Determined DIY Bride with Boho Vintage Wedding Style
Bride Kassy was determined to host her dream wedding on a budget and without further-destroying the environment. With these goals in mind she set to work on wedding invitations. Each one of their wedding invites were handmade by the bride using recycled paper from a favorite childhood print shop and the Scrap Exchange in Durham, NC. Not only do her DIY wedding invites effortlessly capture the boho style of their wedding, but they are a great example of eco-friendly wedding planning!
Impressed? Hold on, because the DIY wedding creativity is just getting started! Bride Kassy’s wedding dress has an incredible story of its own. Her mom and grandma let her cut up their own wedding dresses to create a vintage bridal gown with a modern twist. Altogether, Kassy’s boho, two-piece wedding dress was made from the lining of her mom’s bridal gown and the lace of her grandma’s. After combining the two materials, Kassy found a beautiful floral fabric on Etsy and used it as an overlay.
First Look and Wedding Portraits at The Museum of Life and Science
Visit The Museum of Life and Science in Durham, NC and you’ll quickly see why couples are choosing to host their weddings at this non-traditional location. Beautiful natural landscape and whimsical science exhibits make this wedding venue a perfect entertainment space. Bride Kassy’s favorite wedding memory was sharing a first look with her groom,
“The moment we first looked at each other the day we were getting married is one that will stand still in my heart and mind forever.”
The Museum has several different wedding packages, each of which offers NC couples a unique combination of their five exhibit spaces: Magic Wings, Museum Wonder, Wings and Wonder, Woods and Wonder, and Intimate Wonder. The best part? Couples get early access to the museum’s campus for unforgettable photo sessions. We are obsessed with Kassy and Brandon’s hilarious bridal party photos on the dinosaur trail!
Outdoor Wedding Ceremony at The Museum of Life and Science
Kassy and Brandon said their vows in an elegant, outdoor wedding ceremony beside the Butterfly House at The Museum of Life and Science. Being completely surrounded by nature and standing beneath a glass building reflecting the landscape fit their wedding theme perfectly. The theme? Life and science of course! Hazy sunset colors and the enchanting silhouettes of tree branches reflected across the glass wedding ceremony backdrop.
One by one, boho bridesmaids dressed in mustard yellow, olive green, burgundy, and black lead the processional down the aisle. Take a close look at their flowers crowns and bouquets, each of which were arranged by the bridal party themselves! On the morning of the wedding, two local flower farmers dropped off buckets of cut flowers for the bridal party’s DIY creativity. The bride and groom’s family put the remaining flowers to good use by arranging them in thrifted vases for reception table centerpieces! The final result being Bride Kassy’s dream “wildflower lover’s paradise.”
Tented Wedding Reception with Thrifty DIY Decor at The Museum of Life and Science
Everything about Kassy and Brandon’s tented, outdoor wedding reception will give you DIY inspiration! Boho linens, mismatched china, and glass teacup candle-holders are just a few of the amazing wedding decor items that they were able to find at local thrift stores. The bride and groom turned to Party Reflections rental store for only one item: flatware. Instead of your average numerical table numbers, guests found their tables by looking for vintage, framed bug illustrations! Altogether, the eclectic wedding reception design looked warm and inviting beneath a tent ceiling covered in twinkle lights.
Durham Catering Co. supplied the wedding reception with an unforgettable feast. Bride kassy wishes that she could eat Durham Catering Co. every single day,
“Everything was delicious and Durham Catering Co. was a pleasure to work with from start to finish. We also love that it is a female owned company!”
Brandon and Kassy’s wedding was truly a product of generous friends and family. The bride’s dad handmade all of the dessert stands from a tree he cut down himself! Both sets of parents and grandparents helped with wedding day set up and clean up. At the end of a spectacular evening of dancing and celebration, guests went home with a jar of honey from local beekeeper Leigh-Kathryn of Bee Downtown.
Brandon and Kassy exited their wedding reception through a tunnel of sparklers. After it all, Kassy says The Museum of Life and Science was everything they hoped for and more,
“They helped bring our adult guests back to their childhood and our child guests live out their “Night at the Museum” fantasies. We had so much fun and loved our non-traditional venue!”
Since the wedding, the newlyweds bought their first home together in Durham. Kassy works as a pediatric nurse practitioner and Brandon is an Associate Scientist at KBI in Research Triangle Park.
Discover more amazing NC museum wedding inspo here.
