I stopped by the local fruit and veggie stand and picked up a fresh bouquet of gerbera daisies for $5.50. I knew they would be perfect for this flower DIY.

I’ve already told you how much I love mason jars. They are the unsung heroes of weddingland. Just recently, I purchased a box of vintage jars from a yard sale for  $1. I knew from the moment I got them in my hot little hands that they would be ideal for use as hanging flower vases.

Groupings of these flower vases look lovely hanging from tree branches. They also make pretty aisle markers when hung from shepherd’s hooks or from the side of a bench or pew. Not only are they super easy to make, they’re inexpensive.

Hanging Flower DIY

You will need:

A mason jar

Wire

Pliers

A bouquet of flowers

Love handmade? There’s a new online boutique that’s all about handcrafted goodness. The boutique is called Orange & Blossom and the products are as fresh and lovely as the name.

Owner Lisa Marie Rovito was a wedding magazine editor (she spent several years at Bridal Guide) before opening the one-of-a-kind boutique specializing in handcrafted wedding embellishments, including jewelry.

Lisa Marie says the shop is designed to appeal to modern, creative, DIY couples looking for something different, meaningful, real.

“We are not an overwhelming site filled with hundreds of links to thousands of products by color and season and price. Just a small selection of beautiful things we love,” she says.

One of my personal favorites in the shop is the eco-friendly bamboo-and-rice-paper parasol. Perfect for an outdoor wedding.

I’m also digging the pomanders which would make beautiful aisle markers.

And check out the heirloom ring bearer pillows. When the wedding is over just snip the ribbons and voila, you have a lovely handcrafted pillow for your bedroom or settee.

Then there is the handcrafted jewlery created by a Hawaiian artist who has a flare for creating one-of-a-kind pieces for brides and bridesmaids. Wouldn’t these earrings be perfect for a beach wedding?

In August, Orange & Blossom will be launching a vintage section filled with enchanting pieces of timeless romance—from a 1940s wedding topper and silver Italian cake serving set to vintage gloves, veils, fans, and cuff links.

And if  all you are looking for is advice on planning your wedding, Orange & Blossom has that too. Along with a blog that offers planning tips, the site offers a 30-minute “virtual consulant” phone call at a fraction of a traditional planner’s fee.

This would be a refreshing treat for a pre-wedding party – or even the wedding itself.  All you need is:

4 1/2 c. watermelon juice

1/2 c. sugar

Big pinch of salt

2 T. freshly squeezed lime juice

For the full instructions on how to make watermelon sorbetto, check out Ms. Adventures in Italy. And don’t forget the watermelon keg.

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Artist Keely Benkey is having a small wedding and decided to put her artistic talents to work by creating her own retro-inspired wedding invitations.

“I was inspired by an artist that I like named Shag. He does retro, 60’s, cool, beatnik type paintings that I really love. We also wanted our wedding to have a 60’s/tiki kind of theme so that kind of art fit perfectly,” says Keely.

Keely says it took her a couple of days to create the artwork, then a few more days to design the invitations in Photoshop. Then there was the assembling.

“It was quite a little bit of work but worth it. I’ll have just what I want, at a price that’s affordable,” says Keely.

Keely says that the original artwork is going into an art journal that she created to document her wedding from the day her fiance’ popped the question, through to the honeymoon. What an amazing idea!

Don’t forget to check out these DIY Invitations which were also created by an artist.

Darcy, 40 & Jason, 28

Boston, Massachusetts

Wedding Date: March 5, 2009

Number of Guests: 32

Wedding Cost: $4,500

Wedding Ceremony Location: Heritage Room, Hotel Lenox

Wedding Reception Location: Azure Restaurant Private Dining Room (Hotel Lenox)

Why did you have an intimate wedding? What are some the challenges that you faced planning an intimate wedding?

Well, originally we’d planned to get married at City Hall, because Jason and I are both students and poor as church mice. (He’s majoring in physics and I’m pursuing my PhD in Medieval History). We also were expecting our first child. (Nell was born in April.) The city hall venue only allows 4 witnesses, though, and my three brothers and two sisters rebelled because they wanted to be part of it. My parents offered to pay for a wedding but we didn’t want to put them to a lot of expense.

We decided to have a simple Justice of the Peace ceremony and a restaurant reception and invite just the closest members of our families: parents, siblings and aunts and uncles. At first that was about 20 people. Jason’s family are from Utah, and we’d only expected his parents to come, but one by one his  five brothers and sisters and their families decided to fly out. We were thrilled, but that meant we needed to find a place that would be good for about 30 people. At first we’d planned to go to Sel de la Terre on Long Wharf, but the room was a bit small for our party. On our way out of Sel de la Terre, we decided to stop into the Lenox to see about possibly renting a room for the wedding night. We immediately fell in love with the beautiful lobby and thought we’d just SEE about their restaurant, Azure. We were sure it was all out of our price range. As it turned out, it was less than the original venue! And the room was just perfect. They also ended up offering us their Heritage Room for the reception at a highly discounted rate. All together it was even less expensive than our first option!

My mother wanted to buy me a wedding dress as her gift to me, and once we found one, I knew we’d have to have a photographer, as well.

Trying to keep costs low we used pre-fab invitations from Papyrus and I printed the program and placecards myself. My sister-in-law did the reception flowers and we got our bouquet, boutonnieres and corsages from Whole Foods, along with the tulips for our ceremony. We got our cake from Konditor Meister in Braintree.

We planned our wedding in just six weeks, but because it was off season we didn’t encounter any trouble. I found my dress the first day we looked. Our cake was easy to select. The hotel was gorgeous. Our JP, who we found on the internet, was charming and warm. Our photographer Lisa Rigby (who we also found on the web) was stunning. In the end we had our dream wedding.

If we’d had a lot of money we might have expanded our list to include 20 or 30 more people and added dancing, but I am glad we didn’t, because we would have had to move to a larger place and I think we would have sacrificed intimacy.