Mia and Jake arrived at their Illinois venue with two U-Hauls full of the bride’s creations to decorate the space. From the décor to the table plan, the flowers to the stained glass ceremony structures – she made it all herself. She had spent almost two years making the wedding by hand. Stained glass, thrifted lace, moss purses, fused flowers, watercolour name cards, terrariums, bouquets, signage, hair pieces, and décor for more than one hundred guests. She even did make-up and hair for herself, her mum, and the flower girl. Nothing about this day came from a shop. It all came from the art room in her apartment.

Mia had always called the theme ‘The Whimsical Wedding of Jake and Mia’. She and Jake grew up on fantasy books and loved the idea of a magical garden that felt alive. She said, “I don’t think its everyday you have a bride doing fused glass flowers, making all the signage by hand, doing all the florals, and doing her hair and make-up.”

Their ceremony was emotional for a lot of reasons. Not least of all because her father suffered a stroke moments before and had to be taken off to hospital (he was OK thank goodness, but did need surgery!) Mia’s mum stepped in to walk her down the aisle.

Instead of a more usual sand ceremony, the couple put together a terrarium, which they called Terra d’Amore. They filled it with moss from their venue, their joint hen/stag trip, the river where they white-water rafted, their apartments, and the bride’s mum’s house. The terrarium closing ritual ended in a wax seal during the ceremony. “Our vows were perfect”, she remembered. “We have been together for seven years so it’s hard to say things you don’t already say on a daily basis. It was such a special moment publicly declaring our love to one another while speaking so intimately.”

The reception then unfolded as a full-scale gallery of their lives. Every guest received a thrifted frame chosen specifically for them, filled with a photo of that person with the couple. Some frames held family portraits. She wanted people to take something real home, not a token.

Her prized Facebook Marketplace mirror became the seating chart. She had collected décor for each table, coordinating style and colour across the room. She said, “I wasn’t interested in buying any décor so I knew if I wanted something I had to make it myself. Doing our own florals was a very big money saver, however it added on a lot of extra work. We had to prep all the flowers the week before, change waters, and then transport them to the venue, and then actually set them all up. It saved us money, but we lost a little sanity!”

The bride stayed confident in her vision even when people doubted the workload. “Everyone was super worried for me doing all the DIY’s myself and worried I was over extending myself. I felt very confident with my plan but I worried a lot of people when I would say ‘the plan is in my head, I got this’.”

“I think it’s super important to try to understand what’s important to you specifically for your own wedding. We have access to millions of ideas on Pinterest, TikToks, and highlight reels of everyone’s special days. You cannot expect to have the highlights of five weddings at your own without the grand budget associated with it. DIY what you can, decide what truly matters to you, and don’t be afraid to put your own spin on things.”