Melissa and Phillip’s summer wedding was held in the bride’s parents’ back garden. It had a colourful, retro theme and they had two vintage trailers!
“We met online in 2012 and we immediately bonded over all of the things we have in common, especially our shared love of all things old”, Melissa said. “We really wanted to have a personalised wedding and to include all the things we love. We are both super into vintage and we sell at a local antique store. That’s one of the biggest things that bonded us together so of course we had to have it as our wedding theme! We also both love art and making things, which I think was reflected in the wedding since we handmade and designed so much of it.”
The budget was $7000 and they saved money by having the wedding at home, the bride making her dress and crafting all the décor themselves. “We did soooo many DIY projects!” she continued. “We’re both very into making things so we had a long list of wedding DIYs. I’m happy to say we managed to pull off most of them! The biggest project, for me, was making my wedding dress. I’ve been sewing since I was a teenager and absolutely love it, so I knew from the start that I wanted to make my own dress. I really wanted a unique vintage style that can be hard to find in ready-to-wear dresses. I found inspiration online and worked for months searching for a pattern to start with, grading and fitting, and then finally sewing it. I was lucky to have two patient sewing teachers who helped me immensely through the whole process. In total it only cost me $200 in materials. I also made Phillip’s vest, my getting ready robe, and my birdcage veil.”
“I made a lot of the decor as well such as flowers from of dyed coffee filters, and bunting garlands and table squares from vintage sheets. We searched flea markets and thrift stores for months to find all of the containers for the centrepieces and little ceramic figurines to put next to each one. Phillip and I made our cake topper too. He painted it and put it all together and I put the clothes on the little people. We made it in a ‘Small World’ inspired style since we got engaged on that ride at Disneyland in December 2013!”
“Our biggest costs were the photography and renting the trailers. I was so happy to be referred to our photographer by a mutual friend. She’s amazing and she really understood the style we wanted. She was even nice enough to agree to meet us at Disneyland to shoot our engagement photos! I had seen an ad for the Tinker Tin in a local newspaper and I knew immediately that we needed a trailer for the wedding! Jamie was super nice and helpful and she even brought the extra trailer for the photo booth for free since she thought the guests might need extra space.”
The ceremony was held outside and all the important members of the family were there! “One really funny part of the wedding was when my parent’s dog, Tyler, followed us down the aisle. He just sort of quietly snuck out of the house as we were starting the procession. The cute part was that one he reached the spot where the ceremony was he just sat down quietly and almost seemed like we had planned the whole thing!”
“I know this gets said over and over, but my advice to other couples would be to not be afraid to do your own thing!” she concluded. “It’s your wedding and I think the best weddings are the ones where you can see the couple’s personalities shine through. We were lucky enough to have friends and family that were happy to go along with our vision, but I know that not everyone has that luxury. Remember it’s your wedding!”
