Mike and Karolina’s handmade wedding was stylish! Their fall wedding in West Milford, New Jersey was a remarkable event that incorporated many handmade and DIY details. These handmade details and this couple’s magical day was photographed by the photography team of Brian and Rachel from 47 Moments Photography. The bride, Karolina, tells us all about her wedding day and the DIY elements that made it special…

Handmade Wedding

Karolina says, “As soon as we got engaged and I started looking for inspiration in planning I knew I wanted a fall wedding. After looking at wedding blogs for inspiration, I fell in love with the barn wedding idea. I could not picture our wedding in a traditional ballroom or restaurant setting, and really lucked out when I came across pictures from a wedding at Ballyowen Golf Club. This picturesque golf course was exactly what I had been looking for.

Aside from the season, the only other element that was established from the very beginning was that I wanted incorporate plenty of handmade and personal details into our wedding. I was beyond fortunate to have two truly talented ladies in my wedding party to help me every step of the way—my sister Marta who loves to DIY and has a great eye, and my sister-in-law Olga who is an exceptionally gifted artist and illustrator. The three of us have a great appreciation for the personal touches that make any party unique, and have worked on personalized events through our collaborative effort, LLC Events. I was confident that with their help I would be able to make our wedding day truly unforgettable!”

“I wanted the atmosphere to be relaxed, the décor simple, and the look to draw from the beautifully natural setting of Ballyowen. Things really fell into place when I found the linen cardstock for our invitations in the perfect shade of sunshine yellow. The card stock helped me edit our color scheme yellow and brown. Olga worked tirelessly to design our invitations, menus, table numbers and all of the other stationery. I printed and assembled the invitations myself, which allowed me to carry a unified look across all the paper elements, and definitely helped us cut costs.”

“I thought I was pushing my luck when I told the girls I wanted to make 1,000 origami paper cranes to create a backdrop behind our sweetheart table, but they shared in my excitement and were eager to start folding. The relief and accomplishment of finishing all 1,000 cranes was short lived once I realized that stringing them would be a project in and of itself, especially with two very curious cats around, but with the help of my husband we got it done with only a few days to spare. All the DIY brides out there know how these projects tend to take forever, but it was definitely worth it at the end! Along with yellow and white paper lanterns strung from the chocolate brown ceiling to define the dance floor, the cranes provided just the right splash of color!”

“Being obsessed with all things burlap, I incorporated the natural fabric into mason jar candle holders, mini champagne favors and menus to complement the stationery designs. I even asked our florist to use some extra pieces I had left over to wrap my bouquet! For our cake topper, I asked Olga to recreate customized wood dolls I had seen in a bridal magazine. She painted the dolls I bought to resemble our hair, outfits and accessories, and included our wedding date on the base. It turned out even better than I imagined, and was definitely one of my favorite details!”

“The entire day was captured beautifully by a Connecticut-based couple, Rachel and Brian Henderson. I once again owe a huge thank you to my sister for finding this talented team, as we could not be happier with our choice! We felt so comfortable with Rachel and Brian from the first time we met them, and on our wedding day they were just like two extra guests, who just happened to take stunning pictures along the way.

Looking back on our wedding day, I am so grateful for all the help we received from our family and friends in making the day just right, and totally us! From the custom, handmade jewelry crafted by my dad, to the acorns for our wish tree my mother-in-law tracked down on EBay two days before the wedding, this was genuinely a team effort. And best and most important of all, I married my best friend, who put up with me turning our home into craft-central for months in order to turn all of my ideas into reality!”

Mike + Karolina, West Milford, NJ, 10/7/11
Vendors:
Event Design/Planning, Invitations: LLC Events (bride’s DIY business)
Ceremony Location: St. Joseph Church
Reception Location: Ballyowen Golf Club
Photography: 47 Moments Photography
Hair: Melissa Rocco
Makeup: glam2gala
Flowers: Four Seasons Florist
Cupcakes: Baked by Melissa
Transportation: NJ Limo Bus
DJ: Pure Soundz Entertainment

If you loved these images from this New Jersey wedding and are interested in seeing more from this wedding photography team, check out her their site 47 Moments Photography.

You can also check out Brian and Rachel’s preferred photographer business listing in the Emmaline Bride Bridal Book.

All images courtesy of 47 Moments Photography. All Rights Reserved.