For our wedding party, we wanted them to look similar but not the same. We really tried to let them do what they wanted and wear things they would wear again (I know everyone says that but I think we actually succeeded!) Sorry for the random alley photos but we took most of our photos inside since it was freezing, rained a bit, hailed a bit, and one of our groomsmen is unable to walk long distances but these outside ones show their full outfits better than the inside ones!
For the bridesmaids, I told them to buy any navy dress they liked, as long as it wasn't floor length. I think they all did a great job and will actually be able to wear them again! They all wore whatever neutral-ish shoes they wanted. They also chose their own star-themed necklaces and earrings and I bought it for them as their bridesmaids gifts. I didn't tell them anything about hair, but funnily enough, they all wore it down!
For the groomsmen, we let them pick out their own navy cardigans and bought it for them as their groomsmen gifts. Then they all wore different neutral pants, whatever tie they wanted as long as it wasn't crazy bright, and brown shoes.
The most important thing to us was that they were all there with us, especially since three of them had to fly in for the occasion! One of Nate's groomsmen has a rare form of HLH and we were so happy he was healthy enough to fly in (he had to move away two years ago to be near this specialty hospital in Cincinnati and has since undergone lots of chemo, a bone marrow transplant, dozens of daily medications, and will soon need a kidney transplant.) He cannnnnnot get sick and we were so worried he would get sick after he left from being around so many people at the wedding and flying but he really wanted to be here and I'm happy to report our wedding did not kill him! That would have been a bummer.
I originally wasn't going to do any flowers since we don't have any involved in our centerpieces, but I decided I wanted them after all. I made the bouquets and boutonnieres myself from Million Star Baby's Breath and Craspedia.
I ordered the flowers in bulk from Fifty Flowers and they arrived on Thurday (the wedding was on Saturday) and quickly took over my kitchen. I made the bouquets on Thursday since I knew these flowers held up well and basically don't look any different as they die/dry anyway. I used baker's twine to wrap the stems since it reminded me of the stitching on a baseball.
Sadly this is only half of the baby's breath, it really gets BIG once you start unpacking it from the tight bundles!
Oh hai, I'm getting married in two days and my kitchen is a flowerbomb. And they don't even smell good!
The morning of the wedding I made the six boutonnieres as well as two corsages for our moms. Doing the flowers wasn't difficult, but it was stressful! Looking back on it, it was a money saver and we were trying to do this whole thing on the cheap, but it also kinda made me crazy for a few days and especially the morning of the wedding! I didn't want to do the boutonnieres and corsages ahead of time because they had a live leaf off a random plant involved in them and I didn't think it would last too long without water! I'm happy with how they all looked, but it might have been worth it for my sanity to skip them or have them done by someone else!
All images (except my kitchen photos) DeBruyn Photography
