• Real Weddings

Rather than choosing a particular color scheme for their wedding, Melissa and Kellen planned their wedding around a theme: flowers! This allowed them to incorporate every color of the rainbow, which resulted in a festive, friendly environment where Melissa, Kellen and all their guests could relax and celebrate. From the floral ties and dresses of the wedding party to the floral archway and tablecloths at the reception, this wedding is full of vibrant colors and DIY decor that are sure to inspire!
Continue reading to hear so much more from Melissa about their special day, including their full budget breakdown. Visit the full gallery here to see so much more of this festive floral wedding, all captured by Kristen Pierson Photography.

From the Bride:I knew that I had a specific style in my mind and I knew that I wasn't going to find anything I was interested in at a bridal store. So, I was getting my hair cut one day and the hair stylist told me about Jessica May Bridal and how several of the stylist's had her made their dresses. I e-mailed her right when I got home and set up an appointment.

I had seen this dress that Zooey Deschanel wore for a new girl photo shoot with the petals as the skirt and right away I knew that was the dress I wanted. I had previously sent Jessica my ideas so at our first meeting she has fabrics and a drawing made up. After that first meeting I was hooked and didn't look anywhere else. Jessica is so talented and professional and extremely knowledgeable about what she is doing. She wraps you in saran wrap so the dress is completely perfect and made to fit you like a glove.

Melissa and Kellen said their "I do's" in a Mormon temple in Utah. After the small ceremony they were joined by all their friends and family for a fun, farm-y reception at The Old McMullin House. I wanted an outside reception and I was having trouble finding a place that wasn't overly expensive. My mom randomly found The Old McMullin House and it was perfect. It had this beautiful old house on the property and was set on some farm land. But what was great about it was the fact that they already had twinkle lights on these amazing old willow tress, they had a cement slab and a tent in the back perfect for the food and dancing.

This I think was my favorite part to plan. I don't think there is anything better than creating a party that you have thought up and you can really do anything. I just wanted the atmosphere to make people happy. I wanted lots of colors, flowers and lights. I wanted it to feel comfortable. And I think the best thing I did was choose a theme instead of a color scheme...it actually made things easier. We went to lots of thrift store and gathered all the silk flowers we could find and greenery and floral fabrics. We bought an archway from Michael's and covered it with the greenery and silk flowers.

I really wanted something fun for the food. I was tired of going to receptions where they had all this fancy food and I never really knew what I was eating. I wanted to go with comfort food. Something I knew everyone would love. And waffles and chocolate milk were two of my favorite things. And it was a hit.

We wanted to make it as cheap as we could so we bought Krusteaz buttermilk mix from Costco. We made so many waffles before the wedding. The mix by itself its that good so we tried to make it taste a bit better. We figured out the right amount of sugar and cinnamon to put in it to make it taste delicious. And we separated all the ingredients into bag and mixed it in huge containers when we got to the reception. We borrowed waffle irons from friends and families. And my cousins made all the waffles for everyone. We also had strawberries, caramel, chocolate syrup and whipped cream for the toppings.

We bought streamers in every color and paper lanterns in every color. I saw on a blog called O Happy Day that she had painted flowers on a table cloth so I decided to do that. I bought the table cloths from target. We borrowed blue vases from anyone we knew. We gathered every picture frame in our house and put our pictures in them. The cake stand was from a garage sale.

What the bride would have done differently:This one was hard to answer. I don't think any day has gone so perfect, but if I were to pick something I would have to change the dance. The dance was huge to me!! I LOVE to dance. When I got engaged I started to make a dance playlist. I just wanted the evening to end with a wicked dance party. As you know we were married in the middle of summer outside. I feel like the best dance parties are done at night and I didn't really think about the lighting at the time. We were planning to leave the reception around 9 and in my mind I thought it would be dark by then, forgetting that it doesn't get dark till later in the summer.

So the dance party was fun, but I think it could have been more fun if it was darker. We couldn't have danced in the moonlight with all the twinkle lights surrounding us. I didn't really get to see the twinkle lights and there were so many. We left before it was dark enough. So I should have made the reception and hour longer. That also would have given me enough time to go around and talk to people.

My father gave me a budget of $5,000, which I thought was great until I started planning. It was hard to figure out everything with only $5,000. Everything is so expensive. I went about $1,000 over budget, so the overall total was about $6,000. I think what saved me was the fact that I was surrounded by so many talented family members. They were pulling skills out of a hat it was amazing.
Photography: $400 (with the best friend discount)
Wedding Dress: $1,456
Venue: $1,918
Flowers: $270 (I am so glad that my sister was a florist. I had no idea how expensive flowers could be. But I told her my ideas and I just put my trust in her.)
Food: $155
Plates, Cups & Napkins: $55
Invitations: $280
Postage was: $240
Labels: $30
Paper lanterns: $52 (with LED lights)
Arch & Greenery: $45
All Other Decorations: $211

• Bridemaids Dresses: Anthropologie
• Bridesmaid Dress Fabric: Nuttall's Fabric
• Dress Designer: Jessica May Bridal
• Flowers: Petal Pusher
• Groom & Groomsmen bow ties: General Knot & Co.
• Groom & His Men: J.Crew
• Jewelry: The Beehive Bazaar
• Photographer: Kristen Pierson Photography
• Stationery: Jordan Gallup Design
• Venue: The Old McMullin House