A Handmade Portland Wedding: Gretchen + Darby

This wedding feels perfect for a Friday – lots of fun colors, DIY galore, a pretty multicolor petticoat plus lovely photos by Ben Blood. Gretchen + Darby both have a love of art and creating things and were on a pretty limited budget, so they decided a DIY wedding would be best. They literally handmade almost every item for their wedding, including cloth napkins, picnic basket liners, placecards, table numbers, dessert trays, 500 origami swans, guestbook puzzle, invitations, party favors, bridemaids necklaces and boutonnieres – wow! Of course, they had a lot of help from friends and family in their craft parties they threw almost every weekend where friends would come over and help them – such a great idea for those looking to do lots of DIY projects! Gretchen + Darby wanted their wedding day to be very non traditional, fun and relaxed and I think they did just that. Congrats to Gretchen + Darby!

 I saw the idea online for a multicolor petticoat and took ideas from different dresses I liked for the top. Jennifer, who works with Ania Bridal, sewed it for me. I then made the hairpieces with leftover toile from the wedding dress.

For the bouquet, we grew wildflowers in our backyard and picked up some flowers at farmer’s markets the day before the wedding. My matron of honor’s mother Candy Hadley, arranged the bouquets and the centerpieces. She did a fabulous job – just what I envisioned.

What song did you walk down the aisle to? Flora’s secret by Enya. We exited to Home by Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros.

My cousin Christy flew up a few days before the wedding. We put together picnic baskets with a variety of homemade salads (black eye pea butternut squash, quinoa, beet and goat cheese, tuna salad, egg salad, macaroni), croissants, veggies, chips and bubbly. We opted for a dessert table instead of a cake. My cousin made all our favorites – brownie bites with butterscotch chips, oatmeal caramel bars, mini carrot cake whoopie pies with cream cheese filling, mini chocolate chip cookies with espresso filling and rhubarb pie! My cousin is amazing! 

Most memorable moment of your wedding day? The whole day was a ton of fun, but the highlight for both of us was the bike ride from the Hoyt Arboretum to our after party dance party. There were about 30 of us all riding across Portland in our wedding attire.

Any advice for those planning now? DIY weddings are a fun way to save money and a great way to make sure your wedding really reflects you, but they are a lot of work. Make sure you have someone delegated to carry out all the details on your wedding day, because its crazy and goes by way too fast! We also want to thank all our family + friends for all their help!

Featured in This Wedding

Photography

Ben Blood

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