One year ago, and the memories are fresh as if it were yesterday!! I think we can agree that Nate and my dad are pretty good on the dance floor.
See our First Dance here:
See our Father-Daughter Dance here:
(And how cool is the surprise dholi we had enter during the father-daughter dance?! Watch the video to see my surprise reaction. On a scale from 1-10 that was a solid 10 epic surprise)
When planning a wedding, one of the very first things you consider is the type of wedding you want and the budget to go along with your dream. It isn’t always easy to have those two things come together seamlessly unless you have all the resources available without the concern of finances. That’s why DIY (or do-it-yourself) is a great way to cut costs and bring some of those wedding expenses down – and dreams to life – using your own creativity. Be aware – there’s a cost to that too, just not always in dollars.
It Starts With YES!
When Nate proposed, we were in Amsterdam, Netherlands on a high – figuratively not literally. (read about it here) Excited from the thrill of getting engaged on this European trip, planning a wedding in that moment was not on the forefront of our minds. We hadn’t even chosen a date for our wedding until weeks following our engagement. I am such a planner, so I needed time to organize our wedding with guests from overseas, so we decided on March 17, 2018, St. Patrick’s Day. This was the perfect day to have our Pakistani/Irish fusion wedding. I wanted the Pakistani features and Nate is Irish, so he wanted to incorporate some Irish elements into our special day.
Looking a year ahead gave us much needed time to sort out details for this fusion wedding and put finances on paper. Thankfully, our parents were able to help, but how much would this all cost?
We visited vendors which was exciting and full of promise. Yet, when we started to talk dollars and cents, we began to realize that we needed to scale down considerably on some of our “wants.” Our budget was limited. One of the more shocking realizations was finding out that for flowers; personal flowers such as bouquets, boutonnieres, and corsages along with centerpiece arrangements and other floral décor, would cost over $2000 USD. As much as I LOVE fresh flowers, spending $2000 on that one detail was out of the question.
Famous Last Words
Ideas began to formulate. I knew I wanted to incorporate elements of crochet into my wedding, and the more I considered it, the more it made sense for me to make all of the flowers. I knew it would be a lofty goal. Hand crocheting 200+ flowers for all my floral elements, as well as 200 place card meal flowers, was no easy task. But spending $2000 on bouquets and arrangement fresh flowers, which will wilt and be discarded was hard to contemplate. I could save a huge chunk of money if I did these myself. So, it was decided almost a year ahead of time, I would crochet the flowers. I had plenty of time, right?
I think I remember vaguely in the fog of my over-zealous wedding-muddled mind, Nate saying to me,
“Are you sure you want to do that? I don’t want you to get too stressed out…..” Brides and stress? Phfft…
Oh, how prophetic that conversation would be.
My flip response was something on the lines of,
“No worries, I won’t get stressed. It’s a year away. I have plenty of time.” Eye-roll please…
The Best Laid Plans…
Eleven months in advance may seem like plenty of time to take on a project like this. That is if you have NOTHING to do BUT this. I started out pretty well. I decided on using Red Heart Yarns Aunt Lydia’s Thread in the colors of my bridesmaids’ dresses for their bouquets and a throw bouquet. I would pair the groomsmen’s boutonnieres in coordinating colors. My bouquet would be shades of red and Nate would have a matching flower to mine. I could get a jump start on place card flowers once I decided on the coinciding meal. I would crochet similar coordinating flowers to use for my table centerpieces. Easy peasy lemon squeezy. Puhll-eeaaazzze…I got this!
I mapped out the year. I could crochet three flowers a day which would put me on a course to finish in plenty of time for the wedding. It would give me an ample time-frame to make bouquets, plan those centerpieces, decide on any other arrangements, and color code all the seating place cards. The only thing is, I had to stay on task. One missed day meant the next day I had to make six flowers. One missed week meant making 21 flowers to catch up. Do you get my drift? Don’t even ask what it required to catch up on a lost month. There are no words…
(If you are looking for a tutorial on how to make these flowers, click here)
Fast forward to six weeks before the wedding and my fingers felt like they were falling off due to the insane flower making schedule I had going on. Every plan and deadline shot to hell. I even sliced my hand with that tiny 1mm crochet hook I was using! Haha! I remember at 2 a.m one morning, my eyes going crossed and mind delirious, thinking up curse words while miscounting my stitches, and repeating over and over that I will NEVER crochet with thread or make another flower in MY LIFE ever again. I must have asked myself a hundred times…WHY!? Why did I decide to do this?!
Honestly….This is why….
This Is What Dreams Are Made Of
I am such a detail person. It comes from my mama. And just like my mama, I believe those tiny details matter. Every single one of these details mattered to me. I would not have done it otherwise. Looking back, I know I complained, I may have even cried, but the results of all the hard work and late nights paid off. Each detail, each flower, each element came together in perfect harmony on our wedding day and it was so worth it! So, so worth it! Details, details, details….
The bouquets I designed consisted of 12-14 crochet flowers in the final assembly. I accented the burst of color using gold beads, gold tulle, gold ribbon, and gold jewels to wrap the handle of the bouquet holders I chose. I crocheted roses for my bridal bouquet and crocheted an assortment of handmade flowers for the bridesmaids and the throw bouquet. My sister-in-law/maid-of-honor and I still have the scars from the blisters burned on our hands from the hot glue! Bouquet assembly was not easy!
Each boutonniere consisted of a coordinating crocheted single flower attached to a stem and leaf. For Nate’s two younger brother’s, I created a trio of crocheted small flowers as an alternate look since they were our ushers and groomsmen! Even our little ring bearer had his own!
Each centerpiece was a combination of Moroccan Lanterns alternating with floating candles on opposite tables. Small votive candlesaccented each table, along with the gold framed table number we added Salal Lemon Leaf and Evergreen Huckleberry for a splash of deep green on our black table cloth linens. I accented the leaves with a combination of three crochet flowers on one side and an accent flower on the opposite side of the arrangement for a splash of crochet color and balance.
For the last table detail, we added small place card holders that were tiny replicas of brass oil lamps. Each name card was paired with a tiny crochet flower detail indicating the meal choice of each guest and inserted into the place card holder. I had four meal options, and each option had a color coordinated flower that matched the meal choice of each guest. Each place card was printed with our guests’ names, and I attached a tiny flower on the end with a gold brad using a paper hole-punch. This tiny, but impressive, element was a huge hit with our guests!
It Doesn’t Stop There
Aside from the details that adorned our tables, we had a couple other crochet specifics that I incorporated into our wedding day. Since it was a Pakistani/Irish Fusion wedding a few live flower arrangements had elements of plants indigenous to Ireland. Bells of Ireland mixed with Fringe Cups, Burdock, Thistle, Ladies Mantle, Clover and an assortment of other greens decorated our reception room. I decided to add crochet Calla Lilies to this greenery mix! I found an amazing pattern by Happy Patty and purchased it from her Etsy Shop! I fell in love with these Irish fused greenery arrangements even more with this added detail. Bittersweet Florist was fun to work with and loved the idea of adding crochet Callas. They had never seen crochet lilies before!
It may seem like an overwhelming amount of crochet flowers and crochet elements added to the wedding day. I did not want it to look like too many crocheted components pulled together, hoping it appeared as attractive as imagined when I started on this project. When we put it all together, it wasn’t at all over the top or too much. It was just the right amount. I even added the Henna Inspired Mandala as a table top cover in our reception area. I used it under some Huckleberry leaves to accent our seating chart table. Subtle yet lovely…a tiny splash of crochet color made it just the perfect element to add in this one spot.
It’s All in the Details
It took a lot of planning, but that’s my thing. I love planning, and details can make all the difference. Like I mentioned, I am a detail oriented person and being a bride didn’t change any of this. In fact, it amped it up! Just be careful not to get caught up in too many little things. It can suck you in! Doing all these crochet elements made this uniquely my own. It was such a wonderful feeling that I made each of these details come to life with crochet.
In the end, each guest had a small crochet take-away aside from their wedding favor. My bridesmaids, men of honor, groomsmen, ring bearer, and family, each had their flowers to have as a keepsake from our special day. One lucky guest caught the Throw Bouquet! Even the centerpiece flowers became souvenirs for some guests. We could not ask for more! This is what every bride should feel. I accomplished this incredible feat and brought a lot of joy not only to myself but to each guest who attended our wedding. It truly mattered in showing each person who attended how special they are and how much it meant to us that they were to celebrate our love.
In the end, I crocheted 140 centerpiece flowers, 70 bouquet flowers, 19 boutonniere flowers, 3 wrist corsages, 200 place card flowers, as well as the Calla Lilies to accent the greenery arrangement, the Henna Inspired Mandalaand lastly, I did make each of my girls a special wedding shawl which I will share in a separate blog. I did this work all in the months leading up to our wedding. It wasn’t easy, but it was so very special. I saved more than $1,500.00 USD by doing this myself.
Do-It-Yourself: Lovely But Not Easy
My advice for anyone planning to take on the task of DIY projects for your wedding would be to plan it out, give yourself plenty of time to tackle a project of this magnitude, know the commitment you are making because it can overwhelm you, and it is ok to get frustrated. Just don’t take on a project that consumes you to the point that you lose the joy in the reason you started this in the first place. With the right frame of mind, in the end, you will have a wedding that has the special added touches that make it your unique day with elements that are talked about for years! Always remember: This is YOUR special day do what feels right for YOU. Have fun and enjoy it all!
Watch this video tutorial to learn how to make wedding flowers:
A special thank you to the following:
Our amazing parents for supporting us and making all our dreams come true.
Our entire wedding party for helping us through this whole journey and being the best wedding party ever!!
All of our guests, you are so special to us, and we were so happy to celebrate our special day with each and every one of you!
This post contains affiliate links, which I may be compensated for when you make a purchase. That means if you click on any link and buy from the linked websites, I will receive a small percentage of the value of your order. The amount you pay is not changed. Thank you for all your support in clicking the links in my blog!! You all are so amazing!! ~Nadia
There are eight weeks left before our wedding, and this week the invitations were sent! I will be waiting for the RSVPs to come in and will be busy crocheting the color coded “meal flowers” immediately.
My colors are all jewel tones – an amethyst purple, dark sapphire blue, and an emerald/teal green and of course gold. Each flower indicates a coordinating meal and will be attached to each escort card.
Our reception will be a plated dinner and our selections are the following:
Chicken Option:
(Nadia’s Favorite Food) Chicken (Murgh) Makhani
A Pakistani dish consisting of a spiced curry mixture of cream, tomato, and butter,
blended together with full flavored roasted boneless chicken pieces served with Basmati rice.
Beef/Seafood Option:
(Nate’s Favorite Food) Steak/Salmon
6 oz. center cut sirloin steak with king salmon, paired with house whipped Yukon gold potatoes and fresh garlic hericot vert
Vegetarian Option:
(Combined Favorite) Classic Pesto Linguini
Linguini in light pesto cream with artichoke hearts, sun-dried tomatoes, spinach, onions, and shaved parmesan served with garlic toast
For all kids, we will be serving signature Mac & Cheese.
Before planning a wedding, one never realizes the details that go into coordinating such an event!
Since we are having a Pakistani/Irish fusion wedding held on St. Patrick’s Day weekend, there are fun details from both of our cultures being incorporated into our special day.
My Mehndi is being held a day before our wedding and this event is a fun day for the ladies. The Henna Ceremony, or the Rasm-e-henna ceremony, typically takes place one or two days prior to the main wedding day. Mehndi is a form of body art from Ancient India, in which decorative designs are created on a person’s body, using a paste, created from the powdered dry leaves of the henna plant. The henna is symbolically placed on the bride’s hands and feet by a professional mehndi artist. The designs are very intricate. Often hidden within the mehndi pattern the name or initials of the groom are applied. In Pakistan, the Mehndi is often one of the most important pre-wedding ceremonies. This ritual is supposed to bring good luck and longevity to the bride’s married life.
The wedding day will all be held at the same place with our ceremony being held in one part of the venue and reception and dinner in the banquet room.
The Walima (Groom’s Reception) is a meal that is held the day after the wedding. It is a feast of traditional Pakistani foods. It is at this ceremony that the bride and groom are formally and publicly showcased as a married couple.
Thankfully we are able to do much of the wedding DIY ourselves. My mom and I have been on the go for the past week, (well since I got engaged, but more so in the past week!) and we have been able to check a lot off the to-do list. We are definitely do-ers and planners! Nate has been sooo incredibly helpful as well, and of course, my dad weighs in to share ideas about the Pakistani parts of our wedding.
We met with our amazing DJ and planned out the music for the best dance party!
I may have mentioned in an earlier blog post that I plan to make all my flowers myself. I have been working on all the flowers for the bouquets, boutonnières, corsages, and centerpieces.
We started to put together an arrangement this past weekend to come up with how to incorporate the crochet flowers into our centerpieces. This was just a rough start, but we are loving how they look against the Lemon Leaf greenery. I have gotten a good start on the flowers and have about 150-175 left to crochet aside from those tiny meal flowers which I will know more when those RSVPs come in.
I crocheted my girls the Wrapped In Jewels Shawl which I will be gifting to them at our Rehearsal dinner. I shared those with you at the end of last year, and I was able to cross that off my list. I also have the Henna Inspired Mandalas that I crocheted and hope to somehow incorporate those into the weekend but not sure where.
Details, details, details!! I love the creative parts of the planning, but the logistics are giving me a touch of worry trying to keep everything straight and organized. So far, it is all coming together very well. My excitement is growing by the day! More updates to come!! Thank you for joining me on this journey!!
~Nadia
My dad will continue to be the videographer, editor, and photographer for our videos when I move away.
Support YARNutopia today so we can continue to bring you clear, quality crochet tutorials even after I get married and move into my new home! There will be an added expense of more travel and hopefully this won’t deter our ability to provide consistent videos on a weekly basis.
Aunt Lydia’s Crochet Thread Patterns Redheart Now Has Crochet Thread Red Heart Blog – laikas.info
I have a year to plan for a wedding and I have all kinds of ideas to incorporate crochet. One of the first things that came to mind when I viewed our venue was to match the jewel tones of our color scheme with the jewel tones of the hall. I came up with this mandala idea to use as table accents for either our memory table, gift table, or to place underneath our cake. If I get really inspired, I may use these on the dinner tables as center pieces, but that’s a long-shot! I have a lot of ambition, but only a year. This isn’t my only idea to have crochet in our wedding, so many more crochet projects are to come!
This mandala was inspired by the henna design on my hands that I had done for our engagement photos. This photo shows my first trial attempt at creating the pattern before filming the tutorial. I used different colors for both of them, but they are stunning!
Follow along with this video tutorial to learn how to make this Henna Inspired Mandala:
Designed by Nadia Fuad You *may* sell items made from my pattern, but please reference my website YARNutopia.com.
Please do not copy, sell, and/or post this pattern and claim it as your own.
You can buy any of the items in this kit. Buy all or buy one item. Check it out to see the supplies you can get online to make this mandala!
NOTES:
-This project uses less than 600 yards of yarn.
-Use a smaller hook to make these smaller
-Use a bigger hook to make these bigger
-Watch the FULL video tutorial for visual instructions for each round.
-Weave in all the ends as you go so you don’t have to weave them all in at the very end.
-This Mandala is 33 inches across (84 cm)
Special stitches:
Ch(s): chain(s)
YO: Yarn Over
St(s): Stitch(es)
prev.: Previous
Sl st: slip stitch
SC: Single Crochet
HDC: Half Double Crochet
DC: Double Crochet
TR: Treble Crochet
TR2TOG: Treble Crochet 2 Together (Decrease)
DTR: Double Treble
Picot: Ch 3, Sl st to 3rd ch from hook
Pattern:
If you have any confusion or difficulty with reading this pattern, please watch the video tutorial to have visual instructions.
Mandala:
With Cobalt Blue
Start with Magic Ring or Ch 4, Sl st in 1st ch to form a ring Rnd 1: Ch up 3 (Counts as DC here and throughout), 11 DC into ring. Sl st to beg ch up 3. Fasten off. (12)
Rnd 2: In any st around, Attach Fuchsia, Ch 1, SC in same st, * CH 3, SK 1 st, SC in next st, repeat from * around. Sl st to 1st sc. (6 ch 3 sps)
Rnd 3: Sl st into ch 3 sp, Ch 1, *[SC, HDC, DC, HDC,TR, HDC, DC, HDC, SC] in ch 3 sp, Sl st in SC, repeat from * around, sl st to first SC, Fasten off. (6 petals total)
Rnd 4: Attach Kelly Green to any TR of any petal, Ch 1, SC in same st, *Ch 5, SC in middle TR of next Petal, Repeat from * around, sl st to 1st sc.
Rnd 5: Sl st in ch 5 sp, Ch up 3, 6 DC in same ch 5 sp, 7 DC in each ch 5 sp around. Sl st to ch up 3. Fasten off. (42 sts)
Rnd 6: Attach Royal Blue in any st. Ch 1, SC in same st, *Ch 3, Sk next st, SC in next st, repeat from * around, finishing with ch 1, HDC in 1st sc (so you start next round in the center of the ch sp–see video tutorial) (21 ch 3 sps)
Rnd 7: Ch 1, SC around the HDC from the previous round, *Ch 3, SC in next ch 3 sp, repeat from * around, sl st to 1st sc. Fasten off. (21 Ch 3 sps)
Rnd 8: Attach Cobalt Blue to any ch 3 sp, CH up 1, 3 SC in ch 3 sp, *Ch 1, 3 SC in next ch 3 sp, repeat from * around, sl st to 1st sc. Fasten off.
Rnd 9: Attach Plum Purple to any ch 1 sp, ch up 3, 5 DC in same sp, * Sl st in middle SC of 3 SC grouping, 5 DC in next ch 1 sp, repeat from * around, sl st to beg ch up 3. Fasten off.
Rnd 10: Attach Robins Egg to any middle DC of any shell, Ch 1, SC in same st, *Ch 6, SC in middle DC of next shell, repeat from * around, Sl st to beg sc. (21 ch 6 sps)
Rnd 11: Sl st in ch 6 sp, ch up 1, [SC, HDC, DC, HDC, TR, DTR, TR, HDC, DC, HDC, SC] in each ch 6 sp around. Sl st to beg. sc. Fasten off. (21 petals)
Rnd 12: Attach Pagoda to any DTR of any petal, Ch 1, SC in same st, *Ch 7, SC in DTR of next petal, repeat from * around, sl st to 1st SC. (21 ch 7 sps)
Rnd 13: Sl st in ch 7 sp, Ch up 3, 9 DC in same sp, 10 DC in each ch sp around, sl st to beg. ch 3. Fasten off (210 DC)
Rnd 14: Attach Kelly Green to any gap between the 10 DC grouping (See video tutorial for specific location), Ch 1, SC in same gap, *Ch 6, Sk 5 sts, SC BETWEEN 5th and 6th DC of the grouping, Ch 6, sk 5 sts, DC in the gap between the groupings, repeat from * around, ending with Ch 3, DC in beg. SC (so you start the next round in the center of the ch sp) (42 Ch 6 sps)
Rnd 15: Ch 1, SC around DC of prev. round. *Ch 6, SC in next ch sp, repeat from * around ending with Ch 3, DC in beg. SC. (42 Ch 6 sps)
Rnd 16: Repeat Round 15
Rnd 17: Ch 1, SC around DC of prev. round, *Ch 7, SC in next ch sp, Ch 3, SC in next ch sp, repeat from * around, sl st to beg. SC. Fasten off. (21 Ch 7 sps, 21 Ch 3 sps)
Rnd 18: Attach Robins Egg to any Ch 3 sp, Ch 1, SC in same sp, *Ch 1, [5 DC, ch 2, 5 DC] in ch 7 sp, Ch 1, SC in next ch 3 sp, Repeat from * around, sl st to beg. sc. Fasten off. (210 SC)
Rnd 19: Attach Fuchsia to any ch 2 sp between the 5 DC groupings, Ch 1, SC in same sp, *Ch 2, 7 DC in the next SC, Ch 2, SC in next ch 2 sp, repeat from * around, sl st to first sc. Fasten off.
Rnd 20: Attach Royal Blue to any ch 2 sp, Ch up 1, *2 SC in Ch 2 sp, SC in SC, 2 SC in Ch 2 sp, SC in each st, repeat around. Sl st to first SC. (252 SC)
Rnd 21: Working in BLO, ch up 1, SC in each st around. (252 sc) Fasten off.
Rnd 22: Attach Plum Perfect to any st, Ch 5 (Counts as DC + Ch 2), DC in same st, *SK 2 Sts, V-Stitch in next st, repeat from * around, sl st to the 3rd ch of the beg. ch 5. Fasten off. (268 DC–134 V-stitches)
Rnd 23: Attach Cobalt Blue to any ch 2 sp, ch up 3, 2 DC in same sp, *Ch 1, 3 DC in next ch 2 sp, repeat from * around, sls t to beg. ch 3. Fasten off. (84 groups of 3 DC–252 DC)
Rnd 24: Attach Kelly Green to any ch 1 sp, Ch up 3, 2 DC in same sp, *Ch 1, 3 DC in next ch 1 sp, repeat from * around, sls t to beg. ch 3. Fasten off. (84 groups of 3 DC–252 DC)
Rnd 25: Attach Fuchsia to any ch 1 sp, Ch 1, SC in same sp, *[4TR, DC, DCT, Picot, DTR, DC, 4TR] in next ch 1 sp, SC in next ch 1 sp, repeat from * around, sl st to beg sc. Fasten off. (42 petals)
Rnd 26: Attach Robins Egg to any picot, ch 1, sc in same picot, *Ch 12, SC in next picot, repeat from * around, Sl st to 1st SC. (42 ch 12 sps)
Rnd 27: Ch 1, SC in same st, *[8 SC, ch 3, 8 SC] in ch 12 sp, sc in next sc, Repeat from * around, sl st to 1st SC. Fasten off. (714 SC)
Rnd 28: Attach Plum Perfect to any Ch 3 sp, ch 1, SC in same sp, *Ch 6, Sk 4 sts, TR2TOG (skipping 7 sts in between this decrease stitch–see video tutorial for visual instructions), Ch 6, SC in next ch 3 sp, Repeat from * around, sl st to first SC.
Rnd 29: Ch up 2 (does not count as anything), DC in first st, *6 DC in ch 6 sp, DC in TR2TOG st, 6 DC in ch 6 sp, DC in SC, repeat from * around, sl st to first DC. Fasten off. (588 DC)
Weave in all ends.
Assembly Step:
Be sure to block this piece flat on a surface. Just pin it down to the shape and spray it with water and let it dry.
Enjoy!!
This post contains affiliate links, which I may be compensated for when you make a purchase. That means if you click on any link and buy from the linked websites, I will receive a small percentage of the value of your order. The amount you pay is not changed. Thank you for all your support in clicking the links in my blog!! You all are so amazing!! ~Nadia
On March 4th, 2017, while traveling through Europe, Nate surprised me with a spontaneous proposal in the Amsterdam Schipol Airport. As we were heading to the bathrooms (haha!) he got down on one knee and asked me to marry him!
He was shaking, I was shaking, I was crying, and of course, I said YES! We’ve been talking about it for some time now and all the plans we were making were leading to this exciting event.
It was very fitting that we had this private moment that included the two of us, my brother and my mom who was able to capture these lovely photos.
No matter how tired we were from all the traveling, our joy carried us through our 13 hour layover where we ventured into Amsterdam city for a celebration dinner.
Upon arrival back to the United States, and of course after letting my close friends and family know this exciting news, we started making immediate plans for our wedding.
We are looking ahead and planning an early 2018 wedding celebration. We recently had some engagement photos taken and made our formal announcement on our personal social media accounts. We now wish to share it with all the YARNutopians!
Photo credit: Fuad Azmat (My daddy!)
As we journey ahead in the next year planning our event, we are excited to tie in elements of our cultures and OF COURSE, elements of crochet! I am going a different route on my dress, as many have already asked me if I was going to crochet my wedding gown, but I am absolutely 100% going to incorporate other small details of crochet for this special day.
I’m excited to share this year-long journey with my amazing YARNutopia family and I will be creating tutorials of fun elements that I plan to use on the big day!
I am excited to hear suggestions on crochet projects that you have used for your special events! I’m always open to hearing, so please feel free to share your ideas!! This will be a fun way to share this together!
Please join us in sharing our joy and happiness as we move onto this new and exciting chapter of our lives!