DIY: Elegant Barn Wedding

I'm not sure what to call Jennifer Cario, her husband, and all the family and friends that helped, but the words I'm leaning towards are wedding masters. Check out the pictures from their ethereal wedding… oh, and did I mention they pulled it all off on a 10K budget??

Let me set the scene: Jennifer and her husband got married on their beautiful 22 acre farm which has been in Jennifer's husband's family for four generations. The farm was the perfect backdrop for the wedding since the couple wanted to start their new family where so many previous Cario families have flourished. Now here are the deets for how this 10K wedding went down:

Jennifer designed 100% of the paper products for the wedding. I mean from the invitations and Mad-Lib style RSVP cards to the witty wedding programs and table menus. Buy card stock and create your own funny invitations or RSVP cards. You can make a scrapbook of all the really clever ones you receive.

Inside their wedding tent, they hung Chinese paper ball lanterns in muted colors such as pale pink, white, beige, and maroon. They also had colorful lamps that projected bright green and red lights across the tent ceiling. On her tables, Jennifer used Smarty's Sovereign Wine Goblets and silver ball based table number stands.

An outdoor wedding makes it easy to incorporate a color scheme. You can match the blue sky to your place settings or even the bright green grass like Jennifer did with the napkins placed on each plate. The green apple centerpieces complete the look and are so simple to create. Take a circular tray with raised sides, fill it with green apples and place some wildflowers on top. Put a candle next to each plate. They will create a beautiful glow when all lit at night.

Instead of a wedding cake, Jennifer's husband fashioned a wooden tiered Cake Pop stand that was filled with over 200 cake pops made by Jennifer and her maid of honor. Friends and family baked over 170 dozen cookies for the cookie table! Check out our blog post Cake Pops Are No Longer Just Dessert DIY Ideas for even more ways to be creative with cake pops.

Talk about a colorful fruit and vegetable table. Want one? After you cover your table with a tablecloth and table runner, stack two large boxes draped in material in the center of your table. Then stick a glass lantern on top. Cover the available surfaces of the stacked boxes with large lettuce leaves and in overlapping, yet separate piles, place sliced cucumbers, celery sticks, cherry tomatoes, baby carrots, broccoli, watermelon triangle slices, pineapple, strawberries, grapes, and cheese cubes on top. Make sure to leave room for a bowl of dip, a basket of crackers, and a stack of plates and napkins. The ring bearer pillows were made out of foam blocks covered in moss and decorated with crisscrossed ribbon, all done by Jennifer's mother. Lay three strings of ribbon a couple inches apart in both directions across the moss covered foam block. Stick a pin in each of the intersections and wrap one more strand of ribbon around the center to tie a bow. All photo credit goes to Dana Sheller of Sheller & Co. And if you want to know more about wedding genius Jennifer Cario, you can follow her blog at http://www.aflexiblelife.com/category/wedding/. DIY wedding ideas are endless, so keep 'em coming by posting on the Smarty Facebook page!