A Thrifty Country Wedding

Recently, my daughter and I had the pleasure of being in the wedding party for my friends, Christin and Cole. I also helped with the decor and set up.

 The Wedding was quickly planned (no the bride isn't pregnant) and in a back yard, so the attire was casual/country.

I've been in a few weddings before, but this wedding was by far the most "thrifty."

Lets start with my daughter's (the flower girl) dress. I found it at Good Will ($2.92) And Christin removed the sleeves and added the green lace, purple ribbon and one of her hand made flowers.

Side by Side BEFORE and AFTER

 

 The "before" on the left is actually the back of the dress. The front had a horrible, 1980's collar and buttons. The collar was removed and the buttons became the back of the dress. 

Her boots are a Good Will find as well. I got them before the couple was engaged with the intention of them fitting her in the Fall and Winter. (They were in great shape and for $2.96 I was willing to put them away for two seasons.)

She ended up using them for the wedding because the only cowgirl boots I had for her are pink and (unlike my daughter and I) the bride isn't a fan of pink.

So the riding boots did the trick, even being a little too big.

The flower girl twig basket was something I had on hand.

We used Christin's hand made, burlap flower in her hair (saving big $$ on not using real flowers)

Now for the bridesmaid Dresses.

You'll never guess where I got mine. 

Ok, maybe you did.. Good Will.

For $5.95 I purchased my green and lace dress, that perfectly coordinated with my daughter. There were a few things that made this possible.

1. There are Good Will's every where by me. There are literally five that I frequent regularly because they are so close. In fact, one is walking distance from my work, so I can pop in and out.

2. I'm always hunting for furniture and other vintage finds for work, so I actually have to go in there ALL the time

3. The bride left a lot of option with dresses. She gave us the color choices (a range of muted tones, from purple to gray to yellow) and it just had to be "sun dress" style. 

If I were looking for one specific shade of one color, it would have been much harder to pull off  finding a $6 dress.

And yes, luck definitely played into this a little as well.

See that gorgeous bride's dress? It's vintage and cost her $150. After Alterations (which, if you're a bride it's worth having a professional make it fit like a glove) her total was cost was around $350.

Even my necklace was ridiculously cheap. The floral pendant was purchased from a junky thrift store, at least a year ago, for $1.

I don't have a close-up where you can see it any better than in this pic, sorry.

The rest of the decor was very simple. We used as many resources that were already there as possible.

Burlap-covered hay bails became seating for the ceremony.

There weren't officical centerpieces. This table had one of Christin's hand made burlap runners over a yellow and white damask table cloth. My brother made the candle holders months ago from reclaimed wood and the picture frames I painted.

There were lots of up-cycled glasses, embellished with burlap and lace with tea lights inside. For this table I layered burlap with a vintage lace curtain.

I hand painted signs from old pallet wood and used only vintage accessories that I had on hand.


Overall it was a very successful day, with perfect weather. Nothing like watching two great people start their lives together as a married couple.

~Kim

To purchase burlap Runners, fabric flowers and more visit www.struttinyourbuttons.etsy.com
Christin welcomes custom orders as well!