!

I did make them a handmade card but it ended up being a disaster because it was so thick it wouldn't fit in their card box.  I've never had this happen at a wedding before, and it was so embarrassing!  They chose a card box that only had a sliver sized opening, so when I tried to put the card in, it just got completely crushed, and it still wouldn't go in.  I finally just had to hand to the father of the bride and he put it in his coat pocket.  

I thought because it wasn't going through the mail, I could go all out on the embellishments, but I guess I was wrong.  Anyhow, here's the card.  I'm sure you can tell by looking at it why it wouldn't fit in their card  box.  I hope it wasn't too badly damaged by the time the Bride and Groom received it.

To make the card, I used ornate wedding paper for both the background and the heart.  I cut the heart out with Spellbinder's Nestabilities, then popped it up on dimensionals.  Lots of paper and ribbon flowers were added, plus a crochet butterfly and some pearl ribbon....all stuff from my stash.  I just kept playing with the arrangement till I got the look I wanted.

The sentiment was stamped and gold embossed then cut out with a MFT die.  There is also a border of metallic gold paper before it's adhered to a card base.  It's one of those cards that is much prettier in real life and very hard to photograph.  All the white tends to wash it out.

I hope you enjoyed looking at this beautiful wedding today!  

Have A Great Day!  Amy

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A Wedding Card And A Boho Wedding

Our very close, long time friend's son recently got married, and this is the card that I made for them.

I used all the wedding papers I already had in my stash from my own daughter's wedding eight years earlier.  The hearts were all cut with Spellbinder's Nestabilities Heart Dies.  I put adhesive pearls around the edge of the largest heart.  The smallest heart was cut using embossing paper.

I added a Prima Flower for embellishment and then put a large adhesive pearl in the center.

I cut a sentiment tag using a MFT die and stamped the sentiment on it with VersaMark, followed by gold embossing powder.

The background paper is a metallic gold print.  I added a gold foil designer paper behind everything to highlight the gold elsewhere in the card.

And here are some decor pictures from the wedding.  The wedding had a bohemian/rustic style as it was held outdoors on a hobby farm in the country.  Upon arrival to the wedding, all the guests had to enter under this trellis.  I "helped" my friend with this trellis, and I use the word "helped" loosely as she did all the work and I just stood back and was her pair of eyes to tell her what it looked like.  It really was a two person job though because when you were up on the ladder, you couldn't tell what you were doing.  The grapevine was so hard to bend and wrap around the posts.  Would you believe it took us hours to do this?  We both got so hot and sun burnt.  But, I think it turned out quite lovely in the end, and it was a great dramatic entry point to the wedding as the rest of the decor was much more simple.

The focal point of the trellis was a chalkboard design of the date and the bride and grooms initials.  The bride hand drew it herself.  Once the focal point was on, we wrapped the grapevine around the trellis, followed by the tulle.  It was so hard to get the tulle on because it kept catching and ripping on the grapevine.  Ugh!  Finally, we stapled some faux flowers to the sides of the trellis.

The galvanized containers were planted in pinks and whites to coordinate with the wedding colors.  A pretty wreath was hung on the gate.  A container of water bottles for the guests was placed at the entrance.

The guests walked through this country field on a mowed patch of lawn to get to the wedding ceremony location.

Cute little tulle bows and flowers were placed on barb wire fence posts.  Underneath each post was a scripture verse on chalkboard.

Another chalkboard sign greeted guests at the entrance to the wedding.

The ceremony was held under a large oak tree draped in white fabric with lanterns and lights dripping from the branches.  I must say, my favorite thing about this wedding was how this tree was decorated.  The fabric especially was so pretty.

Another great feature is how the sound speakers were hidden by these fern stands.  Two potted ferns were placed on white plant stands specifically designed for hiding speakers.

The chairs were simple folding chairs with white chiffon fabric draped over the top and tied on the side.  Flowers cut from the bride's mother's garden and placed in clear jars lined the aisle.

This is another arch I "helped" decorate.  The entire concept was the bride's idea.  She wanted a focal point to enter through.  The lace panels were closed right before her entrance and then held open so she could enter.  Tulle was draped across the top.  And I must say, it was a lot easier to drape the tulle without the grapevine to snag on.  haha!  The eucalyptus wreath was my friend's idea.  I said the trellis needed some type of focal point and we were looking at different options and trying to come up with ideas, then she went in her house and came out with this pretty wreath and we all loved it.  It complimented the simple Boho design theme perfectly.

On either side of the trellis my friend placed two urns.  She said those tall plants were willow shrubs. I thought that was such a great idea to plant a shrub in an urn.  My friend said in the fall, she will take the shrubs out and plant them in the ground.  I think I will try this next year in my own garden as I love the height and the dramatic look.

Alethea loved running through the lace panels and playing "Peek-a-Boo" with her mom after the wedding was over.

The reception was held inside a white tent.  The tent was decorated very simply with eucalyptus, white candles, and willow reeds.  At the top center of the tent a large floral wreath was hung.  The bride designed the wreath herself.

Willow reads and white lights were put behind the back of the bridal party table.  More willow reeds were draped over the front of the table.

On the guest table, eucalyptus ran along the center with tall battery operated tapers and little white votives as well.

One idea we thought was very clever and practical were these fans that were both the wedding programs, but also very practical for a hot, outdoor wedding.  Trust me, we really used these fans to keep cool, and I saw other wedding guests use them as well.  Great idea!  Only one word of caution:  Proper wedding etiquette is to always have the bride's name or initial first.  After the marriage it switches over to the grooms name or initial first.

 We did take some family photos that I already showed on a previous fashion post, but I will show them again here in case anyone missed that post.

This is my husband and I with our granddaughter and son.

And our granddaughter with her parents,  our daughter Ashley and her husband Jason.

Have a Great Day!  Amy

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