The New Vintage is our local Vermilion-Marwayne-Lloydminster twist on the current hot trend of rustic/vintage weddings. We had an amazing team of creative minds who all brought their A-game to this project, and it turned out even better than we’d all hoped!

I personally LOVE seeing inspiration shoots of all kinds – especially for weddings. The thing is, though, a lot of the time, they’re just not financially feasible to do on a large scale – like for a real wedding. And that’s where we wanted to be different! Everything at our shoot is something you could use in your own wedding planning and design, whether your budget is $5,000 or $500,000. There are a lot of DIY projects that can be replicated for just pennies – or a few dollars – and we encourage you to use these ideas at your own wedding or event!

We pulled nearly everything from our houses and closets; or borrowed them from family or friends. What we didn’t already have, we tried to find at our local thrift stores!

I’ll do my best to supply you with the source information for everything we used.

This is our head table for two. The linens were layered – ivory tablecloth, burlap, ivory damask satin, purple satin, and then the lace. The tablecloths and fabrics came from the Happily Ever After stock; the lace was picked up at a thrift store and then dyed to look old using coffee (tea works, too). Rather than a floral centerpiece, Kaylie created the floral focal point you see on the right. The chrome candlesticks are available through Happily Ever After, and the crystal candlestick is from my personal collection – originally from Bowring. The wine goblets were another thrift store find at $0.50 each. The chairs we pulled from the third floor (not accessible to the public) of Craig’s, which is this amazing jumble of off-season merchandise, antiques and clothing racks – however, it would have looked just as good with regular chairs, slipcovered with ivory fabric.

Boutonniere by Grower Direct. The mannequin is from Craig’s amazing collection of antiques.

Cupcake table. The wooden boxes are from my personal collection – I literally pulled them out of old buildings on my farm. Linens by Happily Ever After. The cake stand, candy dish and pie lifter are all antiques from Kaylie’s or my personal collection. Candlestick is available through Happily Ever After. The lilacs are from my garden; burlap roses are by me; additional florals from Grower Direct but designed by Happily Ever After. The frame with “Oh, Sugar Sugar” is from IKEA. The mini-cupcakes were made by Kaylie Franklin.

Another view of the cake table.

The antique cake stand – borrowed from Kaylie Franklin’s mother-in-law for this shoot. We topped each cupcake with a single lilac blossom. Super quick to do, and free, since nearly everyone knows someone with a lilac bush or 12 in their yard!

Sign design by me, frame from IKEA.

Bouquet and boutonniere are by Grower Direct in Lloydminster (designer Audina Hardstaff).

Guestbook area. Lilacs from my yard, mason jars from my basement, burlap roses were made by me as well. A very quick, easy and cheap DIY!

Guest table. Centerpiece and linens by Kaylie Franklin of Happily Ever After. Purple cases are from my collection.

Table setting. Menu by me (layered champagne-colored paper over purple cardstock, then used glue dots on the back to secure a strip of burlap. Plates are vintage from Kaylie’s mother-in-law’s collection; cutlery was from the thrift store.

Guest table. We used two antique theatre chairs from the Craig’s collection of antiques (but again, this would look just as good with ivory chaircovers and a coordinating chair tie). Linens are by Happily Ever After. Burlap “Love” banner is by me – yes, another DIY!

Bring in the models! We used real, local people for our models – Kelsie Peterson (who also did the make up), Kendall Albert, Lexi Stangeland and Hannah Segboer. Your wedding party wouldn’t be made up of professional models, so why would we want to use professionals in our shoot? We’re keeping it real!

The beautiful Hannah rocking a flapper-style dress from Ang Fohry’s personal collection. Ang, who is the owner of Kenneth Blair salon and who did all of the hair for our shoot, has AMAZING stuff. She reports that this dress is actually new – everything else was vintage. The flower in Hannah’s hair is also from Kenneth Blair. Loved it!

Lexi is wearing a dress I sewed specifically for this shoot. The cost of the dress, sash and fabric flower? About $5. I always hit the Walmart fabric section for their $1/metre bin, and once I bought an entire bolt of this gray fabric. I did the same with the orange satin fabric used for the sash and the flower (we used the leftover fabric on the cake table). I’ve been hoarding it for years and finally got to use it! The white sheer fabric you see in the orange flower used to be curtains. The pattern for Lexi’s dress is Simplicity #2586.

Kendall is wearing his own clothes, with suspenders I pulled from my husband’s closet. Kelsie is wearing another one of Ang Fohry’s amazing vintage dresses, with her own hot pink heels. Her birdcage veil is from Michael’s craft store; I dressed it up with a fabric flower I made from scrap fabric.

I LOVE these two! They are a couple in real life; they have amazing chemistry.

Our guestbook area! This was truly a group effort. The lace we used is actually a long, vintage-y veil from Ang Fohry’s collection. The antique suitcase and mason jars are from my collection. The frame is from IKEA. The furniture is all from Craig’s collection of antiques.

Rather than a traditional guestbook, we decided to go with individual flat cards and envelopes. I created these using squares of scrapbook paper. When the scrapbook paper was too bold to write on, I used gluedots to affix a sheet of plain champagne paper over top. The scrapbooking paper I found at Long’s Value Drug Mart in Vermilion; it is “Citrus Stack” by Premium Stacks, $28.99 for 48 sheets. Each sheet made four cards, so the cost of these is about $0.15 each. I used the same stack to make invitations – you’ll see those later.

Additional flowers are from Grower Direct but designed by Happily Ever After.

Lexi’s blue dress was a $3 find at Community Closet in Vermilion. Kelsie and Hannah’s dresses are from Ang Fohry’s collection.

Antique tea cups are from my personal collection; antique scale (on window sill) is from the Craig’s personal collection.

Lexi’s amazing outfit and luggage are from Ang Fohry’s collection.

Fur shawl also from Ang Fohry’s collection.

Lexi and Hannah’s dresses are from Ang Fohry’s collection. Kelsie’s dress was a $4 Community Closet find. Veil is from Michael’s. Necklace is from Torrid.com. Gloves are from Ang Fohry’s collection. Kendall is wearing his own clothes.

Lexi and Hannah’s dresses are from Ang Fohry’s collection. Kelsie’s dress was a $4 Community Closet find. Veil is from Michael’s. Necklace is from Torrid.com. Gloves are from Ang Fohry’s collection. Kendall is wearing his own clothes.

LOVE LOVE LOVE this look on Hannah! Clothing and luggage are from Ang Fohry’s collection. The rockin’ zebra heels are Hannah’s own.

This old-hollywood look is timeless – I’d love to see a whole bridal party with this hair and make up!

Chandelier from Happily Ever After. Kelsie’s dress was hand-made by me; veil is from Ang Fohry’s collection.

For the dress, I purchased the satin fabric at Craig’s. I can’t find the pattern at the moment, but I modified the heck out of it, so it wouldn’t do you much good regardless! Total cost of this dress is around $50.00.

A top view of our guest table. Centerpiece by Happily Ever After. Bronze candlesticks were thrift store finds; crystal candlestick and purple vases are from my personal collection.

Kendall’s clothes are his own.

Lexi has an amazing face that can be totally modern, or totally vintage, depending on how she’s styled. Love her versatility! Lexi is wearing an amazing 1920′s dress and a veil from Ang Fohry’s collection.

I loved the use of color on Kelsie – in her hair and in her make-up. Vintage doesn’t necessarily mean neutrals!

Our handsome man! Kendall is wearing his own clothes. Kelsie picked up the hat for him at H&M for $5. I love a bargain!

Invitations! I layered plain white cardstock, burlap and scrapbook paper, with a little bit of ribbon, to create these. I used the same scrapbook paper as the guest cards (details above), cardstock from Staples, and burlap from Craig’s fabric section. The purple paper is actually from the dollar store – a pack of 48 for $4.00. So, the paper for each invitation cost me between $.10 and $0.40 each depending on the paper used. The envelopes are Brown Bag Envelopes from ClearBags.ca. The bit of ribbon is from Walmart – you can get a spool of about 6 metres of ribbon for $1.00. The burlap is about $4.80/metre and you can get a lot of squares out of a metre! I think having everything the same is boring, so mixing it up with coordinating colors of scrapbook paper made me happy.

After we wrapped up the indoor shoot, we headed to the Vermilion Heritage Museum for some outdoor photos. For this section, the dresses were all made by me, and Kendall is still wearing his own clothes.

I LOVE these dresses so much! They were quick to make and turned out fabulous – and cost under $5 to make including notions, sash and fabric flower. The secret is to shop the $1/metre bin at your local Walmart’s fabric section! Again, the pattern for these dresses is Simplicity #2586. Each dress took about a half day to make (with distractions like a small child, dog, the phone and e-mail), and I was able to use the same pattern for the two different sized models (patterns come with multiple sizes in one envelope – the one I purchased fit sizes 6 through 14).

Here are a few images that I captured for WorkSight!

This is the officer’s mess at CFB Wainwright. A very cool building, filled with antique furniture and military-inspired artwork.

A “reserved” table

Here’s Danny! He has a great sense of humor and these gorgeous eyes. He was awesome to work with! The kitchens on the base serve over 1,000 military personnel every day, double or triple that depending on what operations are happening on base.

Monogrammed paper napkins

Danny said “no vegetables were harmed in the making of these photos.” Except one pepper.

Jennifer discussing the story with Danny.

This kind of work reminds me a lot of my days as editor of a small-town newspaper. Super fun to do, and always great to meet interesting people and learn their stories!

First up was “Mr. Lloydminster,” Vic Juba. Yep, THAT Vic Juba – the one the theatre is named for. A very interesting man!! He worked for Husky for nearly 40 years, most of them at the refinery. It’s safe to say the refinery, and Lloydminster, wouldn’t be the same place it is today without Vic’s years of hard work.

At the Saskatchewan/Alberta border, with the big orange border markers in the background.

At Lloydminster city hall.

Next up was Brad Matthews of Endeavor Machining Solutions. He was awesome to work with! Super nice guy.

Endeavor – which is owned by Brad – specializes in spraying a protective coating on equipment and parts, increasing the durability and  longevity of the equipment. Neat stuff! Check out their website (link above) for more information.