Reception update post and centerpiece help
Hello out there in WPer land! I would love your creative input. We have all the big reception stuff done for our 8-15-10 wedding - officiant, venue, caterer, florist, photographer, DJ, cake* - but I need some creative help in pulling together the details - and specifically the centerpieces/tablescapes.
Here are some of the details for background: we're getting married outdoors at the Crane Estate in Ipswich, MA. The ceremony will be here (try to picture it without snow! ;D )
We're just doing garden chairs with a rose petal aisle and no other decor. We really want to keep the solemn piece solemn and then have the reception be a great celebration of our commitment. (The fuzzy gray where lawn meets horizon is the ocean - it's much more visible in person).
The dinner will be here (side lawn - it's bigger in person - I was at the edge of the patio).
We plan on putting lanterns or hurricane vases along the stone wall as ambiance after sunset. Now that I look at this picture again I'm thinking of adding some throw pillows to the benches for additional seating options while guests are mingling.
Our flowers are ivory roses and blue hydrangea. Our colors are cornflower blue (French blue), ivory/beige, silver and touches of green and brown (to pick up on the lawn/nature). The men are wearing tan suits with blue ties (FH's will be ivory/champagne) and my girls have selected David's Bridal dresses in cornflower blue. My will-be-6-months-pregnant MOH chose this gown and my BM chose this gown. I'll be wearing this Paloma Blanca dress and veil with 3/4 length sleeve lace bolero during the ceremony:
These are our engagement rings
My wedding band is an eternity band that matches the band on my e-ring. FH's wedding band is a traditional men's gold band. I plan on wearing my grandmothers' e-rings on my right hand during the ceremony. My maternal grandmother's will be my "something borrowed" because it belongs to my mother and my paternal grandmother's will be my "something old/something new" because I inherited one of the two stones of her e-ring and my Dad had it re-set for me in a new setting (my aunt inherited the other stone and setting of the original). I'm probably going to wear these earrings which I bought on crazy sale several years ago when a local jewelry store was going out of business. I'm currently not planning on wearing a necklace but I may change my mind once I get my dress and try it on again. I'm thinking of doing a low chignon for my hair but I need to find a place to go for a trial (any Boston/North Shore brides have any suggestions of salons?)
I want to do a scrapbook for the guest book, so I'm planning on having scraps of paper for guests to write their well-wishes (kind of like this)and then later I'll put the notes in the scrapbook with our favorite pictures of each person from the reception. I picked up this faux book from Michaels to put the papers in so they don't blow away
and I was going to use the smaller bird cage for the finished notes and the larger one for cards. We're also thinking about doing a photo booth like this for guests to have fun with during the reception and also to show off our family photos. We're not planning on doing traditional favors but rather donating to the scholarship set up in honor of FH's father, who passed away several years ago, and giving guests a short note letting them know - probably inside the escort card.
A good friend of ours is working on the invitations.
This page has my centerpiece inspiration in the 4th from last pic - silver mint julep cup with roses & hydrangea. I was planning on putting votives around it with white table linens and white dinnerware with platinum (i.e. silver) rims from caterer. But now I'm wondering if it's a little too plain and boring. I'm trying to pull together an elegant, New England theme with romantic overtones. I like the lovebird theme, but I don't want to go *too* crazy with it. I think touches here and there would be nice, but not head-to-toe birdies. I'd like to have menus on each place and maybe some herbs tucked into the napkin. I'm also thinking about doing something with birds for table cards and I'm wondering how many of you are doing place cards (either instead of escort cards or in addition to). I like the glow of the tables in this picture but I'm going cross-eyed trying to find inspiration pictures to pull all my ideas together so they mesh so I'm coming to you wonderfully creative ladies - what would you do to pull this all together?
* I brought a design with my inspirations to my Mom who drew a picture for me to take to our tasting. While our salesgirl was writing up the contract another salesgirl looked at the picture and said, "which one of the decorators designed that?" I was like, "oh, my Mom." She was very impressed and I was so proud of my Mom.
Here are some of the details for background: we're getting married outdoors at the Crane Estate in Ipswich, MA. The ceremony will be here (try to picture it without snow! ;D )
We're just doing garden chairs with a rose petal aisle and no other decor. We really want to keep the solemn piece solemn and then have the reception be a great celebration of our commitment. (The fuzzy gray where lawn meets horizon is the ocean - it's much more visible in person).
The dinner will be here (side lawn - it's bigger in person - I was at the edge of the patio).
We plan on putting lanterns or hurricane vases along the stone wall as ambiance after sunset. Now that I look at this picture again I'm thinking of adding some throw pillows to the benches for additional seating options while guests are mingling.
Our flowers are ivory roses and blue hydrangea. Our colors are cornflower blue (French blue), ivory/beige, silver and touches of green and brown (to pick up on the lawn/nature). The men are wearing tan suits with blue ties (FH's will be ivory/champagne) and my girls have selected David's Bridal dresses in cornflower blue. My will-be-6-months-pregnant MOH chose this gown and my BM chose this gown. I'll be wearing this Paloma Blanca dress and veil with 3/4 length sleeve lace bolero during the ceremony:
These are our engagement rings
My wedding band is an eternity band that matches the band on my e-ring. FH's wedding band is a traditional men's gold band. I plan on wearing my grandmothers' e-rings on my right hand during the ceremony. My maternal grandmother's will be my "something borrowed" because it belongs to my mother and my paternal grandmother's will be my "something old/something new" because I inherited one of the two stones of her e-ring and my Dad had it re-set for me in a new setting (my aunt inherited the other stone and setting of the original). I'm probably going to wear these earrings which I bought on crazy sale several years ago when a local jewelry store was going out of business. I'm currently not planning on wearing a necklace but I may change my mind once I get my dress and try it on again. I'm thinking of doing a low chignon for my hair but I need to find a place to go for a trial (any Boston/North Shore brides have any suggestions of salons?)
I want to do a scrapbook for the guest book, so I'm planning on having scraps of paper for guests to write their well-wishes (kind of like this)and then later I'll put the notes in the scrapbook with our favorite pictures of each person from the reception. I picked up this faux book from Michaels to put the papers in so they don't blow away
and I was going to use the smaller bird cage for the finished notes and the larger one for cards. We're also thinking about doing a photo booth like this for guests to have fun with during the reception and also to show off our family photos. We're not planning on doing traditional favors but rather donating to the scholarship set up in honor of FH's father, who passed away several years ago, and giving guests a short note letting them know - probably inside the escort card.
A good friend of ours is working on the invitations.
This page has my centerpiece inspiration in the 4th from last pic - silver mint julep cup with roses & hydrangea. I was planning on putting votives around it with white table linens and white dinnerware with platinum (i.e. silver) rims from caterer. But now I'm wondering if it's a little too plain and boring. I'm trying to pull together an elegant, New England theme with romantic overtones. I like the lovebird theme, but I don't want to go *too* crazy with it. I think touches here and there would be nice, but not head-to-toe birdies. I'd like to have menus on each place and maybe some herbs tucked into the napkin. I'm also thinking about doing something with birds for table cards and I'm wondering how many of you are doing place cards (either instead of escort cards or in addition to). I like the glow of the tables in this picture but I'm going cross-eyed trying to find inspiration pictures to pull all my ideas together so they mesh so I'm coming to you wonderfully creative ladies - what would you do to pull this all together?
* I brought a design with my inspirations to my Mom who drew a picture for me to take to our tasting. While our salesgirl was writing up the contract another salesgirl looked at the picture and said, "which one of the decorators designed that?" I was like, "oh, my Mom." She was very impressed and I was so proud of my Mom.