A sunshine-filled budget DIY day! Laura and Rob

As you know, I’ve dedicated this week to what you can achieve on a budget. Today one of my fab sponsors, Laura from Just Married Photography, has shared her bright and vintage DIY wedding with us! In fact it reminds me a fair bit of a “you are my sunshine” inspiration board I made a while back to cheer everyone up! Here’s more about the day in Laura’s words!

All photos (c) Laura McCluskey

We had a very DIY wedding with a low budget so we made everything ourselves.

All of the decorations I made with my mum, we went for a street style kind of look with 3 rows of tables with 30 people on each and we sat our on own instead of having a top table. This is what I made (see pics) lace bunting using old net curtains from charity shop, 90 x buttonholes using dried flowers (from Bekesbourne hop farm near Canterbury, Kent) and ribbons. I made banner bunting by printing words onto A4 cotton paper and sewing it together on the sewing machine, Place settings using heart shapes and printing all the guest names onto each one, I designed the table plan and got it printed out at a local college printers, invitations I made by getting a multipack of cards and envelopes and gluing old floral wallpaper onto it with lace ribbon trim- I used a typewriter for the info inside & out.

All of my table decorations were from bootfairs and charity shops I probably spent about £30 on these – old glassware and crochet doilies. We went to our local pick-your-own flower farm and picked sunflowers & wildflowers and decorated the whole reception for under £40. The same place made my bouquet & Rob’s buttonhole using fresh red roses and dried flowers including lavender for £30.

We got married in a little church in the village we are from and our reception was The Grove Ferry near Canterbury, Kent on the river and we had it in an old converted boat house. The Grove ferry hired tables and chairs and I asked for gold to match my decorations and the yellow we had. I also printed lots of old photos and used wooden pegs to hang them around the room for a personal touch.

My dress was an original vintage 50s dress – I found it in a second hand shop for £80 and my best friend Helen took some wedding photos on the day using polaroid film and gave them to us for our present in a frame.

A note from the Shabby Chic Bride: this is possibly one of my favourite wedding photos of all time… it just captures something really special!

Related posts:

1. A shabby chic wedding on a budget – top 10 ways to save money
2. An Australian beach wedding and a budget, shabby chic reception: Lauren and Tim
3. How to set a budget (and stick to it)
4. Inspiration board ♥ You Are My Sunshine ♥
5. Laura Babb on how to choose a shabby chic wedding photographer