Kelly Olson Creative

Planning big ticket items like venues and transportation all seem to be super easy to book and plan- call it in, reserve the date, bada bing.  The nitty gritty wedding planning comes down to details.  It is all those little things that drive you crazy. But, they are so dang essential.  We had so many ideas for little things that really helped us make our wedding ours.  I am totally brain dumping again, so bear with my blabber!

1. Attire- One of the first decisions I made was about the bridesmaid dresses.  I knew early on that I wanted them mismatched.  If you know me at all, this was so not typical Kell.  I am normally type-A to the max, orderly, and super organized.  This just felt right, though.  Different dresses in similar shades.  All long, but many different styles.  I thought the dresses should reflect the people in them.  It absolutely did that.  My gal pals looked stunning and I am so happy with how it turned out (I didn’t even see them all together till the morning of the wedding. GASP).  I also loved the ties that D picked out for the guys.  He scoured Etsy for the perfect ones.  We ultimately landed on this seller.  They turned out wonderful! We went with our gut on attire and didn’t look back once!
   

   

   

   
2. Old, new, borrowed, blue- Admittedly, this was something I put off. I didn’t have all these details nailed down till the week of the wedding.  I did though, have a ‘something blue’ for a while.  Dillon’s sister Maddy is one of the craftiest people you’d ever meet.  She painted the soles of my wedding heels blue.  It was a sweet touch, and even sweeter because my new sister did them for me!  The rest of my old, borrowed, and new came from a little pouch.  This tiny satin pouch had a blue flower design on the front, and inside held a penny from 1984, the year my parents were married.  My mom actually had this pouch in her shoe when she got married, and on my day, she pinned the pouch to the inside of my dress.  She even put another penny from 2016 in it as well.  I love thinking that one day, if we have a daughter, she could use it too!  My something new was my jewelry and the dress of course.
3. Wooden Pieces-  Since our wedding had a definite aesthetic, we wanted to do what we could to carry it throughout.  Fortunate for us, one of our best friends Kevin is super talented in hand crafting wooden pieces.  He made the ring box Dillon proposed with, our seating chart frame, and our beautiful card box.  We were inspired by his work and we added some other easy DIY wooden pieces like table blocks, Instagram signs, and other signs/ info.  These were some of my favorite details!
4. Guest Book-  Dillon had such a brilliant idea for the guest book.  We gathered a bunch of instant Polaroid cameras from friends and families, put out film, and told our guests to snap a photo/ sign it/ and put it in the album!  It was such a cool idea, that was super easy to execute.  Your selfies you took now live on our coffee table for all to see 😛
5. Sweets Table- My new mother-in-law is a great cook and a crazy amazing baker.  Her cookies are to die for!  She helped organize our sweets table at the reception.  We bucked tradition and opted for a multitude of sweets instead of the classic tiered wedding cake.  We had a simple topper for us to cut, but everyone else had cookies, cupcakes, brownies, mini cheesecakes, and lots of chocolate milk!  Dill suggested chocolate milk-what a darn cute touch.
6. Sparkler Exit- I gushed over pins about sparkler exits for a long time.  Bless my parents for making the drive to Indiana to get the jumbo sparklers that last extra long!  We danced out of the reception to a sweet farewell from friends and family holding tons of sparklers as we hopped in our limo!
   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   
7. Cocktail Napkins- ETSY, PEOPLE. You can find anything you dream of. We printed our hashtag in gold font on ivory napkins.  We scattered the napkins throughout the bar, and loved seeing every one- drink in hand and our own little napkins!
8. Confetti- Here was another little piece of pinspiration.  I saw pictures of confetti and bridal parties, and I wanted it.  But, I also knew I wanted to take pictures outside.  Enter, biodegradable confetti! Seriously, this world has it all. I packed it away in my MOHs’ emergency bag and pulled it out while we took pictures outside.  So happy our friends were down for my crazy ideas- the pictures turned out great!
9. Miscellaneous Stationary (menus, programs, place-cards)- We worked closely with our designer, Alex, on our big paper products for the wedding.  When it came to menus, programs, and place cards, we DIY’ed all the way.  Dillon has become handy with Photoshop, so putting these together was a blast.  We looked for inspiration and used our invites as a basis for designs.
10. Toss bouquets/ Garters- I like to think I am a pretty good wedding planner, but these things were NEWS TO ME!  I did some research nearing the wedding and, turns out, most people these days actually use toss garters and bouquets.  That way, the originals are yours to keep.  I ordered my garter from an Etsy shop, which actually came in a pair of toss and keep garters.  With a simple request, our florist put together a small toss bouquet.  How practical, and sentimental. (TBH, I am real concerned with the sentimental.  Having a hard time tossing anything out from this wedding!  Your RSVP’s you sent in months ago? Yep, still have them all.  I’ve got a problem…)
    

    

    

    

    

    

These were all little things that were really the fun details.  Pieces that take some time and planning really tie the whole day together!  Be inspired by others and take the time on the little things.  It makes the day you.