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Darla, 29 & David, 32

Blowing Rock, North Carolina

Wedding Date: September 19, 2009

Number of Guests: 18

Wedding Ceremony Location:Westglow Resort and Spa

Wedding Reception Location: Westglow Resort and Spa

Why did you have an intimate wedding?

As far back as I can remember, I have always known that I wanted my wedding to be a day that celebrated my husband and I. I didn’t want anything flashy or over the top because that simply is not us. Family is extremely important to us both, so we wanted a weekend that brought our two families together in a relaxing and comfortable environment so that everyone could get to know each other and celebrate.

Yesterday, I showed you how to make a burlap favor bag. Today, we’re going to make a felt peony to decorate the favor bag.

I found the template for the flower over at Yoonie at Home. Yoonie used the flower to make hair clips. You can use them to decorate just about anything!

Felt Flower Tutorial

Materials:

Felt

Straight pins

scissors

needle and thread

button

Download the template and print.

Cut out each shape and place on your felt. (I didn’t use the green leaf shape.)

Pin your shapes to the felt.

Cut out your shapes.

Stack your shapes in the same sequence as the diagram on the template.

Place button in centre and sew onto burlap bag.

Fill your bags with whatever you want! I love the idea of flower bulbs! Perfect for an eco-friendly wedding!

Felt peonies are a lovely way to jazz up earthy DIY favor bags!

Put whatever you want inside the bags: flower bulbs, coffee, handmade soap, candy. Eco-friendly and economical!

Today I’m going to show you how to make the cute burlap bags from scratch, and tomorrow I’ll show you how to create the adorable felt peonies to adorn your DIY favor bags.

My talented and super-helpful mother-in-law came up with the pattern for the burlap bags for you to download. (It makes a 4″ x 6″ favor bag.)

Burlap Favor Bag Tutorial (Makes a 4″ x 5″ bag)

This project is fairly simple, even for the novice sewer.

Materials

Burlap (purchased from a fabric store)

Matching thread

Jute twine (purchased from a hardware store)

scissors

ruler

straight pins and one safety pin

wooden skewer

sewing machine

pattern

Before I launched IntimateWeddings.com I was a freelance writer for magazines and newspapers. Even though I had been at it for close to a decade, I never got tired of the feeling of seeing my story in print.

It’s been a while since I’ve had that feeling. In fact, it’s been close to a year and a half since I’ve done any freelance writing. Sometimes I miss it. I miss learning about so many interesting topics. I miss the interviews.

A few weeks ago I got the opportunity to write an article for The Professional Association of Innkeepers International (PAII) about The Rise of the Small Wedding. I jumped at the chance. I got to write again! Yes, I write just about every day for my blog – but it’s not the same as writing a beefy article for a print publication. Aside from allowing me to get my writerly juices a’ flowing – I got to write about one of my favourite topics in an informative, well-respected publication!

I was pretty tickled to see it as the cover story. Check it out here. Hot off the press!