I love featuring talented DIY couples, and Helen and Andrew took “crafty” to a whole new level by having their October wedding at an actual craft museum! Agnieszka of A Brilliant Photo did a spectacular job capturing all the DIY details that made Helen and Andrew’s wedding so unique.
A DIY robot themed wedding in Brockton, MA
Both Andrew and I are engineers by training and have a passion for building and designing creative solutions. We wanted the wedding to really capture us as a couple, so we tailored the designs around who we are and our amazing relationship. We decided to show off some of our personal hobby skills that we don’t normally get to express at work (we were at a craft museum after all!). Some of the details were planned, others sort of came out of thin air…
We are both photography enthusiasts, so we decided to incorporate photos into our escort cards. They were reminiscent of photos taken in a photo booth in a Polaroid-style layout. Each escort card had a unique picture of us. Some were themed around inside jokes shared by the wedding guest; others were just assorted silly pictures. We made a huge mess in our place, making enough space, finding props/costumes, etc., but it was sooo much fun!
I had actually never really crocheted before but was flipping through this book at a novelty shop on robot amigurumi, which are crochet figurines. Andrew, being a robotics engineer, thought it was the best thing ever and convinced me to buy the book and take it up as a hobby. I made my first one and was hooked (no pun intended)! We decided to make one for each member of the wedding party, specifically incorporating each person’s personality. I also made one for Andrew and myself, and used them to hold the rings on the ring pillow. They got some face time with the guests through a ring warming ceremony where they were passed around and guests gave their blessings and wishes.
We were also very fortunate to have family and friends who offered to help us in the design of items in the wedding. Leslie, a professor of theater arts at MIT, offered to make my dress from scratch! It turned out so beautiful and was completely me! Andrew’s brother, Matt, just finished his degree in graphic design, and helped us come up with our invitation card concept and execution over the phone from Illinois.
One of my bridesmaids, Cindy, helped with the boutonnieres. After I told her that I wasn’t interested in using live flowers, she found a great pattern for making your own fabric flowers, using designer fabric for the petals. The leaves of the flowers were actually made from green Williams-Sonoma ribbon that had come wrapped around some of our early registry gifts!
We lucked out on a lot of the decorations at the wedding. Andrew’s mom suggested that we look on Craigslist for used wedding decorations. Literally the first hit we found had lots of vases, ribbons and fans in our exact wedding colors! We were both interested in doing some sort of suspension of objects inside of the vases for the table centerpieces. I found these great water-absorbent beads (Deco Beads) that become transparent in water, letting you suspend heavier-than-water items right in the middle of your vase! My friend Dafna came up with using oranges and blueberries, since they matched with our wedding colors of orange and blue. She helped put them together the day of and lit them from the bottom using submersible LEDs, which also happened to come in the great Craigslist score.
I could go on forever… but most importantly, our wedding was incredible. I loved being surrounded by all the people I loved – family and friends… wonderful vendors… and Agnieszka did an amazing job in perfectly capturing us and the wedding for us! – Helen
Artists
- Photographer: A Brilliant Photo
- Reception Venue: Fuller Craft Museum
