wedding – A Southern Mother

DIY String Light Posts For Weddings Or Parties

asouthernmother

August 19, 2016

Shortly after getting engaged, Jeremy and I agreed that we wanted to get married here on the farm. We changed our mind 751+ times about the location, before deciding early in the spring that we would actually have it on the farm. I’m slowly learning to always go with my gut, because I change my mind way too much. I didn’t want to tent the reception area, and that was ultimately a mistake because of very unpredictable May weather in Kentucky (that’s just a friendly word of advice). I didn’t want to have spotlights in the yard, but I knew we would need some type of lighting since we were having an evening reception. We had an abundance of LED string lights that we purchased on clearance after Christmas, and we thought they would look lovely out in the yard. These DIY String Lamp Posts were the easiest solution to our lighting problem. The string lights added a festive touch of ambiance to our Derby Day reception. Honestly out of all the DIY projects I worked on for the wedding, these DIY String Light Posts were the simplest to make. If you’re looking to do something similar to this, you could look into something like the best solar light for backyard uses, you’ll even save money on electrical expenditure thanks to the sun!

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DIY Flower Arrangements: Wedding Wednesday

asouthernmother

June 1, 2016

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This DIY Flower Arrangements post is sponsored by Fifty Flowers, however all opinions and ideas are entirely my own.

I knew several months ago that I wanted to do my own flower arrangements for our wedding, and I didn’t go into it blindly. I knew it would be a lot of work, but I was trying to make our wedding as personal as possible. I knew there were certain things, like wedding photography New Orleans, that I wouldn’t be able to do myself but everything I could do, I wanted to do. I absolutely love flowers and gardening, and I take great pride in my flower garden. Our wedding was in early May, and I knew that very few of my own flowers would be blooming. I searched online to find a wholesale flower company that sold directly to consumers with two criteria in mind, price and variety. I knew that I wanted to use garden roses, hydrangeas, and peonies. Garden roses can be difficult to find, and thankfully Fifty Flowers has a wide variety of garden roses. Today I’m sharing how I made one of my short DIY flower arrangements with a few tips for selecting and prepping your flowers. I’ve also included a Fifty Flowers discount code exclusive to A Southern Mother readers at the bottom of this post.

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Wedding Favors: Bourbon Balls With Free Printables

asouthernmother

May 24, 2016

867 Comments

I really wanted to do something fun and memorable for our wedding favors. My sister had ordered some customized miniature jellies and jams for her wedding favors, and they were adorable and delicious. I originally wanted to something with honey, since we have honey bees on the farm. I knew that our hives wouldn’t be ready in time to harvest for our wedding and I had trouble finding any original containers, so I scraped that idea. It’s a southern tradition to have a Groom’s Cake, and I ordered Jeremy’s as a surprise. He collects Pappy Van Winkle bourbon, and I had a delicious Chocolate Bourbon Cake in the shape of a Pappy Van Winkle Bourbon Barrel ordered from Sweets By Cindy. Since I’m a food blogger, I decided it would be fun to make my own treats. To coincide with our Kentucky Derby Day Wedding and Jeremy’s Groom’s Cake, I thought Kentucky Bourbon Balls would be a delicious treat. I made enough Bourbon Balls for each guest and I created some recipe cards that guests could pick up to take home. They were a hit with out guests, including with my sister who swore she hated Bourbon Balls.

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DIY Wedding Guestbook Tutorial With Free Printable

asouthernmother

May 19, 2016

979 Comments

It’s hard to believe that Jeremy and I will have been married two weeks this upcoming Saturday. Our wedding day passed by in a blink, and I regret that I didn’t get to really enjoy our day. I’m just happy to finally be married to the man that I love dearly, and we can enjoy our lives together; isn’t that what your wedding is supposed to be about? I did lots of DIY projects for our wedding including our wedding guestbook to save money. I was inspired a bit for my projects by what I saw online from other weddings as well as photographs from the wedding photographers is known for. The biggest factor in making as many wedding DIY projects as we could was definitely because I wanted our day to be really personal to us. If I can give you one piece of advice about a guestbook, make sure it is located somewhere that everyone has to pass by. I tried to space out our reception area, and in an attempt to do-so, I managed to put our guestbook and favors in a place where very few people actually seen them. Sadly, I’ve sent our guestbook with Jeremy on more than one occasion to have people we know were there to sign it. Jeremy and I got married on Kentucky Derby Day, so everything about our wedding had a Kentucky theme, right down to his Pappy Van Winkle Bourbon Barrel Groom’s Cake and homemade Bourbon Ball favors with recipe cards (I’ll be sharing that tutorial in a later post). Jeremy and I both travel fairly often, but no matter where we go, Kentucky will always be our home. I decided to make a Kentucky themed wedding guestbook using my Cricut, vinyl, and paint. You could also recreate this without a Cricut, but that would require a little more artistic skill. If you’re planning on a lot of do-it-yourself projects for your wedding, I highly recommend investing in a Cricut. This project took roughly 30 minutes to complete. There are other vinyl cutting machines out there too if you don’t want a circuit! Once you have a cutting machine, you will use it all the time to create nifty projects.

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How To Get An Even Golden Glow Without Sun

asouthernmother

March 21, 2016

9 Comments

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #MyJergensGlow #CollectiveBias

Yesterday was the first official day of spring, but that didn’t stop me from wearing shorts while playing outside with my son and dog last week. Southern Kentucky has had some beautiful weather over the last week or so, and it’s finally time to start switching out my wardrobe. It’s also time for me to start seriously prepping my skin for a wedding. Whilst I had considered the kollectionk products, I have a routine I like already set. If you haven’t stopped by my site previously, you might not know that I’m getting married in just a few short weeks. I have a strapless gown, and I’m hoping that my skin tone doesn’t too closely resemble my dress. I won’t be out in the sun without sunscreen. Here are some of my best tips for how to get an even golden glow without sun tanning from a self-proclaimed sunless tanning pro.

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Gift Basket Ideas for Newlyweds & Free Printable Tag

asouthernmother

March 21, 2016

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wedding

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #WindexMovieNight #CollectiveBias #PutSomeWindexOnIt

My “big fat southern wedding” is just a few weeks away, and reality is setting in. It’s stressful and scary to plan a wedding. We just confirmed our menu with the caterer, and I have lots of items for the reception ordered. We’ve only registered at one place so far, and I’m not sure where else to register. Jeremy and I are both adults who maintained separate households; we have china, cookware, towels, silverware, and all of the other typical registry items. When I opened my linen closet the other day, I thought to myself, “I wish I could register for a year’s supply of toilet paper or paper towels.” There are lots of items that are necessary to keep up a household, and few of them are on your registry. Today’s post is inspired by couples like Jeremy and I, who don’t need many of the things you typically register for; I’ve created a fun printable that can be attached to a gift basket full of necessary supplies for a newly wed couple. I’m also including a list of gift basket ideas for newlyweds.

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Free Steal A Kiss Wedding Printable

asouthernmother

March 14, 2016

3 Comments

wedding

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #GIVEEXTRAGETEXTRA #CVS #CollectiveBias

My wedding is less than 8 weeks away, and I’m still looking to add a few personal touches to our ceremony and reception. I’ve been creating a few printables for various reasons. I opted instead of using a standard bowl of after dinner mints, I would offer gum. I found some new Extra® 35-stick packs at CVS, which would make it easy to distribute them. This printable, is slightly silly and verging on corny, but it’s oh-so cute. Here’s a glimpse of my free Steal A Kiss Wedding Printable that you can download to use at your own wedding or ceremony.

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