Second Hand Wedding

Six months ago I was neck deep in planning my wedding.  This was a second marriage for both Jayson and I, and we didn't want to ask our parents to shell out for the festivities, so we decided to try and pay for it ourselves (our parent's contributions were generous, but behind the scenes).  Jayson is in PA school, and I was also a student earning my teaching certificate.  So with hardly any money to work with, we challenged ourselves to do a "Second Hand Wedding."  I suppose it went with our theme as we were "second hand" bride and groom!
For the months leading up to the wedding I went to the thrift store every single day searching for decor for the wedding.  I ended up having a blast with it. We chose Navy Blue, Mustard Yellow, and Wood/brown accents as our colors.  To save, we decided not to pay for a venue so we did it at my parents church building.  Almost everything ended up being second hand... I even got my veil on Craigslist for $5, and my vintage shoes for $6.   And THIS is the best part.  We found Jayson a vintage, navy blue pin striped suit for 13$.    We ended up doing EVERYTHING (food, dress, suit, decor, band, photographer, etc etc etc.)  for less than $2,000.

The Veil

The Shoes

The hot guy suit!

 Old use canvas ($.50) I painted navy blue, and poked used Christmas lights ($.50) in to spell LOVE. 

 I found yards and yards of used Tulle, in a light mustard yellow for 1$  It was already pre-cut perfectly for my sisters-in-law to put on the chairs.

 My florist was a friend from work who is AMAZING!!  I just gave her all of my thrifted vases and containers, a color scheme, and she did exactly what I wanted.

 Framed some burlap and glued painted letters to it (4$) when it was all done.

 I found a bunch of used chalkboards and painted them our colors.

 These Japanese bride and groom were a gift from Jayson's parents... The height difference was a little off, but it was an easy fix!

 Turned a $.25 navy blue bowl upside down for a candle holder.

 Used a used yellow sheet $.75, ripped it up into strips and tied it to some Christmas lights,                  for the gift area

 I found yarn ($.25) at the thrift store in my colors and I covered block letters in it. This was our caramel apple station.  Dip the apple, in the caramel, and then in your favorite topping.

 Candy Station! 

 My nieces were SO cute... They called me a few days before the wedding and told me that they had been to an event that had similar colors to mine, and had asked if they could have the hanging tissue paper balls for their new aunts wedding...  They made several more for me to fill the room.   If that isn't the definition of second hand I don't know what is. 

 So... Jayson is obsessed with fish (water in general), and he wanted them to make an appearance.  The Swedish fish are actually sitting on top of an actual goldfish.

Each center piece was unique.

 All the frames were $.25-$.75, I liked that they were all different.

So, I just proved that it can be done!  It may not be as classy as other weddings, but I wanted a vintage, rustic look to my wedding anyway and I think we pulled it off just fine.

Baby Changing Table

A few weeks ago I was driving past one of our local thrift stores and this caught my eye.

 I turned around for a closer look.  When I asked the guy working outside how much it cost, he said, "How much do you want to pay for it."  I said, "2 dollars!" and he said, "SOLD."
I wasn't sure yet how I was going to transform this, I just knew that it had potential.   I am not expecting a baby (not for lack of trying), so I don't actually need a baby changing table, but for 2 dollars I figured I would take my chances.

After some brainstorming with turning it into a food/drink cart, or something I just decided to stay true to what it was originally.  I found a post on http://freshjuniper.blogspot.com and was inspired.  After a few hours of sanding, painting, and mod podging I came up with this...

I think it's pretty cute! The color is a little bold, but that is what I like about it.  Some may say that it would only work for a boy, but I chose a vintage looking floral fabric that I think would be great in a girls nursery as well.    I may put up directions later if anyone is ever interested...  I did it a little differently than  http://freshjuniper.blogspot.com, but her tutorial is awesome.

The thrifter is born

Well, I don't really know what I'm doing, but I figure I'll jump on this blog train before there is something more complicated that I'll have to learn.  I don't have a very interesting life when it comes down to it... well I think it's interesting (I suppose that's good), but I don't know if others will think it is interesting.  I'm married to a freaking awesome guy!  We have more fun together than I ever thought was possible, whether we are sitting on the couch playing an intense one on one game of Settlers of Catan, scoping out good yard-sales or thrift stores no matter what town we are in,  or road-tripping to San Diego.
Speaking of yard sales and thrift stores, we are kind of obsessed!  In fact we buy probably 90% of our things used... We (mostly me) have a really hard time buying anything new.  I supposed this habit formed right as I was going through my divorce.  I had just moved, had no job, zero dollars, a mountain of debt, a hole where my heart belonged,  and was starting to go back to school again.  I looked around my empty house (generously offered to me by my older brother and sister-in-law at a mere fraction of the price), and realized that if I wanted it to feel like a home that I could recover in, I would need to furnish it.  So, the thrifter inside me was born!
I ended up being able to furnish my entire home for less than 200$, here are a few quick pictures of that...

 The couch was an amazing Craigslist find for 100$ but the guy also threw in a dresser that I ended up selling for 45$.

 Coffee table (free on side of road), Side tables, 4$ each. The rug was on clearance at BB&B for 19$, (I had a bit of credit there from returning my wedding china... yikes!)

Kitchen Table was a gift from my sweet sister-in-law. Art work all less than 5$.

Obviously some work had to be done to everything... Lots of sanding and painting was in order! 

So this was the start of my thrifting, and now it has kind of spiraled out of control.  I am now happily remarried (obviously) and living in a new home with Jayson.  And who knew... he is a thrifter at heart too.  So I think that I will use this blog to showcase some of our best thrift store treasures, and some of the ways we use them as they are, and/or upcycle them .