DIY Oregon Fall Wedding by Nate Broshot

When a bride sends me her wedding and tells me she found most of her DIY project inspiration from my blog, I have to say my heart melts just a little bit. Then when she proceeds to tell me that she and the ladies in her family picked out, purchased and arranged all of the flowers and bouquets the day before the wedding, I'm pretty sure this is one chick we can all learn a thing or two from. Highschool sweethearts Kelley and Matt were married on September 17th at Rogue Valley Country Club in Medford, Oregon and their celebration was a completely adorable handmade affair. Scroll on to soak in the gorgeous images from Nate Broshot of a License to Still and be sure to check out the helpful advice from Kelley herself at the end of the post! This is one wedding I would have loved to be a guest at.

Kelley's dress was created by local Portland designer Lena Medoyeff and aside from being completely gorgeous on her, she tells me it was super comfy. Being able to get married in a super styling gown that's as comfortable as it is beautiful while supporting a local designer? That's a win win in my books. I love that perfect bow too. Oh and I hate to state the obvious by Kelley you are beautiful!

The girls.

Kelley and Matt decided to do a first look which she describes as her fave moment of the day....

...except as luck would have it, during their first look photos it started to rain. And not just a little bit of rain but a complete downpour forcing their ceremony indoors. Yet Kelley says instead of feeling annoyed or stressed that the weather was ruining her plans she instead was filled with so much joy and love that nothing, rain included, would get in the way of her happiness. While the brides parents and venue employees frantically moved chairs and the arbour her dad made for them to get married under inside, Matt and Kelley could do nothing but smile and look forward to finally getting hitched. And how cool is this? It rained on both Kelley and Matt's parents wedding days. It must be a sign for a long and happy marriage. And thankfully they scored this phenom photo below. Le sigh. 

Dear Kelley and Matt, please get this photo made into a canvas. Love Me.

Are these peachy coloured blooms not the prettiest blooms you've ever seen?

Some details. All made by the bride herself.

{Advice to future brides} It is so easy to get wrapped up in the details of the wedding such as the guest list, location, bridal party, dress, hair, flowers, cake, the list goes on and on. Don’t get me wrong, I think those are all important details that need to be planned out, but my advice is to not get so wrapped up in them that you loose sight of what you are doing all of this for – to marry the love of your life. I had spent so much time planning out each and every detail, like the table centerpieces and then I realized the day of the wedding I did not even stop to notice how they looked on the tables. Why did I not notice? I was having so much fun laughing, dancing and celebrating with my new husband, family and friends! My point: don’t forget the reason for this day. There will always be something (or many things) you look back on and wish you would have done differently or great ideas you wish you would have thought of. However, at the end of the day I would rather enjoy my wedding to the fullest then have each and every detail perfectly in place and not feel truly happy.

{Biggest Obstacle Planning} The guest list! My husband has a huge family (most of them are from Chicago) and our reception location had a limit so it was very challenging to meet that due to our large guest list. This was probably our one and only major conflict during the planning process. At one point, I wanted to cancel the wedding and elope because I was so frustrated that we couldn't seem to agree on the guest list. I am so glad we didn't cancel the wedding and elope!

{Fun Fact} We got engaged on May 3, 2010 and originally set our wedding date for July 16th, 2011. I thought I needed a really long time to plan the wedding, but I quickly realized that I just couldn't wait that long. One month after getting engaged, I had practically planned the whole thing out in my head anyway!  After some convincing, I talked Matt into moving the wedding date up by 10 months. He thought I was crazy, but I kept telling him to trust me and have faith that I could do it! Sure enough, I did! (With help from my mom of course). I am so glad that we moved the date up. We got married in the fall, which I have always wanted and having around 4 months to plan was just the right amount of time for me. I realize that some people need more time to plan. I think it depends on your personality, how you like to make decisions and your schedule. I like to make up my mind quickly plus I wasn't working at the time and had pretty much all day every day to plan, plan, plan!

And Kelley and Matt's rained out wedding day is proof that this...

Can turn to this...

But this will still be just as magical and special.

A big thank you Kelley for sharing your incredibly special wedding day with us. Be sure to check out her blog where she shares lots of goodies on projects, interior design and life as a newlywed! xo