{wedding} pictures from dao...

i met my friend, dao, in graphic design class in the fall of 2009. we have so much in common, we immediately hit it off. i was fortunate enough to have dao at my wedding, and she took some beautiful photos for us. 

the wedding was held on monday, august 1, 2011 at fort stevens state park. we rented a picnic shelter, and had both the ceremony and reception in one space. it was convenient, but it also made for a beautiful day.

inside the picnic shelter, we set up a combination guest book-gift table. 

i made the guest book myself. 

each page is lined with tiny envelopes. guests took a tag, wrote us a message, and tucked it inside one of the envelopes on each page. it was a lot of fun reading everyone's messages when we got home.

i had purchased an old luggage "train case" over a year ago, and use it as craft storage in my home. i had seen these used as card receptacles for weddings, and thought it was a great idea. i set up a little display on our "welcome table", so guests could deposit their cards in one place. 

my husband's father had the honor of walking me down the aisle. we used an instrumental version of coldplay's song "clocks" (performed by the vitamin string quartet).

the ceremony was short, but sweet. our officiant was my husband's step-aunt, kim (his step-mother's sister). she said a few words before our vows, then went right into getting us "hitched".

i started to tear up as kris said his vows to me.

and then it was my turn. i was pretty nervous, and kept messing up. 

before anyone knew it, we were married! ah...

i chose to be different, and selected an amethyst ring. 

my bouquet was made from sunflowers, white daisies, purple irises, and pretty filler flowers. all were purchased from Costco, and i assembled the bouquet myself. i wrapped some leftover burlap and lace around them stems so i had something pretty to hold onto. 

my friend, karri, did all the decorating for me. she did an excellent job, and everything looked lovely. i called my theme "vintage-rustic". basically, we had a lot of lace, doilies, burlap, wood slices, and vintage linens incorporated into the decor. 

i fell in love with the picnic table idea after coming across a blog post early in my wedding planning. i opted for something a little more rustic, however. with the exception of a couple pairs of salt and pepper shakers, everything used in decorating the tables came second-hand or from thrift stores.

this was our "sweetheart table". 

my mother-in-law makes candles as a hobby. she made us over 50 "georgia peach" scented votive candles for the wedding. they smelled pretty and some of our guests took them home as favors.

for dinner, we had a barbecue: burgers, chicken, and hot dogs with lots of freshly made side salads and snacks. 

the chicken was delicious!

instead of having a traditional wedding cake, i opted for smaller desserts. we had carrot cake cupcakes, peanut butter cookies, brownies, and lemon squares. everything had been baked either the night before the wedding, or the morning of.  

i didn't end up with an entire table for the desserts, but they still looked pretty on display.

one of my favorite things was using mason jars as glasses. we had lemonade, sweet tea, and a good selection of beer. i took my beer and added lemonade. *yum!

it was definitely a lot of fun, and something i will always remember fondly. 

we all worked really hard to get everything done, as it was a very DIY-heavy wedding. (i even made my own dress!) i have good friends who were more than willing to pitch in and help, for which i'm tremendously grateful. 

*thank you SO MUCH, dao, for the beautiful pictures!*