These clever personalised hangers by Lila Frances are the perfect prop for that classic wedding dress photo op.  Hangers measure 15 inches across and can fit up to 14 characters.  But don’t leave ordering yours to the last minute as there is an 8-10 week lead time on these popular  little gems.

Rachel and Dion had an amazing destination wedding in Las Vegas, Nevada back in March.  25 of their closest friends and family turned out for the Ohio couples big day.  The wedding ceremony was held at The Chapel at the Mandalay Bay Hotel and the reception was held at Maggiano’s Little Italy in the Fashion Show Mall, just down the Vegas strip from Mandalay Bay.  Rachel first came across Etsy while searching for Christmas gifts.  She’s been hooked ever since.

Scroll down to the bottom of the post for some fabulous shots of Rachel’s “Trash the dress” photoshoot taken a week after the wedding.

The Details

Invitations, table numbers, and wedding photo frame by onereverie. 

Bride’s wedding jewelry by Sahara Amaya.

Personalized hanger by Lila Frances. 

Bouquet by Croska. 

Favor Tag by Fubabee. 

Escort cards by RepChi.  

Cake Topper by Dandelionland.   

Poographer byTodd Wilson of Bently & Wilson.   

Trash the Dress Photo Shoot  by Jennifer Mott. 

What was your theme/colors and what inspired it?

We didn’t have a theme for our wedding–Vegas is enough of a theme on it’s own without going out of our way! But, our color scheme was an espresso brown, and a fern green color–and, to be honest, was only decided upon when we found our amazing invitations on Etsy. My dress was a coffee colored silk, so, we knew not much would “go” with it, but we found the perfect invitations, and subsequently the perfect color scheme almost by accident!

What creative (DIY) or personal aspects did you include in your wedding?

We tried our best to make our wedding as “us” as possible, which was hard because, at the time, we lived in Ohio–getting things to Vegas for the wedding would be difficult. So, it was the little things that we did in an attempt to tie it all together–and, surprisingly enough, Etsy helped make that possible. We were able to, through multiple vendors, stick with the same color scheme, and make it all look cohesive, despite being thousands of miles from home. We DIY’ed our favors (mini glass jars of personalized M&M’s and chocolate covered espresso beans, with labels from Etsy), and I dyed my crinoline blue (as my something blue) for under my dress

What is the most memorable moment of your day?

For me, the most memorable part of our wedding day was the few hours my husband and I spent taking pictures alone prior to our ceremony. We had a “first look,” followed by two and a half hours of picture taking at various locations throughout Mandalay Bay. It was an amazing feeling to spend time with my husband alone prior to the big moment; it was extremely calming, and not to mention fun! We definitely felt like celebrities walking around a hugely populated casino in our wedding attire!

What was your favorite Etsy find?

It’s definitely a toss up between my bouquet, the personalized hanger, cake toppers, and invitation print that now serves as our guest book, if only because we have constant reminders of them placed throughout our home! 

What’s the best advice you have for planning your wedding now that you’re on the other side?

The best advice I have is two-fold:

1.) No one cares about your wedding as much as you do. It’s sad, at the time, but it’s true. For as excited and involved as I was–well, no one else matched my level. It was disappointing at the time, but looking back now, it makes sense. It was our wedding, so it was obvious that it would be more important to us that others. 

2.) insofar as no one else will care about your wedding as much as you do, no one will notice when things don’t go as planned–so, don’t stress the small things. Weddings are like life, they aren’t perfect, and things will undoubtedly go wrong, but in the grand scheme of things, it doesn’t matter, and isn’t worth fretting over on the day of the wedding. If, at the end of the day, you’re married to the one you love, then the wedding was a success!

 Trash the Dress Photo Shoot

More from the bride on her Etsy purchases:

Our invitations, table numbers, and wedding photo frame all came from the amazing onereverie.  They were fantastic to work with, and incredibly helpful when we continued to go back with more ideas for additional needs. We started with just with invitations, then returned back to the store months later for the table numbers, and again for a print that resembled our invitations to use as a photo mat to sign for our guest book, and they were amazing every single time! 

My wedding jewelry was from Sahara Amaya. I couldn’t have asked for more beautiful jewelry. Although I didn’t end up wearing every piece, I can’t say enough about this shop. I had trouble with the back of my earring staying on, and she was quick to send me back ups–talk about professionalism! 

One of my favorite purchases was a personalized hanger from Lila Frances.  I knew in advance that my wedding dress would be too heavy to hang on the hanger (to be fair, my dress was gigantic!), but I still managed to find a way to get it into some pictures. And now, it’s proudly on display with my amazing bouquet. 

Speaking of my amazing bouquet, it was purchased through Croska.  I knew I wanted something unique when it came to a bouquet, but, in Vegas–unique would have cost a small fortune. When I realized I could have something unique that would last forever, I was sold on this bouquet. I was fairly late in the game in order this (and two smaller versions for our sisters who were our attendants), Croska did everything in her power to make sure they arrived before we left for Vegas. Now, if only I could stop my cat from attacking the feathers on the bouquet…. 

The tags for our favors came from Fubabee.  This purchase was one of the easiest ones we made!! There was no thought involved; the tags we went with matched our color scheme perfectly! 

For our escort cards, we decided to spice them up a bit with personalized buttons from RepChi.  These buttons were such a hit, and I still hang on to my “Team Bride” button!

Our “cake” topper came from Dandelionland.  We knew we wouldn’t be having a traditional wedding cake because we had such a small guest list, so we went with mini-cupcakes for our guests, and two regular-sized cupcakes for us and our mini-look alike toppers. They not only turned out great, but now serve as cute decorations!

Bride Amanda first learned of Etsy through the blogging website for brides called Wedding by Color. “One bride in particular had ordered a personalized hanger from Etsy that had her soon to be married name on it” explained Amanda. ”It was beautiful and I HAD to have one!”  She and Bryan were married in July at The Pickering Barn in Issaquah, WA in front of 150 guests.

The Details

Brides Vintage Inspired Pearl Earrings by JaniceMarie

Set of 2 personalized hankies – ccbgknikolich

Zebra print satin garter set with pink bows – lolainlace

Fuchsia and Black lace Sixpence by MonAmourBoutique

The Original Silver Lingerie/Wedding Dress Hanger – lilafrances

Photography by Tasha Owen

What was your theme/colors and what inspired it?

Black, White, Fuchsia, and splashes of zebra print – it sounded crazy when my husband pitched the idea to me, but it turned out beautiful! When we decided we’d like to have cupcakes instead of a traditional cake, my husband turned to Google images for inspiration. He found a display of zebra print cupcakes and thus the idea was sparked in his brain, we must have zebra print incorporated in our wedding!

What creative (DIY) or personal aspects did you include in your wedding? 

Our DIY projects included our programs, center pieces, save the dates, and invitations. Our personal aspect included bathroom baskets for the guests, my something blue was the words “I DO” under my shoes, and four open chairs with white roses on them in the front row on the grooms side. This was to honor Bryan ’s grandparents and aunt that have all passed, it was beautiful.

What is the most memorable moment of your day?

I have to say the most memorable moment of the day was walking down the aisle. I was arm in arm with my mom, with my step and biological fathers walking behind us. As soon as we had passed under the arbor but step father said, “Look at everything and how beautiful it is Amanda, everyone is here and all of this is for you two.” Well then I just lost it – the tears were definitely flowing.

What was your favorite Etsy find?

My favorite Etsy find was the personalized hankies, what a great idea! I’m including a picture of the finished product, it brought both my mom and my new mom to tears.

What’s the best advice you have for planning your wedding now that you’re on the other side? 

My best advice would be to ask for help, make sure you EAT at your reception, and take a minute after the ceremony for just the two of you. I felt that by asking for help I would be a burden to my friends and family, however, all they wanted to do was help take the load off my shoulders and I wish that I would have accepted that from the beginning! I regret that I didn’t eat our delicious food, I hear that it was really good though J And some of my favorite pictures of us happened when we took those few minutes after the ceremony and receiving line – finally husband and wife.

Shalon and Chris were married in front of 150 people on April 24th in Jackson, Mississippi .  This is one of those wonderful weddings where no matter the circumstances (including power outages, threats of rain and near by tornadoes), the couple was just happy to be getting married to the person of their dreams. 

The Details

Crystal Sash by LittleWhiteDresser  

Flower Girl Basket & Ring Bearer Pillow by RomancingJuliet 

Veil by veiledbeauty  

Bridal Gown Hanger by NutfieldWeaver

Photography by Erin Fults

What was your favorite Etsy find? 

The crystal sash complimented my wedding gown very well and elevated the dress to a new level. It is definitely the best Etsy purchase I have ever made. 

What was your theme/colors and what inspired it? 

Purple, Black and White.    Purple is my favorite color; it is very majestic and royal. I just love the darker, richer hues of purple. Black and white are beautiful, classic colors that complement anything.   I got most of my weddings ideas from an amazing website: www.weddingbycolor.com, affectionately known as WBC.  WBC is a network of the most creative and helpful brides who share their wedding ideas, DIY projects, and money saving tips with each other.  It was also a great support system for me during the wedding planning process.  I took a little inspiration from other brides and was able to create my own dream wedding. 

What is the most memorable moment of your day? 

My hair was done, my makeup completed, and I was headed to the chapel to get dressed.  All of a sudden, I received a phone call from my photographer and she told me that the power was out in the chapel! There was a 60% chance of rain that day, and a tornado was brewing nearby.  Fortunately, the rain subsided before the ceremony, the power was restored, and the sunshine came out just in time for pictures.  The most memorable part was that I did not stress.  I was marrying the man of my dreams, and it was all that mattered. 

What creative (DIY) or personal aspects did you include in your wedding? 

I am not very crafty; so, I semi-DIY certain aspects of the wedding.  I designed and printed my invitations and programs using stationary from the BRIDES Magazine wedding collection.  I also assembled my own wedding favors featuring local Mississippi treats such as bourbon praline pecans and sweet heat snack mix. 

My grandmother was very near and dear to my heart.  She passed away in 2006. So, to have her close to me on my special day, I carried her picture in a beautiful locket attached to my bouquet. 

What’s the best advice you have for planning your wedding now that you’re on the other side? 

Relax! Budgets are always an issue, but you can truly have everything your heart desires at your wedding.  Be realistic and willing to make small sacrifices here and there.  You may have to do things in smaller quantities or embark on a DIY journey.  Get creative and enlist the help of family and friends to make your dreams come true.