My Big Phat DIY Viking (inspired) Wedding

I got married! Yay!

So you may or may not have noticed that there was a lack of crafty goodness being shared on my behalf, and that’s because I spent most of last year DIY-ing the crap out of our wedding. I know I know.. LAST year.. in October. It’s been a while, my friend.

Some people will tell you not to bother making things for your wedding, it is a lot of hard work but.. I was in. my. element.

Not to mention, we were on a fairly small budget so making a majority of the stationary and decor saved us a lot of mula!

I designed and handmade all the invitations, RSVP cards, signs, bunting, decorations, candle holders, runes.. I even made two all mighty hanging medieval chandeliers! For reals. Because why buy one for a small fortune when you can make two for a slightly bigger fortune and drive for an entire day to collect custom hand forged iron parts? Because art. But that deserves a post all on it’s own.

You’re probably wondering by now why. Why a viking wedding? Well I’m glad you asked! To be honest I hadn’t even considered a themed wedding because I didn’t think it would really appeal to my other half. Then one fine day out of the blue my Hubby-to-be said to me ‘Hey we should have a viking themed wedding’ and I said ‘Hell yes!’ and that was that. I was so stoked that he came up with the idea and was really keen to follow through. Oh my gosh, creativeness started to overflow from then on.. move over flowers and tule, gimme leather, metal and drinking horns!

So without further ado, let me share with you from our amazing Viking (inspired) Wedding!

Invitations..

So as I soon discovered the word ‘wedding’ makes everything expensive times ten. Some people are all into that, and that’s great, but I’m sure as hell not. Invitations that cost $10 a pop plus postage? I don’t think so, besides I actually enjoy doing all the fiddly stuff myself, even if I did come across 101 issues along the way. So they all turned out a little different, and I ran out of envelopes, and runes, and ink.. but hey I saved myself a small fortune! (I think)

The RSVP cards above have the options A: Fierce axe weilding vikings couldn’t keep me away! (That’s for a yes) and option B: ‘Sorry, I heard about the vikings..’ (That’s for a polite no) Hehe, I couldn’t resist a bit of humour!

I also made personalised invitations for my ‘Shield Maidens’ which were as follows.. (Warning, strong language) And they each recieved a special gift bag of goodies on the day.

And lets not forget all the signs (about 5 all up) and one very time consuing bunting that I forgot to bring on the day and totally didn’t end up using. Ah well, all the more reason to add it here so it can be appreciated!

Setting up..

We were lucky enough to hire a hall in Ferny Creek which had a lovely old enterior and a ‘mini forest’ outside where we had the ceremony. Of course by hiring a hall it meant we were also responsible for everything – including setting up, decorating, cleaning up etc. So saving money certainly comes with some work. But that was fine by us. To keep costs even lower (and let’s be honest, I’m not too fussed with the traditional formal wedding look) we used the chairs and tables we found in the store room. I could have hired chair decor and ribbons for around $200 or I couldn’t give a damn. I chose not to give a damn. However, I simply had to have burgundy tablecloths. (Which were a bargain anyway and I get to keep them afterwads!)

Oh my lordy.. check out my medieval chandeliers! I am so proud of these because they seemed like an impossible task to complete at one stage, but I got there and they looked amazing. (Even better with the lights off, this photo was taken just before it got dark)

Self constructed photobooth. I nearly died when I found out a photobooth was going to cost $2000 minimum! (It was photos or food.. we chose food) But I figured what the hell, it couldn’t be too hard to make one could it? I allready had the camera, flash and tripod.. so I made some signs, bought some props and a remote shutter which did the trick. (Highly recommend, this was a big hit on the night!)

To add the Viking element in my decor I tried to use old pagan style objects such as chests, wooden candle holders, metal work, leather and fur.. some items I had at home, many I found in opp shops and bargain shops. I painted runes on pieces of wood, found ivy growing outside, collected and painted glass jars.. threw it all together and voila! Here is my set up for the treasure chest of plunder (gift cards) my rune pendant making table (huge hit!) and table decor – all different, all recycled, all cheap as chips.

Yes, that is a fox. Foxy Loxy to be exact. I allready owned her and decided she had to be included. Long story, don’t be freaked out she doesn’t bite. We also had to get matching drinking horns because it wouldn’t exactly be a viking wedding without them now would it?

The Ceremony..

Ahh.. ceremony time! Now obviously we weren’t in full viking dress up but of course I had to have braids in my hair and a few accessories to match our theme. (Not that you can really see them here but I had to throw in a few bride pics!) I wore a simple lace maxi dress over a simple white slip, Dr Marten leather lace up and buckle up boots, (the most exciting part of my whole outfit – they cost more than everything else put together!) mixture of jewelery I liked some I allready owned and other pieces I bought and a leather belt with lovely brass buckle. The bouquet was made by a friend and a total surprise on the day! How absolutely beautiful is it??

We had a pagan hand fasting as part of our ceremony and I made each ribbon which represent each of the elements: earth, air, fire and water. This is out little man Oscar being a bit shy around the crowd and wanted to be with his mummy and daddy. Naw!! Precious thing I love this picture.

My boots! Aren’t they amazing!?

Party time..

Now it’s time to party, eat and drink like a viking! Starting with a grand feast of meat. We weren’t interested in a formal sit down dinner, so we had kababs! Wedding food is one of the most expensive things of all but when we approached a kebab shop and inquired about wedding catering they said no problem, we can even cook the meat right there on site! Brilliant. It was also a bargain and tasted delicious. There was even enough for everyone to have seconds.

A friend of ours was so bloody awesome he not only brewed beers especially for our wedding, but he also named them and labelled them with our faces! What a legend. He made three brews and they were called: Ragnar Loth-Brew Wedding Pilsner, Lagertha’s Dark Wedding Vienna and Becky and Dustin’s Valhallale.

Friends of ours played music especially for us, changing the words to match and all! They bought their own viking helmets and totally rocked!! We have some pretty awesome friends as you may have gathered by now.

We had a shield cake and we cut it with axes. Hell yes we did, it was one of my favourite moments among many!

How sweet did the set up look once the lights were turned off? The low light really bought on the viking theme we were after, and here is a bunch of awesome people getting into the spirit of making rune pendants.

As you can see the photobooth was a lot of fun.. sure it got knocked around a little and the settings kept changing, but for the price of a $20 remote shutter which saved me $1980 it was totally worth it!

Well if you made it this far, thank you! I can tell you I had the best time EVER. I hope to get around to explaining a few of my DIY projects in closer detail so you can have a go at tackling them youself – and much sooner this time, I’ll try not to keep you waiting 7 months this time.. oops!