“Kelsey and Miles are the unlikely couple; a public defender pursued by a prosector that fought in court and pushed each other’s buttons for months! Miles continually asked Kelsey out on dates and she declined until a friend tried to set her up with someone else…then she knew that Miles was the only one she was interested in dating. Kelsey’s whole family pitched into the DIY wedding vibe that Kelsey wanted, complete with topiary wedding table numbers, striped lines and florals that perfectly, exactly, insanely matched the bridesmaid dresses. The florist hadn’t even seen the dresses! The wedding favors were jars of homemade McGrane family granola, baked by the bride and her father over a weekend. It is a recipe that her father makes every year for Christmas. Each piece of the wedding has meaning, history and color. The bride’s brother created a custom crest used throughout the wedding, her sister made their custom cake topper, the chuppa was adorned with various items that the bride’s mother collected from antique shows during the year, the pew swags were made by Kelsey’s Mom, the vintage shutter was filled with various hankies collected from antique shows, and the berry boxes were also found while antiquing.” –Set Free Photography

What is your favorite wedding day memory?

I think my favorite memory is standing behind the trolley that was set up at our ceremony site watching as our family and wedding party walked out to walk down the aisle as I listened to each song I meticulously chose play over the speakers!! I was just imaging the scene with everyone walking through the doors my mom had painted, my vintage hankies blowing in the wind, the ocean in the background, the pew swags dancing in the ocean breeze hanging from the amazing vintage pews I had chosen, and my future husband waiting for me under our beautiful chuppa we built just knowing my life was about to change forever and I was ready for it!! I was so ready to enjoy every detail and every minute of this day I had planned for a year!! I remember looking at my Dad and hearing the song start to play that I was going to walk down the aisle to and thinking all those tears, all that frustration and stress it was SO worth it because i am about to enjoy what will be one of the BEST days of my life with everyone I love the most around me!

What did you DIY for your wedding?

The better question is what didn’t we DIY for our wedding! I come from a crafty family so we took on a TON of tasks and I wanted my wedding to be as personal as possible. Weddings can be kind of generic these days, everyone offers standard options, but I wanted none of them! I wanted as many personal details as possible to my my wedding different than any other wedding and to make it feel more like our day! We did a lot of antiquing prior to the wedding which was also a great way to add person touches! From the blueberry box centerpieces, the vintage berry boxes used on the tables, the vintage tables and shutter used at the ceremony I feel like all of these little things helped to make my day that much more special! Before the wedding my brother designed us a custom crest that was AMAZING! I had it printed on meslin bags that we filled with all sorts of goodies and a schedule of events which I created for welcome bags.

Starting with the ceremony, my mom hand painted, stained and weathered two doors to act as the start of our aisle, we found over 80 vintage hankies at various antique shows which we stuck into a vintage shutter the morning of the wedding, my mom hand made pew swags to go at the end of each pew to add some color and movement to the ceremony, our chuppa was semi-DIY, in that we had help from vendors, but we found the wood online and had George from Island events build it for us, then the AMAZING team at Isn’t She Lovely Florals decorated it using supplies my mom had collected including sea shells, star fish, paper flowers and more! It turned out beautiful! Also, my sister made an amazing cake topper made out of peg dolls that she crafted to look like Miles and I even down to our wedding day outfits! She used yarn for my hair and even little wire to make Miles glasses it was perfect!

For cocktail hour I made a few banners to decorate the room and add some color since it was mostly white, one had our hashtag and the others just had some cute sayings to add a little something extra!

For the reception we did a lot! I had my friends over a few weekends in a row and we cut hundreds of pieces of ribbon to make ribbon bunting, my mom made even more swags to hang off the string lighting we put up over the dance floor, I also made seating cards out of vintage seed packet covers that I got on online from France, I glued each one to kraft paper which I cut and then hand wrote each guests name on them, I also made a banner for the seating cards that said “please be seeded”, for our wedding favors, my husband and I made table numbers by covering cardboard numbers in moss and gluing them to slices of wood, and Dad and I spent an entire weekend making batches and batches of my dads famous granola which we then jarred and provided to each guest as McGraneola {my new last name is McGrane} with a tag attached to each jar and a sticker with our crest made by my brother on top.

Did you have a something old, new borrowed, blue?

YES! My something old was vintage broaches that my mom collected which were incorporated into my bouquet which was also my something blue. My something new we’re my pearl earrings that my husband gave me the morning of the wedding and lastly, my something borrowed was my sisters spanx {seriously!!!}

Any advice for brides currently in the planning process?

FIRST, don’t take on too much! One task at a time and focus on the overall look you want for your wedding to make sure everything goes well together! I was so lucky to have my mom helping me! I would come to her with ideas and she would keep me in check saying i was already doing too much or tell me it didn’t go well with the look we were going for! Sometimes, she would change a little something to make it work better and fit in with our overall theme, but sometimes she just had to tell me no and looking back I’m so thankful she did! SECOND, choose your vendors wisely! There is not a single doubt in my mind my wedding vendors MADE my wedding day what it was! I seriously lucked out and scored the BEST people ever from my photographer, to my florist, my DJ, the rentals, desserts, everyone worked together towards one goal which was making my day amazing and they did that and more! I am eternally grateful to all of them for all of their hard work and I love them all! My wedding reception was beyond PERFECTION! It was everything I dreamed it would look like. Every detail was perfect! Looking out from my table that night I almost wanted to cry seeing all my hard work in front of my eyes as all the people I love most in the world enjoyed themselves! It will be stressful along the way, but it will be SO worth it when the day finally comes! -Kelsey, the Bride

Event Credits

Photography: Set Free Photography // Venue + Catering: South Seas Island Resort // Wedding Planner + Florist: Isn't She Lovely Florals // Cake: Perfectly Scrumptious // Invitations: Factory Made // DJ: DJ Dayve // Videographer: I Heart Film Studios // Rentals: Island Events // Wedding Crest: Art // Bride's Attire: Watters // Bride's Shoes: Palter DeLiso // Bridesmaid's Attire: Shoe Me Your Mumu // Hair + Make-up: Janine Wehby Artistry // Groom's Attire: Maus and Hoffman // Groom's Shoes: Allen Edmonds // Groomsmen's Attire: J Crew // Flamingo Yamakas Weinfeld // Guestbook: Trinity Joy Art // Ceremony Flowerfetti: Flowerfetti // Flower Garlands: More Paper Than Shoes