TO DIY OR NOT TO DIY?

My dream was to have a crafty wedding. I knew from the start that Shawn and I would be collaborating on a lot of things for this festival of love and we turned out to be SUCH a great team. I wanted to look back and not regret putting the work into it and I look at it am SO proud of all the touches! If you want to DIY for your wedding know these two things: ITS REALLY HARD WORK and ITS NOT CHEAP. Dont mistake the two.

Here is the rundown of what we crafted and what other people crafted!

The Brooch Bouquets. I sent out a call to people's jewelry boxes for old or unused brooches for these delights. My mother, Shawn's mother and a few trips to Haight street were able to secure me enough to make 7 for my bridesmaids. Each had about 10 pieces.

The Table Numbers. Okay, I lied. Some of these were cheap! We bought picture frames from Ikea and my bridesmaid Jenny came up for a long weekend in SF where we painted them grey and glued on tiles from the game Bananagrams. Inside we simply put our invitation chopped up cause let's be honest: it looks cute. These are also Shawn's books but he did not write them.

The Love Preserves. The saddest revelation post wedding was that NO ONE KNEW we made all the Jams and Jellies that were the wedding gifts! Sad sad sad. Anyway, we made 125 of them in 5 different flavors: Balsamic Onion Marmalade, Strawberry Rhubarb, Blueberry Apricot, Apple Butter and Lemon Ginger and Rosemary Curd. Sososososo good! Yum!

The Bunting. My grandma made the bunting with my mom! Like a deconstructed quilt.

Name & Table Assignments. We orded tags online, hand wrote them and stamped the acks with cute owls and forks and knives. The best part of the setup was the white stand that my grandfather made!

Cute Sign! Where people were from. My mom made this! Sorry to Kris and Darcy for not putting Atlanta, GA. You moved after I gave the names to my mom.

Hair Piece. My cousin Emily made this for me for my big day! Loved wearing something my cousin made.

QUICK WEDDING RECAP!

Where to start? I got married to Shawn Schmieding and became Kate Schmieding. Bittersweet to let the Kugler go, but I am going to make it my last name so I can remember where I came from (the little people) - for the rest of my life. It's cliche to say but it was the best weekend of my life!

No one told me that the best feeling in the entire world is having everyone you love in the same place at the same time. It's like a sci-fi movie up in here! Like the world could just combust at anytime from all the love.

THANK YOU to everyone who came that weekend! It was the best.

Small Moments Add Up To Big Memories. The I do's were such a small part of the wedding to me and I was glad to have had some quiet and not so quiet moments with friends and family both leading up to the wedding and after. My favorite moments were:

.....drinks on the Hudson River with our families on Tuesday, we all love beers! And the Kugler-Schmiedings definitely get along well. Happy hearts. All Shawn's family at my house for lunch on Thursday, too. It wasnt the same without Danielle, Dennis and William. When they get there it was perfect.

......Mother-Daughter day while Shawn's fam was in Boston. Movies, lunch, work out - awesome!

.....a quiet breakfast with Pam, Evie and Natalie on Friday am at Cafe Madison. Good balance of gossip, girly love and "calm before the storm", a true nest of comfort.

.....Victory Cafe, post rehearsal dance and drinkathon. What better way to kick off a weekend of debauchery with throwing back some $4 drinks on a summer night on the sidewalks of Albany and a jukebox pumped full of quarters? The wedding party was in full effect and ready to shine. LOTS of mems.

......The Kickball Game. I mean - it was the best day of all! Friends loving friends. We didnt win but we did rally to play a losers tournament which made me so happy.

.....City Beer Hall. PERFECT NIGHT! The groom rode a mechanical bull as did many other wedding attendants. Great night with everyone! It was so hard to pull myself away from the party by my self imposed 1am curfew. I could have stayed in that bar the whole night, every person there meant so much! Perfect. Perfect, melding of friends.

.......Slumber Party, table of 3: Brett & Meagan were excellent pre-nuptial company.

.......At the wedding (quickly) I loved our friend Michael O'Leary marrying us! Loved the ceremony. It was touching and simple, but super personal. We will forever be in debt to him. A very fun dance party to 2 Legit 2 Quit. The amazing toasts of Meagan and Josh Mathy. Our friend Beth Wittig showing up! The amazing makeup of Kate Tritto. It takes a village people to make me good looking. Shawn's vows were so amazing.

.........I would say the post wedding McGearys was also fun but......I only stayed til 1am. wa wa.

........and finally, I love a good hungover "stumble into the breakfast the next morning"......good recaps, good good byes.....the perfect ending to the perfect weekend.

Our frieds even got together and made tshirts so everyone looked amazing.

My next blog will be all the DIY!