On August 14th, 2011 all the work and DIY-ing paid off and we got hitched!!  I wanted the wedding to be very personal-

 

unfortunately, this also meant that I went bananas and did MUCH of it myself – from creating our programs to putting together everything by hand myself! But it was a beautiful day, and all the hard work paid off!

*photos are from the lovely Kara Kamienski Photography

We got married in Cedar Falls, Iowa where I went to college and is near my hometown.  The church I had worked for in grad school has a Saturday night service, so we ended up getting married at a theater – and honestly, it was beautiful!

The day was hot, August in Iowa is ridiculous…but our bridal party was wonderful and were total troopers! It was so fun to take pictures on Main Street while people were buzzing on the street, honking and waving and shouting lovely things in our direction! It was beautiful!

I did our programs myself – using some that I found online to know how to work the order, and the order I should be sure to have everything take place. I also wanted to add personal messages to our bridal party – they have meant so much to me and I wanted to recognize them individually.

Several friends have asked for the “template” I used, but I did it all in photoshop so unless you have that program it’s hard to recreate. So click here to download a pdf of our DIY Programs!

If you’re also interested in our invitations that I did with myself as well, click here to download jpgs of all my invitation suite.

We had a great reception as well. It was held in a reception spot high above the city, so the view was great – but really it was just amazing to get to spend time with my favorite people, all in the same place! Having moved quite a bit in the last few years, I’m always so thankful to get time with those I love – it just went by way too fast!

 

 

We had an amazingly delicious cake by Jennifer Parr Cakes in Vinton,

IA…and it was beautiful! We also had a candy buffet – (in which I did not buy enough candy – people ate SO much before we got there!).
(If you’d like my candy bag template, click here!)

We had a great dinner, and a wonderful time dancing and spending time with those we love.

We also had a DIY photo booth, which was by far one of my favorite things that we did! We know have great pictures of so many of our guests! Here are just a handful of my favs!

And click here to see our “Love Story” video done by the fabulous Brandon Lied that we played before we came into our reception::

We had an amazing day and we were so happy to have celebrated with so many beautiful friends and family, but we also were just so thankful to walk away husband and wife!! That’s where our journey of wedded bliss began…