By Tessa Woolf | Photographs by D'Arcy Benincosa

"My mom and I are both artists, so there was no way I was going to have a wedding without our own personal touches,” says Rachel John, who tied the knot with Jacob Glaittli at Main & SKY (formerly The Sky Lodge) in Park City last May. The Midvale couple wanted to infuse rustic details into their event to complement the venue’s mountain setting, as well as “simple, pretty, and classic elements” inspired by the bride’s Rivini gown from Alta Moda Bridal Boutique. John and her mom looked online for inspiration and browsed the aisles of local craft stores for DIY ideas that would put their stamp on the big day and complement the overall wedding décor provided by Scenemakers and planning by Mood Events.

Using a thick fabric, the duo designed a beautiful scroll-like aisle runner handwritten with words from The Little Prince in its original French format. With John’s father officiating, the couple exchanged rings and performed a handfasting ceremony with the aisle runner underfoot.

For the reception, John and her mom made the fabric table runners, wood table numbers, and paper name cards, seating cards, menus, and “Love Notes” for guests to write or draw on as a guest book alternative. The MOB wasn’t the only parent to get in on the day’s DIY action: the groom’s father made wood planter boxes for the floral centerpieces.

After the nuptials, the couple incorporated some of the handmade mementos into their newlywed nest. The aisle runner now hangs above their bed like a headboard, a wood planter box sits atop their dresser, and one of the “Love Notes” is framed on their wall. “They keep the memory of our wedding with us all the time,” says John. “I love that.”

The Artist’s Way

1) “I had seen something similar done with paper, but that seemed too easily torn when people walked on it,” says John of her artsy aisle runner. She and her mom chose a canvas-like fabric for durability and scribed text on it using a thick Sharpie.

2) “We found fun wood shapes at the craft store and used a wood burner to brand the table numbers into them,” explains John. “Then we sandwiched a dowel between two for each table so they could stick into the planters.”

3) The bride selected the wood for the planter boxes and let her father-in-law work his carpentry magic. For the wedding, they filled the centerpieces with blooms by Scenemakers and the Flower Patch.

4) Using the same font throughout, the bride designed the dinner menus—handcut by a bridesmaid—and printed the seating cards on kraft paper. She glued the cards between Polaroid veneers, tracked down at multiple craft stores, and then affixed them to wood disks so they would stand on their own. “Guests really loved these and many took them home,” she says. Another guest takeaway? Fresh-baked local RubySnap cookies individually wrapped and tied with ribbon.