DIY Sand Ceremony

I loved my outdoor wedding. I am so glad the weather was so perfect that day and we were able to go through with all the outdoor plans! When we were deciding what to do for the unity ceremony, I realized I wasn't going to be able to do the traditional candles. We were standing in a potentially windy spot, and I just didn't want that awkward moment of "oh hey... our unity just blew out." I figured it was probably best to avoid that whole situation. We finally decided on a sand ceremony after much deliberation, but I knew there was no way I was going to spend as much as the unity sand sets were going for. So two days before the wedding (what can I say? I'm a big procrastinator!) off we went to Michaels. The sell sand there for a decent price with a coupon. It matched our colors, and I knew it would look great! We went back into the vases and found two slender vases and one wide one that worked perfectly! We added a little bling (my amazing mom had rhinestone stickers) and voila! Perfectly cheap (under 7 bucks!) unity ceremony!

I Can Make That! DIY Photo Booth

When planning my wedding, one of my most desired "extras" was a photo booth. I searched high and low for one I could afford with my minuscule budget. Every one I came across was in the $1000 range. I tried finding other areas to cut to make it more feasible, but it just wasn't happening. While at a bridal show, my Mom and I finally found the answer to my prayers. A super affordable photo booth! Talking with the man about all the exciting possibilities made me even more eager for the big day- That is, until he asked me that dream-crushing question: "Where is the wedding?" Turns out, my wedding, three hours away from their base, would cost me a huge traveling fee. Of course, putting them right in that bracket with the others of way over my budget.
All seemed lost as I finally sent my photo booth desire into the pile of things I could never afford. (Why is this pile so big in the wedding world?) For some reason, I couldn't stop thinking about it. I wanted so badly to make it happen. This opened up my eyes to another world of DIY photo booths. Many of the ones I saw online seemed to be expensive in their own right. People were buying fancy cameras and hooking up computers and printers. . . for me, this kind of blew the whole "save money" portion of the idea. I had to get creative. I found a damask curtain at my house from Target. It was cute, went with my theme, and FREE since I already had it. Doing an internet search for free photo booth props resulted in some super adorable mustaches and funny ideas. I talked to my photographer about it, and she told me she would be more than willing to stand there and take photos of all the guests. It ended up being a HIT! We put the pictures online for people to print out themselves. Many even took pictures with their own cameras. For basically free I was able to add a great element of fun to the wedding. I will leave you with some pictures from LGPhotography and some links to print out your own photobooth props! The blogs that made the props are super cute, and I definitely recommend checking them out. Such a fun, cheap way to add so much to your big day, or any party.


"Tip Junkie" Free Mustache Printable!
"Catch My Party" Free Printables!
"Oh Happy Day"- Free Printables!