The Vagabond Wedding – Preparations

A few days ago, I promised you guys a VagabondWedding series, so here it is!  This will actually probably be one of my favorite posts of the series, personally, because of how much effort, teamwork, and meaning went into the things in these photographs. Have fun browsing the photos, and stick around at the end for the how’s and what’s! ♥

1-6. The Bouquets- When it came to the bouquets, I knew I wanted something special and unique. I loved the brooch bouquets but felt they were a little flashy for me. I’m an avid reader, though, so the book page flowers made perfect sense. I (along with several very dedicated friends of mine!) hand-cut and folded the flowers out of the first gift that VagabondHusband ever gave me – a copy of The Lucky One by Nicholas Sparks. He’s a very quiet veteran and, despite knowing him since childhood, I didn’t quite understand him and how he works. He gave me the book when we first started talking and were heading into ‘dating’ territory, and said something along the lines of ‘Read it, and maybe you’ll understand a little better. Obviously, it worked. We collected the brooches from all over – many were picked up on various vacations and trips we took together, and I also had several very dear friends contribute brooches as well. My daughter’s bouquet and mine had matching butterfly brooches, which have special meaning to us. The buttons in the center of the flowers were buttons from my great-grandfather’s shirt. Also, there was a locket on the front with a picture of my grandfather who passed away when I was 15, and the back had a charm that I made out of buttons two friends sent me – neither could be at the wedding and I wanted them ‘with’ me, so this was the best I could do. ♥ Everything about the bouquets, from the collecting the pieces to the assembly, holds a special place in my heart because of all of the collective work and heart that went into them. I now sell these in my Etsy shop! 

7-8. The Boutonnieres. - It took me forever to decide on what I wanted to do for boutonnieres. I finally found an image (that I can’t find now, of course, so someone feel free to link me if they know who did it!) somewhere online of something similar to these. A friend of mine and I sat down and made these just a few nights before the wedding. Many of the buttons match the buttons on the burlap flowers in my bouquet and also came from my great-grandfather’s clothes. 

9. The Hairpiece - I almost don’t even want to talk about this darn thing! It’s a beauty, and I love it, but it took about four tries to get it right. The original is is up for sale on my Etsy, but a friend of mine said it reminded her of a bird’s nest and I couldn’t look at it the same after. My friend Crystal and I sat down and made this just a day or two before the wedding. The huge feather coming out of the bottom, which I feel really makes the piece, was her idea. She’s a genius! The center brooch came from my photographer, Amanda, who is a life-long friend. ♥

10. The Jewelry – I hunted and searched all over the place for jewelry to wear in the wedding, and never found anything I liked. Being a Southern girl who generally balks at the idea of being ‘southern’, I find it slightly amusing that I wound up wearing my mother’s pearls. At first, I wasn’t keen on the idea but, when I put them on the morning of the wedding, I definitely teared up. My mom is terminally ill, so I did all of the wedding planning myself in order to keep her away from the stress and chaos – having this little but very visible piece of her meant a lot to me. 

11. The Shoes – I was originally going to go barefoot, but decided that shoes would probably be a good idea. I never once considered heels or dress shoes. It was going to be barefoot, my infamous moccasins, or my chucks. Seeing as how VagabondHusband and I had worn matching chucks for two photo sessions with Amanda already, it only made sense for us to do the same this time around. He had decided that he and the groomsmen were going to wear chucks, so I donned my rainbow version as well. The week before the wedding, I realized that this would mean a photo op with the shoes and plain ol’ socks wouldn’t do. After much debate, I decided against knee-high striped rainbow socks and went with frilly little girl socks like the ones I always wore to church. They were perfect! 

12. The Garter(s) - I made the crochet lace and green ribbon garter first, but then realized that I needed one to toss. It was made out of a scrap of vintage lace and I didn’t have anything similar, so I went with something completely different for m ‘to-toss’ garter. Honestly, it’s a piece of lace, black bias binding, and elastic. Super easy to make! The crochet lace garter was the first thing I completed for the wedding, and I fell so in love with the colors that I used it to coordinate the bouquets as well. ♥


Hope you enjoyed the first look into The Vagabond Wedding! We have several more posts to go, so keep an eye out for updates!