Part One: Hand-Made, Heartfelt, & Hitched!

Dudes, I got married! This is why I’ve been too busy to post in a regular manner, ‘cuz I was busy making stuff for the Big Day!

It's official: we're legit in the eyes of the law. (c) Forrest Frazier

Before I get in to the fun hand-made stuff, lemme share a bit about our day. Tim and I tied the knot at the Charles River Museum of Industry and Innovation, on the exact date of our 10th anniversary. We wanted this day’s meaningfulness to be reflected in everything we did, and we also wanted to include our loved ones in on it too. So our day ended up being the loving result of a group effort: My buddy Karissa agreed to make my dress, and as a surprise she even made a matching purse! My sister Sara did my hair and make up. My sister Amelia made the hair flowers for the bridesmaids. My mom gave me my vintage Weiss Black Diamonds necklace and matching brooch. A design friend made our guest book. Tim and I DJ’ed. We also did the flower arrangements with Sara and my mother-in-law. And so many loved ones offered their help before, during, and after the wedding. We had some pros helping us too: Lisa Rigby Photography did the official (and gorgeous) photography, and Clementine Cuisine provided the phenomenal catering and cake.

Purse and necklace. (c) Lisa Rigby Photography

Look at how GOOD my hair looks! Sara did the color as well as the style. (c) Lisa Rigby Photography

Back of the dress with the brooch. (c) Lisa Rigby Photography

All of my siblings were in my bridal party: Sara and Amelia were my Bridesmaids, my sister Liz was my Maid of Honor (who was also a VERY patient listener and advice-giver!), and my brother John was not only my Bridesman, but he also closed out the evening with a techno dance party play list (his specialty!). Tim is an only child, but his best pal/“brother” Alex joined him as his Best Man, and his close buds Bill, Dave, and Sherwin joined him as his Groomsmen. Instead of place cards, the groomsmen escorted all of our guests to their tables. Also, Bill helped with the audio set up and DJ’ing, and Sherwin co-emcee’ed with Tim and helped DJ as well.

So not only is our wedding party pretty, but they’re talented and helpful to boot! (c) Lisa Rigby Photography

To make our wedding even more personal, Tim and I got each other gifts that we could wear on our wedding day.

Tim got me a beautiful hair fascinator that went perfectly with my dress. (c) Lisa Rigby Photography

I got him old-timey diver helmet cufflinks (he scuba dives)... (c) Lisa Rigby Photography

...and a Black Watch tartan pocket square to represent his family and symbolize his grandparents, who weren't able to make it to the wedding. (c) Lisa Rigby Photography

Now for some hand-made goodies! Since it was at a museum, we didn’t really have to decorate, so we just focused on a few big pieces:

For our invitation, we made a book about how we met, how we started dating, and our engagement story. Here's the book cover! (c) Lisa Rigby Photography

We both wrote it, and I designed and illustrated it, and set it up to print. We printed and trimmed 'em all at our house. And some friends and I hand-bound them.This is one of my favorite interior spreads. (c) Lisa Rigby Photography

But we had to send out Save the Dates first! I designed and illustrated these postcards.

We wrote our wedding program, and I designed, illustrated, and printed it. Tim, along with our fabulous upstairs neighbors, helped fold them. (c) Lisa Rigby Photography

You can see the back cover in this lovely photo of Mary! (c) Lisa Rigby Photography

For our favors, Tim baked his famous chocolate chip cookies (He made over 300 of them!), and I designed, illustrated, and printed labels for them. A co-worker loved what we were doing and offered to bake a vegan version of the cookies for our vegan guests. Nicole, you rule! And know who also rules? Our upstairs neighbors again, for stuffing delicious cookies in to bags, tying ribbons at the top, and sticking labels on them. (c) Lisa Rigby Photography

Since we were getting married in an old-timey museum, Tim thought it would be cool if we named all the tables after 19th-century inventors! (c) Lisa Rigby Photography

So after extensive research and carefully crafting our inventors list, I hand-made each sign with my trusty Micron pen and colored pencils. (c) Lisa Rigby Photography

Then I scanned in each illustration, and used them to design the bio cards for each inventor. I took this close-up to show you an example; looks like we kind of forgot what a thesaurus was when we wrote this one, ha!

We wanted our signature cocktail to be old-timey-inspired (since we were in an old-timey museum), and also fun, unique, and delicious. After much research, the Monkey Gland was the obvious choice! If you're 21 or older, try it at home: one part gin (London Dry Gin recommended), one part orange juice, a dash of absinthe, and a dash of raspberry syrup (though grenadine is traditionally used; also, I think our bartender nixed the raspberry syrup, boo). I hand-made this sign with a Micron pen and colored pencils as well. I re-created this set-up my kitchen, mmmmmmmmm.

Also, here’s a snazzy card box. Yowza! (c) Lisa Rigby Photography

And some thank you cards, of course! I took this shot late on the night I realized that I wouldn't have time to do three card designs like I originally planned. Booooo.

We did all of this in a few months. Even though I was getting a little insane working on wedding stuff till 3-4am then working at an extremely busy full-time job all day, I love that I got to marry a rad dude, on our 10th anniversary, surrounded by loved ones, and that I got to make some fun stuff that made our special day even more special.

Gooey gooey gee! (c) Liz Frazier

Stay tuned for Part Two: Close-Up of the Book Invitation!

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Tags: Design, DIY, Family, Friends, Wedding