Tyler and Lexi’s Heartfelt Western September Wedding at The Urban Cowboy in Nashville, TN
A DIY Extravaganza: Ale & Ray
Ale and Ray’s DIY extravaganza has to be one of the most personal and heartfelt weddings we have ever shown on this blog! Not only is it chocca with handmade touches there are so many personal elements that make this wedding completely unique to this couple and this couple only.
What surprised me the most was that Ale and Ray were able to create this very cool wedding in just six months, yes you heard correct all of this DIY goodness was made in just six months, which I think officially makes Ale and Ray, King and queen of DIY – don’t you? I love the corals and pinks in the bouquets, they are so pretty. I was also pretty darn impressed by the couples stationery which isn’t surprising, as Ale is a stationery designer. She had a little help with this project though as Ray was on hand with his illustrations and letterpress skills. Ale also made her own veil, whilst Ray made his own bowtie – seriously is there anything this couple can’t do?
Here is Ale to tell you all you need to know…
“Ray and I became best friends in College whilst getting our degree in industrial design. After eight years of pure friendship we finally started dating. Everybody thought we were together for the longest time but we had really been just friends. Although we knew each other very well before dating, our relationship as boyfriend girlfriend was very different from our friendship.
After a year dating, Ray ask me to married him at The Thousand Islands where we had our first kiss. His proposal was with a handmade clear acrylic ring made by himself. After I said yes, he gave me “the real” ring that was designed by him as well. I was beyond happy to married my best friend.
We planned our wedding in just six month, The style of the wedding was vintage, romantic with lots of handmade details. The color pallet was pastel coral, peach, soft pink and rose gold. We wanted a very intimate wedding with an outdoor ceremony. We found The Estates of Sunny Brooke fits best with our personality and our vision of exquisite food and gorgeous architecture.
We both love handmade things and because we are both designers we went the DIY route. I feel so fortunate to have my fiancé so involved in the design process as well as in the making of things. I still cannot believe all the things we made. It was very meaningful to handcraft our wedding together.
We had to dedicate a lot of time and energy into making all the accessories and decor pieces for our wedding. We tried our best to get the most with our limited budget by prioritizing what we really wanted for our special day which included great food, stunning pictures, and handmade decor. We got it all!
We designed the invitations together. I am a wedding invitation designer so it had to be really extra special. Ray hand draw the vintage lettering and illustrations, I digitilized them whilst Ray letterpressed them and I layered them on two layers of black and copper card stock. It was team work at its best.
I created my own veil with hand beading along the edge for the ceremony. I also created a birdcage with large hand dyed pastel flowers and feathers for the reception. I found my shoes at a thrift store. I added beads all around them and put rose gold glitter on the bottom. I also made my garter. My dress was from David’s Bridal, a beautiful Oleg Cassini classic design. Ray made his own bow tied with vintage fabric.
All the flowers at the wedding were hand made by me. My bouquet and my bridesmaids were made with fabric and brooches. The guys’ boutonnières were made out of felt. The Pom-poms were made with hand dyed coffee filters. We spray painted paper doilies with rose gold paint to put under the center pieces.
We wrote our own wedding vows and it was very emotional for us both to share them at the ceremony in front of our love ones. I really felt God’s presence at the ceremony. It was one of the most meaningful parts of the day. It was raining in the morning and right before the ceremony the sun was shining on us. My other favorite part of the whole wedding day was our first dance. We danced to At Last by Etta James I forgot about everyone else and danced with Ray like we were alone.
My bridesmaids help me to put together a garland backdrop behind our table. The wedding cake was decorated by Ray which he surprised me with at the reception. I thought we were going to have the cake toppers on doughnuts, but he got inspiration from a picture on my Pinterest and created an adorable ombré mini cake.
We wanted to integrate all our families and guests together. Ray is from Hong Kong and I am from Colombia. Finding a MC that spoke Cantonese, Spanish and English was like an impossible task but amazingly we found the guy. He was amazing! He understands both cultures because while his family is from Hong Kong, he grew up in Argentina. He entertained the party like a pro. We also had a photo booth and my Zumba instructor dropped by to teach us some Latin moves. Everyone had a great time.
For favors we got organic jam. We got vintage fabric at a thrift store to put around the lid with twine and added a tag. At the end of the party we had a sparkle send off.
The day flew by, but it was so perfect I will never forget it.
We can truly say we had our dream wedding handcrafted by ourselves.”
Super Suppliers – Invitations, stationery and decor: (Bride & Groom’s Company) Paper Love by Chosen Design Inc. / Facebook// Venue: Estates of Sunny Brooke// Photographer: Luminous Weddings// Videographer: Dave Thomas Visuals// MC: MC Leo Shiu// Hair and Makeup: Beauty by Jemz// Wedding gown: Oleg Cassini by David’s Bridal// Groom’s Suit: Banana republic// Shirt: Zara// Socks: H&M//
Pretty impressive isn’t it! Ale and Ray look so happy and in love in all their photos don’t they and all the guests look like they were having a blast! I also love how the couple were able to marry their two cultures together, I would have loved to have found out more about that tea ceremony?
Congratulations to this beautiful couple and thanks to Ryan from Luminous Weddings for the fabulous photography who has done a fantastic job of capturing the fun, fresh, quirky style of this couple.
Much Bespoke Love
Emily x
Love the blog post feeling over the moon.
Thanks!
So glad that you like it Ale, writing your story was an absolute pleasure!! Huge congratulations on your wedding and we wish you and Ray all the love in the world for your future together!!
xxx