A DIY Rustic Vintage Wedding at Home

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The saying “Home is where the heart is” certainly rang true for lovely newlyweds, Kara and Aaron from Portland, Oregon.

Sharing their unique rustic and vintage-inspired wedding celebration that was planned and held at their home, this couple chose to combine their love, family and friends in all that they did.

Captured by the groom’s sister, talented photographer, Jeanine Thurston from Fototails Photography, go ahead and gather inspiration of how to host your own DIY wedding celebration right at home!

The DIY Rustic Vintage Wedding Stationary & Favors

DIY Wedding Invitations: Their first DIY project was their invitations.  Kara created their invitations using her home computer and printer. For their invitations, she had an ink stamp made on Etsy of herself and Aaron, which they used on the back of all of the invitations in addition to on their wedding favor bags. For their RSVP cards, they purchased about a hundred vintage Oregon postcards over the months leading up to mailing out their invitations. The couple also had customized stamps made at Zazzle, which matched their favorite of all the postcards.

DIY Wedding Favors: For the favors, they gave each of their guests a CD from a band in addition to rosemary sea salt, which their made.

 

Kara loved all of the wedding inspiration that can be found online! She relied on several wedding blogs in addition to Pinterest and Etsy.

The DIY Rustic Vintage Venue

With a DIY rustic vintage wedding theme, having their wedding at their home just made sense. Although they considered several other venues, the couple chose to have their wedding ceremony and reception right at home. Kara explains that as they already had so many wonderful memories at their home, “how awesome to be able to live where you were married”. Having your wedding at a house will create a super personal wedding and save money, says Kara. However, if hosting your wedding at your own home is not practical, Kara suggests having it at a friend or families home.

DIY Wedding Décor: Kara made wood signs painted them with chalk paint to display around the yard, such as this charming “Happily ever after starts here” sign.

 

DIY Bride & Groom Name Decor: As part of their wedding decorations, they covered large paper mache letters that spelt both of their names with Moss to hang on  a strip of burlap on the back fence of their home.

Meet Kara & Aaron

The story of how they met: Having met through mutual friends over 11 years ago, Kara knew that she had met the man she was going to marry one day. Like most couples, they had our ups and downs, but knew that their love was special and that they were meant to be together.

 

The proposal: Although they spoke about getting married for quite some time, Aaron still surprised Kara when he proposed! After dinner one evening, Aaron handed Kara a box with a ring and a note that read: “You are my life, will you marry me?”. Of course she said yes and burst into tears!

The Rustic Wedding Look

The Rustic & Vintage-Inspired Bridal Look: Kara looked exquisite wearing an elegant wedding gown with striking accent jewelry and a birdcage veil. She also donned a pair of fab satin Seychelles I Do Pumps. 

 

 

Bridal Bouquet: Here bouquet was a single lilac hydrangea paired with a few green leaves.

 

The DIY Rustic Vintage Wedding Ceremony & Reception

Flowers & Food: Food stations were offered throughout their home The only thing they didn’t do themselves were their flowers and the food. Kara says that they didn’t want the added stress days before the wedding and she feels like that was one of the best decisions that they made!

DIY Wedding Tableware: For the months leading up to their wedding they shopped for vintage plates, which they used as tableware for the Hors d’oeuvres and the dessert table.

 

Adorable rustic bird toppers were displayed atop their colorful macaroons. Cake toppers are available in all shapes and sizes to suit any wedding theme, as shown by our collection of 30 Wedding Cake Toppers Designs to Inspire!

Their wedding ceremony was hosted in their garden amongst trees, flowers and magical fairy lights.

 

They laid out a crocheted blanket for them and their guest’s to relax on under the evening sky.  Candles were displayed and hung in mason jars around their home amongst comfortable seating nooks for their guests to enjoy. These candle mason jars are easy peasy to make. Refer to our no.16 of our 30 Beach Themed Wedding Projects & DIY Inspirationc to learn how to create this enchanting decor project.

 

DIY Wedding Entertainment: To make the most of the star-filled sky, the couple set up a romantic star gazing area for their guests. As they were expecting a blue moon on the eve of their wedding day, they knew that they could look forward to beautiful lighting. Not to mention, they had learned that it is much less likely to rain when there is a full moon, which proved to be true for them! They were blessed with a clear sky, a huge moon and a million stars. To cut costs, they also chose to enlist in their friend and family’s talent by having a close friend’s band play during their ceremony and reception.

Biggest Lesson Learnt: Kara reveals one of her biggest lessons learnt from planning her own wedding and having it at her home is to “listen to your heart”. Although many of her loved ones advised her against it, she loved all of the planning and projects and advises all brides-to-be to enjoy every second of the planning! She explains that “even though it can be stressful and you and your fiancé won’t see eye to eye on everything, it’s good practice for decisions you’ll make once you’re married!”

We hope that you’ve been inspired to host your wedding at home! Much love to darling couple, Kara and Aaron and their photographer, Jeanine Thurston, for showing us that home is truly where the heart is! For an occasion filled with so much love and joy, we couldn’t agree more!

Itching for more Real Bride DIY projects and ideas? Well, take a look at our {Real Bride} DIY Colorado Rocky Mountain Ranch Rustic Wedding for inspiration from the great outdoors! Yippee yay!

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Vendors

Wedding Venue – Aaron and Kara’s Home

Stationery – Bride, Kara

DIY Decor – Kara, Aaron and loved ones

Photographer – Jeanine Thurston from Fototails Photography

Videographer – Brides Uncle

DJ / Music – Amanda Breese and Jenna Ellefson

Brides Dress – 200.00 Deal

Brides Hair & Make-up – Aimee J’Adore

Brides Shoes – Seychelles I Do Pump from Polyvore

Catering – Phresh Organic Catering

Bar – Beer and Wine (all local)

Cake – Papa Haydn

 

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