The biggest expense for our wedding was the Reception - which is most likely the case for the majority of weddings. To cut down on the costs, we did a LOT of do-it-yourself projects. The location of our Reception was at an old piano factory - on the second floor. The reception hall was all exposed brick - just like where we had our Rehearsal Dinner at. There were wooden pillars throughout the room that had white lights and tuling wrapped up in a spiral. The lights and tuling also drapped from the ceiling. We were really lucky because with having our wedding on the off-season, we saved $1300 JUST on the reception hall! And it was the exact location that I wanted - right on the waterfront!
When you first walked into the room, we had a table set-up with all of the PLACE CARDS / ESCORT CARDS.
This was one of the do-it-yourself projects I was talking about. I used the same paper as our wedding invitations and ceremony programs - just a gray card stock from Staples. The width of the cards was 3.5 inches, with the length being 4 inches (folded at the 2-inch line). It was VERY simple - just added each name along with 'Table ___' in the lower left hand corner. I was able to print four per page. As I received RSVPs, I was able to put these together. After printing, all I did was take the matching stamp (from our wedding invitations and thank you notes [here]) and stamp the cards and emboss again. It just pulled everything together so well! I was really happy with how they turned out.
We also had a GUEST BOOK at our Reception - one that people could write messages to us. My husband & I both have grown up around boats, and he actually restores old wooden boats - so he came up with this:
He made - yes, he made - a large wooden transom for our guests to sign. It turned out absolutely beautiful and he received so many compliments. The waiters were even asking about it! It is now hanging in our apartment, and we are able to be reminded of all the love of our family and friends everyday!
For our CENTERPIECES, we used mason jars.
Simplicity was sort of what I was going for, although everything turned out a little more formal than planned. But I was able to bring in some of that 'simple' in the centerpieces. I had three sizes of mason jars (quart, pint, and half pint). The two smaller sizes were filled with colored glass stones (purchased from the Dollar Tree). We then added a tea light candle in the half-pint jar, and a white votive in a glass holder placed inside the pint-sized jar.
For the quart-sized mason jar, we wrapped a piece of black burlap around the center. I couldn't find ribbon in the pattern I wanted, so we made our own out of material we liked. We wrapped the material 'ribbon' around the burlap and tied a bow. Our amazing florist dropped by the day of the wedding and did her magic with the flowers (white and purple mini carnations, mums, and alstromeria). If you're in the Grand Rapids area - be sure to check her out (The Flower Garden in Coopersville). Everything was placed onto purple and teal tulle.
At each place setting, we placed a CAKE POP as our wedding favor!
A couple girls from the bread shop my dad manages offered to make our cake pops. They did such an amazing job! They dyed the chocolate teal and purple to match our colors and then wrapped them nicely with a plastic covering. They also added the tag we made (same gray card stock) and tied them to the cake pops with the same material 'ribbon' used with the mason jar centerpieces. They were delicious! (My sisters' dog would agree - he managed to find a few left over at her house, but was all good in the end!)
In each window sill, we placed a round PAPER LANTERN.
We were able to get these for $1.00 each at the Dollar Tree. We dressed them up a bit with the same purple tulle we used with the centerpieces.
Instead of going with a big wedding cake, we decided to go with an assortment of CUPCAKES.
One of my favorite parts of planning was tasting these delicious cupcakes and choosing which ones we wanted to go with. We went with chocolate cupcake with raspberry jam filling and white buttercream icing, yellow cupcake with ganache filling and chocolate buttercream icing, and carrot cupcake with cream cheese icing. I'm drooling as I type these remembering how delicious they were! If you're ever in Grand Haven, be sure to stop by Elegance of the Seasons and snag one of her sweets. We had a 6-inch cake as a topper.
We also purchased a personalized KNIFE AND SERVER SET to cut our cake topper.
We had decided not to go with a chocolate fountain, but E managed to surprise me with a CANDY TABLE.
Our guest were able to help themselves to any sweet they desired!
And to close, kids were invited to our wedding, so we had a CRAFT TABLE to keep them occupied.
My husband and I were sent home with many drawings to hang on our fridge at our new home!
If I could share the food we had at the Reception with you, I would because it was absolutely delicious!
Tune back next week for the Wedding Party's Attire!
What were your favorite parts of your (or someone else's) wedding reception?
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I love the idea of having a kid craft table at a wedding reception! That makes it fun for everyone! By the way I love your new header! Very simple and elegant :) I'm looking to do something like that on mine.
Trả lờiXóaThanks so much! I was able to use picmonkey to create my header - super easy!
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