Hayley and Jim had DIY school house-themed wedding, which turned out amazing! Their wedding invitations were made to look like vintage report cards and they even had a pop quiz for all their guests. Their photographer,Rebecca Jane, even brought along a vintage desk to use as a prop. Oh, and the best part… their budget was $10,000, but they managed to stay under it, spending only $8,200! Much inspiration awaits you amongst these awesome photos.

Did your wedding location and date hold a special significance for you?
We knew we wanted the location to be in an old school house or barn, but still wanted it to be fairly close to Seattle. Pickering Barn (City of Issaquah) had the right charm mixed with sophistication to meet our needs. It didn’t need a lot of decorating and was 15 minutes from our home! The date was on October 1, 2010. We were engaged on 09-09-09. We kind of liked the symmetry of 10-01-10 for a perfect autumn wedding.

What was the most meaningful part of your day?
There was a twenty minute gap between the ceremony and reception (shockingly we were ahead of schedule).  As our guests were enjoying our “cafeteria special” we sat on this old wooden bench to pass the time at the back of the barn so were able to look at the aisle we had just walked down and the stage we were just married on. It was those quiet moments that we had to reflect and think of our future ahead and our photographer was able to capture those moments without being intrusive. They are some of our favorite photos as well as one of our most memorable moments of our wedding.

Did anything funny or out of the ordinary happen?
During formal pictures, our ring bearer and flower girl didn’t want to stand or sit next to each other and Jim and photographer spent some time getting them to finally agree to get closer to each other. It was adorable and so funny.

Another funny moment, was in the bride’s room as I was getting ready. My two younger sisters were supposed to know how to get my dress on me and all the steps and what order things were supposed to go on. My dress had a corset back and as it was just finishing being tied we (my two sisters and me) had all realized at the exact same moment as we looked at the table that we forgot to put the slip on! We all started laughing as my sister began untying my corset to start all over again.

Do you have any advice for couples planning their wedding?
We would say simply-START EARLY to avoid stress and pick a theme that is meaningful to make it fun! We lined up our photographer, location, and catering within two months after the engagement. Those were the biggies. The rest is fun and you can do throughout the year.

Vendors:

Since it was a do-it-yourself wedding the only people we booked were…
Caterer: Renton Technical College
Photographer: Rebecca Jane