Fresh lemon lime colors make this wedding a festive summer celebration. The daffodil yellow chiffon bridesmaid dresses are so perfect for this light summer wedding theme and are such a pretty accent to the golden yellow gerbera daisy bouquets. Melissa and Dan were married at the Hessenland Country Inn in Ontario, Canada. The beautiful farm setting created a lovely backdrop for their country chic style. Their entire wedding was DIY – from programs and place cards to fern centerpieces and homemade citrus marmalade in mason jars for favors. This wedding is so full of homespun charm! Read below for how they met, the sweet proposal, and more DIY details.
Before the Ring:
Dan and I met while working at Home Depot. We were both in college so this was just a part-time job for us. I was actually his boss for a while. While I could tell he was interested in me, I was the one to ask him to meet after work for the first time. We have been together for three years now.
The proposal:
It was Christmas Eve and we were was at his parents’ house for Christmas that year. His mom, dad, sister, brother, Dan and me gathered around the dining room table to play a game of cranium. We had just started the first round – Dan and I were partners – and he had to draw something with his eyes closed for me to guess. I peeked at the other teams’ sheet and they had all drawn wolves and moons, while Dan was just drawing lines. He was finally finished his drawing and this is what I saw
W _ _ _ Y _ _ M _ _ _ _ M _ ?
So I read it out ‘will you marry me?’ I said. And he replied yes and handed me my ring.
This was the perfect proposal for me because I did not want the typical restaurant experience. I wanted the person who would propose to me to think of a creative and fun way and Dan definitely succeeded.
Details of the Day:
This entire wedding was DIY. I wanted our personalities to scream through the decorations and personal touches to I decided to make it all myself.
• Starting with the save the dates and invites, which I made.
• Our programs were on brightly colored paper which we attached to a popsicle stick to make them fans as well. The backside had a crossword and we attached a string to the bottom of the popsicle stick with a pencil on it for our guests to fill out the crossword while they waited for the ceremony to begin.
• The decorations on the chairs at the ceremony were ‘string balls’ I took yarn and dipped it in a water, flour and glue mixture, then wrapped the string around a blown up balloon until it was mostly covered. Once it dried I popped the balloon and attached the string ball to some ribbon.
• For our lemonade stand we made ice cubes out of lemonade and added slices of lemons and limes into them. I also made the lemon poppy seed cookies to go with the lemonade.
• The string of lights on the head table we took silk flowers and attached them to a string of Christmas lights using hot glue, so the centers of the flowers were the lights. (We also used another string of lights with silk flowers at our candy bar.)
• We made tags to tell our guest what each candy was using the tea-soaked paper and attached them onto ribbon around the jars.
• The flower garland was made out of tissue paper and construction paper. We went to the Martha Stewart website and used her ‘pom pom’s’.
• Our table numbers were photos from our engagement photo session attached to garden stakes.
• We didn’t have a traditional seating chart, instead I went with the idea of escort cards. I made luggage tags using my mum’s cricket and tea soaked them. Then I attached a piece of ribbon on the top for a bit of color. I printed the names out on the non-tea soaked paper and edged the paper using a green or yellow ink-pad. Then I stamped the numbers on the bottom of the tag.
• For our place cards I tea soaked some off-white paper and cut the paper into the size I wanted. Then I printed the names off on the non-tea soaked paper. We edged the paper with a brown ink pad, then attached the names to the place cards using eyelets.
• Our favors were homemade citrus marmalade we put into mason jars. We used unbleached cotton cut into circles to put over the lids and stamped ‘D&M’ to the top. Them we made tags using the tea soaked off-white paper and attached them on using ribbon.
• Our center pieces were ferns my mother bought that we put into galvanized pails.
• My gifts to the bridesmaid were purses that I made with the assistance of my mum and a friend, a little make-up bag we also made and jewelry I purchased off Etsy from a lady in Thailand.
Photography: Serena Swan Photography / Venue: Hessenland Country Inn / Brides Dress: Maggie Sottero