Katie & Andy’s DIY, Travel Themed Virginia Wedding – Part 1

For today’s DIY Wednesday, I have an AMAZING DIY Wedding to share. It has SO MUCH DIY goodness packed into it, that it will actually be a 2-Parter! [Part 2 will be next DIY Wednesday]. Katie & Andy’s beautiful wedding [captured by a Capitol Romance vendor favorite, Heather Bee Photography] was featured first over on the wonderful Rustic Wedding Chic blog a few months back.

Amazing things happen when you have a bride with a background in design, and a groom with a background in construction. They’re DIY wedding will blow you away!

About Katie & Andy:

Katie & Andy both originate from Michigan and met at Michigan State. Andy was actually one of Katie’s Autocat students, as he was a construction major and she was interior design. A year later they met again, this time as both members of the same college ministry. They found themselves at the First Annual Epic Barn Dance and got paired together because neith had a dance partner.

A couple weeks later they exchanged numbers, but Andy already had a job lined up in DC when they met. So they did the long distance thing after graduation, until eventually Katie got a job offer in Washington, DC too!

 Katie originally wanted blue shoes, but saw this yellow pair and snagged them instead. She knew she wanted to wear tall/wedges on her wedding day, as the wedding was outside on the grass.

Funny story about Katie’s wedding jewelry:

 Katie ended up getting the necklace the DAY of her wedding from a store in Alexandria, Virginia, Lulu. Her mom forgot a bag back in Michigan before the wedding that happened to have Katie’s jewelry and her own shoes in it.

I am in LOVE with her statement necklace though – so I think this mishap turned out a-ok.

Katie & Andy’s Travel Themed Save the Dates and DIY Invitations:

Their travel themed Save the Dates came from Etsy – luggage tags in the blue/green/orange colors.  Etsy seller also gave them custom stamps and return address labels [that they were able to re-use on the invitations]

 Using her amazing design skills, Katie made invites herself [boarding passes], using the fonts from the STDs and different colors. She designed them and then printed them at Kinkos using paper she had ordered online. The finishing touches came with cutting the round corners & using an antique stamp pad to make the outline look “antiquey”.

The proposal:

Two and half years after dating, Andy decided it was time to buy a ring! He had planned a Valentines day proposal and had the ring [from our favorite Washington, DC Jeweler, I.Gorman!!] shipped to Virginia ….and … it NEVER CAME!

Andy’s birthday is on the 11th of February, so Katie assumed that Andy was checking the mail so often because he had bought himself a nice birthday gift. February 14th came, and Katie got a nice spa gift certificate and a nice dinner planned … but Andy ended up canceling the dinner, “let’s just stay at home and save some money”, since the ring still wasn’t anywhere to be found!

Andy decided to plan a ski trip for the following weekend, hoping the ring would be found by then, but Katie didn’t want to go. At this point, the ring had FINALLY arrived [boy, I am sure Andy was a mess!] and Andy’s dad had to convince him not to just give Katie the ring, and still do a nice proposal.

So on a random Wednesday night, Andy took Katie out for sushi and took the dog to the park. Andy attempted to be smooth, putting the ring around their dog’s collar, but he couldn’t get the dog to sit still long enough to get the ring on, without Katie noticing. So instead, he took Katie’s mitten off playfully, snuck the ring inside, and when she took her mitten back, she found the ring!

What followed was the long story of the journey of Katie’s lost engagement ring!

Click inside for the rest of Katie & Andy’s Travel Themed DIY Wedding in Virginia – Part 1!

The DIY Guest Welcome Bags:

Katie’s mom went out and got a bunch of stuff from Old Town, Alexandria, to make the welcome bags for guests. She included: Maps/Metro Cards – Candy/Water – and tickets to the rented Dash Bus that would provide transportation to and from the venue.

Katie & Andy’s DIY Programs, with help from the bridesmaids:

this. this is why i love outdoor ceremonies – how beautiful!

Love the printed flower girl’s dress and Daisy [Katie & Andy’s dog]!

After only a 6 month engagement, Katie & Andy decided to plan a beautiful, DIY wedding in Virginia. They toyed with the idea of having the wedding back in Michigan, but decided that they’re lives were now in VA/DC and it would be a fun destination wedding [thus the travel theme!] for their friends and family.

As a designer, Katie knew she wanted bright, summer colors for her wedding, not pastels. She stumbled upon a packaging site and one of the packages had colors that she spoke to her! So she picked her colors from there.

The bridesmaids beautiful orange bridesmaids dresses were from a small boutique back in Michigan. I adore the shade of orange, with the periwinkle blue stone necklaces!

The DIY Seating Arrangements Display – on an old door!

Using his background in contrsuction, Andy made the seating card display from an old door they bought from Habitat for Humanity for $15! Andrew took out the glass, added some chicken wire, and voila! old furniture seating card display!

DIY Wedding Signs:

Katie carried her shade of orange everywhere to find the guys ties/suits.  The groomsmen ending up buying their suits from Nordstroms and wore boat shoes to go along with the comfy, outdoor feel of the wedding.

So excited to get to share the first part of this amazing DIY wedding with you – a special thanks to Heather Bee Photo and Two Bright Lights, for making Part 1 of this feature possible. There will be plenty more DIY wedding projects, DIY details, and pictures with balloons (!) next week!

Check back next week for Part 2 of Katie & Andy’s DIY Travel Themed Virginia Wedding!!