A DIY Wedding Story

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Finding the perfect spot to be married is no easy task. My husband and I were lucky enough to be invited to host our wedding at a beautiful old summer house in Maine, where my husband had spent his childhood summers. Who could pass up this house, with a breathtaking view over the Atlantic?

With a limited budget, lots of energy and no wedding planners on this tiny island, DIY was the only way to go. The end result was a fabulous, fairy tale weekend that is still talked about amongst family, friends, and locals from the island.
Here's a few ideas that we learned from experience:

1. Get help! Don't be afraid to ask family and friends to help. Don't try to do it all yourself!

2. Seek out good people to do the things you can't. If you don't know the first thing about paper, find a creative paper person and trust them with the whole thing from save-the-date cards to thank you's.

3. Handmade gives you exactly what YOU want. There are amazingly creative talents out there. Seek them out! For example, talk to a dressmaker. You can get the exact dress you want, with the perfect fit, and usually at a much more reasonable price than rack and designer dresses.

4. Think outside the box. For example, we hired a professional photographer, not a wedding photographer. He was an amazing artist with the most incredible eye. We received the film (pre-digital days) which we had to develop but we have THE most amazing photos.

5. Use local talent. We hired a local gardening guru (not a florist) for the flowers. She cut all of our flowers locally the morning of the wedding, both from fields and cutting gardens. They were magnificent - and fresh!

6. Look at what you already have that you can use. I carried an antique fan from my grandmother in lieu of flowers. Also, our tables were decorated with items from our home. We added some candles and flowers to make it cohesive. The tables were beautiful and much more interesting.

7. Consider a weekend wedding. I mean the whole weekend. For our wedding, people came up early, helped put up tents, decorated tables, ran errands and generally helped out. Each evening, when the work was done, everyone gathered on the deck for wine, ocean views, and conversations. My husband and I received loads of help and everyone has four days of incredible memories!

Some {NewNew} shops to help with your wedding:
Both Waisze (top) and Fubabee (bottom) have beautiful designs for all your wedding stationary needs.
DewonaPetalHome carries fabulous candles that burn for hours of dancing and general wedding fun!
Winsomehollow has fabulous creations for centerpieces.
Both Wishbyfelicity (top) and NatureManipulated (bottom) have gorgeous handmade jewelry for your wedding day.

Search on newnewteam for more handmade goodies for your DIY wedding day!

Beth

How-To: Swarovski Crystal Cuff Bracelet

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Hello everyone and welcome to my first public blog post EVER!
Today I will attempt to show you how to make a five-stranded beaded cuff bracelet. This is great for bride's jewelry or for the wedding party. I made them for my mom and maid of honor (sister) and it was a big hit. I matched it to their dresses and the wedding colors.

Time: About 40 minutes, longer if it is your first time attempting this kind of craft.
Materials: see below
Skill level: Intermediate
Skills involved: crimping, stringing, jump rings

**For teaching purposes I will be using bright colors in order to better illustrate the design. You do not need to go this bold in your piece. It looks very sleek and simple with only one color. Once you have mastered the construction you can also play with patterns. Have fun! It's your wedding!

For the bride, this would work beautifully with either Swarovski crystal style ab2x or their white alabaster ab or ab2x colors. You can also subtly incorporate the wedding colors, or slip in some azure beads to check "something blue," off your list. Whichever you choose, it will help you personalize your wedding and save you a lot of money by doing it yourself.

All the materials you need are featured below:

-Beading wire (.12mm)- 5 strands of about 6" each
-10 silver crimp beads
-2 silver/silver-plated jump rings
-1 large silver/plated lobster claw clasp
-1-3 inches of a larger silver/plated chain, for extension
-2 of the 5-hole silver/plated spacer bars
-2, 5-looped silver/plated link of your choice

-150 swarovski crystal 4mm bicone beads
You will also need these tools:
Jewelry Pliers
Crimpers
Jewelry Wire cutters

Ok here we go!





Step 1:
a) Take one of the 6 inch wire strings, string a crimp bead on it, and put it through the first loop on the 5-hole link. Then put the other end of the string back through the bead so it looks like this:
b)This is the tough-ish part: The crimping tool has two "crimps" to choose from. Begin by using the second crimp in to crimp the bead, then follow up by crimping the bead with the first crimp on the tool.

I suggest practicing the crimping before you start this. Test to see that the crimp is working and will hold the wire in place. Make sure to leave a little slack and don't crimp too close to the loop. This way your bracelet will be flexible and move with your wrist. The finished crimp should look like this:
Step 2
String one or two clear crystal beads, just to add some length. Then string nine beads of your chosen color. Once you have nine colored beads, string the wire through the first hole on your first 5-hole spacer bar. Add nine more colored beads and then string the wire through the first hole on your second spacer bar. Follow up with one or two more clear beads. The strand should look like this:Step 3:Repeat step 1a) to finish the strand. Make sure that your 5-hole links are both facing the same direction. This crimp will be harder. You may want to leave just a bit more slack. Here is the finished strand:
Step 4:
Repeat steps 1-3 (brian mcknight lyrics, anybody? never mind.) and build each strand. Be careful to leave the same amount of slack with your crimps so the strands are exactly the same length. If they aren't, don't worry about it. It all evens out when it is curved around your wrist.

Here is strand 2:Here it is with all of the strands:
You can use your imagination to envision it with all one color, but I wanted to make sure I was very clear. Don't be discouraged if you need to redo a strand or two. If you notice, I redid the green strand and put it on the end because I liked it better that way. Remember, relax and have fun!

Step 5 (almost done!)
Take your pliers and use them to pick up a jump ring. They say you should do this with 2 sets of pliers but I am cheap and just use my fingers. Gently open the jump ring by pushing to one side, NOT by pulling it apart. Observe below:
Once your jump ring is open attach the back side of the 5-loop link and the lobster claw clasp. Then close the jump ring. It should look like this:

Step 6:On the other side, attach a jump ring and the extender chain to the other 5-loop link so it looks like this:

Guess what? You are DONE! The finished product should look like this:
Now imagine it in white sparkly crystals coming down an aisle. Beautiful!
Here is my sister wearing hers. I used a square pattern here:
Please feel free to visit me on Etsy to ask questions about this post or to order a custom version of this bracelet.

Thanks for following along with me today. May your wedding be as amazing as was mine!
MAZEL TOV