Category — reception decor

I admit to be addicted to the dollar bins at Target. They suck you in with their magical powers, I swear.  And don’t be fooled by the mini toys and candy, there is usually some great stuff stuffed in there.  Three of my purchases today:

(white vase – $1.50)

(galvanized bins – $1.00 each How perfect would these be filled with succulents as a centerpiece for your reception?!)

(8 nautical greeting cards – $1.00)

That is all I can think of when I see this venue…  just breathe in the beauty, the simplicity.

(via)

I love when I hear that my tutorial helped someone, and I love it even more when I get to see the outcome!

Laurel sent me these pictures and told me a little about the baby shower she threw:
“The shower was hosted at a pool-side cafe inside a Las Vegas resort hotel. We ended up using a few of the flower balls as table centerpieces, which I think worked out well. The shower theme was pink elephants with zebra print accents. The handmade invitation  featured a cute little elephant cut-out and the same zebra print ribbon we used to hang the flower balls. The theme also carried over with the cupcakes and cupcake toppers. I was originally going to only do dark pink & light pink flower balls, but ended making the orange ones to tie in the color scheme of the restaurant. So glad I did because the overall event looked so much more complete.”

Thanks for sharing Laurel!  I love the colors, zebra print and those elephants! So adorable!!

Well lovely readers, we signed the lease for our new place!  Goodbye 1 bedroom Mission Viejo complex apartment, hello 2 bedroom Capistrano Beach duplex apartment! We are so excited!  And it definitely needs some love, so expect more than a few before and afters and a whole lot of inspiration searching here. (Um, taupe walls and dark chocolate carpet… I will need to consult my new domino book!)

This weekend brings the Getty Villa and The Vintage. A nice way to relax before the craziness of moving really sets in.

And because every post needs a pretty picture:

(shot by the very talented Matthew Morgan)

We decided to go with a framed poster for our guestbook:

I bought the poster from etsy seller SparklePower, though I can’t seem to find her now! (Thanks Laura!) We bought the frame at Ikea and took the whole thing to Michael’s to get a custom matte made for $20.

We came to the conclusion that since we were on a budget, giving out favors was simply not necessary. We thought about making homemade cookies to package up for people to take with them, but decided against it as it would have had to been done in the few days before the wedding, and I really didn’t want to have to do anything on those days!  So what we decided on doing was to give away the flowers from the centerpieces.

I posted about making these bags here.

We also made little tags asking people to take the flowers but leave the jars, since they were part of our personal collection.

Going this route for the favors saved us a lot of time and money, and no one seemed to care. (Not that they would come up asking for their favor… but still!)

Images from Studio 7 Photography.

The kid’s table was a huge hit! By the end of the party there were untangled Slinkies, colored coloring books and devoured candy everywhere!

I included:
a craft paper table cloth (using this roll of paper from Ikea)
Slinkies (from the dollar bins at Target)
little wind mills (also from the dollar bins at Target)
crayons and colored pencils (placed in paper cups from Ikea and Target)
mixed candy (also placed in paper cups from Ikea and Target)
the Activity Books I made
paper napkins (from Ikea)

Kids were more than welcome at our wedding, and I wanted to provide them with something to do so that they could have fun too!  They were all old enough to be left alone by their parents at the table and to eat the food that the adults were eating.  They loved it, and I was so happy to see them all having a good time!

Images by  Studio 7 Photography

Update: I added a few food pictures. It was mmm mmm good!

I am going to start with something totally off topic: it is WAY too hot for the end of September. Seriously.

Ok, so our reception! It was fun, went by way too fast, and even though I did everything I could to eat I still left hungry! We had a lunch time cocktail and appetizer reception at Cannons Seafood and Grill in Dana Point, California.

Our reception turned out just how I had hoped it would. It was relaxed, there was great food, flowing alcohol, a fun place for the kids (to come in a later post), and an amazing view!  Suzy was amazing to work with as their event coordinator. She took care of everything, was super laid back and was just good at what she does. I really can’t recommend Cannons enough. Although having an evening event there can be a little pricy (renting out the restaurant), they are closed at lunch so the prices are very reasonable. I will do a post on food and cakes later The view is what sold us, and lucky for us July 18th was a clear and gorgeous day! And didn’t the balls turn out great!?  I was so happy that Christa agreed to set everything up for us, she really pulled the whole look off! I of course supplied her with pictures and lists and diagrams… but she followed them excellently!

Tips: Think outside of the box when it comes to reception venues.  I actually found Cannons on The Knot. I had never eaten there and really hadn’t thought of it as an option.  Of course, once I realized that was an option I started thinking outside of the box a little bit more. “well if Cannons is a venue, maybe the Ocean Institute is too?!” (It is, it is just more expensive)  Really think outside of your ‘wedding venue’ box. You would be surprised where you can throw a party! (and remember, that is all you are doing. Throwing a party.)

If you are on a budget, seriously consider doing a lunch time reception. You save so much money, it is ridiculous.

Remember, your guests are there to see you get married. Everything after the ceremony is a bonus. Back in the day, cake and punch receptions were the norm.  I feel like weddings have gotten so huge, and yes, it is ok to want the big party, to want to dance the night away and have your names projected on the dance floor and an ice sculpture replica of your dress (ok… that was taking it too far. sorry). If that is what you want, then by all means, it is your wedding. But if you don’t want all of that, if you just want to get married to the one you love and have a little celebration afterwards, then do it!  I know that we were extremely blessed to have my parents pay for the wedding and only pull the “I am paying so I get my way” card once or twice, and that not everyone can just do whatever they want while having someone else pay…  but… um… (sometimes I wish I was better at putting my thoughts into written words)

All I want  you to know is that you shouldn’t worry about what your guests will think, want, desire… They are just happy to see you tie the knot. And if you feed them something and hang out for a bit, then that is cool too. Just… just do what you want to do!  It is your day! You are getting married to the one you love! Yay!

I’ll get off my soap box now!

Oh and for those who asked, I got the H & B letters at Michael’s… I think!  They were white and Bryan painted them!

All images thanks to Miah and Mike from Studio 7.

update: ok, now it is fixed!

(update: apparently wordpress doesn’t like it when I title my posts with just numbers, which is why you haven’t been able to comment. It is all fixed now!)

All my to-do’s are done. I may make a ‘just married’ sign tonight, maybe.

2 days to go.

Here are the last few things to get done:

Putting the programs in their box. (And a few kids activity books for the really young kids)

A mock up of the kids table to show my florist turned set up person

Pen jar for the ‘guestbook’

Hair trial! She fixed the dark pieces (yay!) and did a gorgeous up-do!  However, I am very simple and wear my hair straight all of the time, so I said for the big day I would like it with a little less volume

Ok, now I am really going!  We aren’t leaving for our honeymoon until Monday, so I may post a teaser before that, but I am not making any promises!

With one month left I am quickly checking things off the list.

Gocco’d napkins… check.

Cake descriptions and bar menu (frames from ikea)… done.

Up next: programs and rehearsal dinner menu’s.

Also, I had one reader (hello!) ask about my shower thank you cards.  Both the ‘thank you’ and the little kitchen icons at the bottom are fonts that I found at dafont.com.  They have every type of font you could want, including lots of dingbats (the icons) and a lot of them are free. I hit up dafont before every project!  I also have a photo printer, which allows me to print border less (although I did not need it for those cards) and I bought the paper (pure white 4 bar) at Paper Source.  Being crafty is something that I got from my mother and I say that even if you didn’t grow up in a crafty household, you can do it too! Take classes (Michael’s offers them, as well as Paper Source and I am sure other places do too) buy craft books like Martha’s new one and just practice

1 month left people.

Aaaand, my little sister graduates from high school today!

Aaaaaaand we are going to get our marriage license this afternoon!

Aaaaaaaaaaand I need to make one of these, among other things.