September Wedding

Today's post is in honor of my daughter and son-in-laws second wedding anniversary.  This is the awesome group of friends and family that made up their wedding party.  As you can see the color scheme was hot pink and green with brown accents.  Although the wedding was in September we have plenty of summer weather left here in North Carolina so this sunny color scheme was perfect for the day.  We were blessed with a perfect day.  Plenty of sunshine, blue skies, and a gentle breeze.  I thought I would just share a little about the creative process and decision making for the wedding.

Many brides are forgoing the cost saving choice of having their wedding at their church and their reception in the fellowship hall for a location wedding. (parent alert) This results in the first choice you have to make, what venue would I like.  Through a little online research my daughter found "A Place In The Vineyard" at Dennis vineyards.  To be honest I was not wowed by what I saw on the website but I agreed to take a trip with the couple to see it.  Once I was there I could see the great potential.  We were told that the vines would be green and full of grapes in September.  They were, the above picture is actually from the day of the wedding.  There was a building with some nice architectural interest for the reception, a covered patio area attached to that, and a sidewalk that led down to a gazebo by the lake for the ceremony.  There were also many structures and amazing trees on the property that were great backgrounds for photographs.

Some architectural interest in the reception hall.

 Actually I missed the silos on my scouting adventure but luckily they caught the eye of our photographers from Wide Eyed Photography.  I love the imagery of all dressed up in a casual natural environment.

The weathered wood siding with peeling red paint of course screamed photo op to me. 

 I wish the trend of a single color of bridesmaid dress in a variety of styles was around during my bridesmaid days.  It is wonderful that each girl can select the style that fits and flatters her best since bridesmaids tend to come in all shapes and sizes.

I hear nightmare stories sometimes about mother's and daughter's planning weddings.  All things went pretty smooth here.  She selected the color theme, I suggested varying the table decorations from table to table for creativity and a more relaxed feel, we discovered together that we both loved birds as a motif, and we both thought it would be fun and more meaningful to make some of the wedding things ourselves.

These little cards were available for anyone to write well wishes or pieces of advice on to the couple.  We simply cut them out of card stock and stamped them using a set of bird stamps and brown ink from a local craft store.  We punched holes and added ribbon.  The day of the wedding we placed them on top of a wooden wine barrel along with a decorative dish for depositing completed cards.  The invitations were boxed sets and we printed them.  We designed the programs on the computer and printed them at home.

 The containers and candle sticks used for arrangements were an assortment of things I already had and new containers we bought specifically to be used at the wedding.  The flower arrangements were done by our dear friend and interior designer Jim Gardner of Jim Gardner Designs with the help of his assistants, me and my husband.   They were absolutely beautiful.

When I found this box I knew it would be perfect for a bouquet of flowers and then in a second life be a jewelry box for the new bride. All the mirrored circles and squares and the votives came from a local craft store.  These first pictures are of arrangements that were on tables under the covered terrace.  Each table was different. The couple loved the idea of having indoor and outdoor spaces for guest to enjoy.

This is my favorite find.  This vase is stunning with anything in it.  On this day it is filled with cockscomb and lambs ear from our yard. 

These mercury glass jars worked perfectly once the stoppers were removed.  I just lay the stoppers on the table beside them.  Using containers with great visual impact and small necks uses less flowers and can help cut cost.

Another way to cut down on the number of flowers needed is to use a few smaller vases with compact flowers and then add a flowerless decorative accessory for height.  I have had this birdcage for several years and it is one of my favorite things! It gets frequent use in my personal design endeavors.

My dear friend, Stephanie Hurley, who is a creative memories consultant helped my daughter make a custom guest book that included pictures of the couple and lines to sign in on.  It was perfect.  A one of a kind and so creative.

This little birdhouse was a wonderful birthday gift from one of my sisters and fit in perfectly with our bird theme.

Flower girls carried wire baskets with rose petals to sprinkle down the isle.

Bouquets 

Row Markers

Reception Hall Arrangements

For the reception hall arrangements we paired a variety of  lower glass containers, many of which have been collected over time, with taller candle sticks from our collection.  The mirrors and votives added the right amount of sparkle and reflection. The final touch was a sprinkling of flower petals on the table cloths.

The large buffet arrangements are no DIY project unless you really know what you are doing.  The volume of flowers needed can be costly if things don't go quiet right.  I was just lucky to have my own experts available.

The cake was simple but elegant embellished with ribbon and natural flowers.

  Only solid colored linens were available from the venue and I wanted to be able to give some distinction to some of the tables so I decided to make a few table runners to use in addition to the solid linens.  I used two similar fabrics in our color theme of brown and green.  The fabric covering the cake stand, the gift table, the DJ stand, and the center of the buffet table was purchased at 1502 Fabrics and then I simply hemmed the edges.  This is a good investment of money.  I've had several opportunities to use them since. 

We opted for less cake slices in order to offer these amazingly delicious cake balls.  They were a huge hit.

To help us locate a caterer we had gone to a wedding fair held at Dennis Vineyards.  Many vendors came that regularly provided service to this venue.  I highly recommend this approach if you are having a wedding away from your home town and you are not familiar with businesses that service the area.  We found our caterer and the baker for our cake at this event so it was a very worth while day.

So, Happy Anniversary to my youngest daughter and thanks to her for letting me share a little about her special day.  Our hope is that you will enjoy the photos and tips and possibly be able to take something away from this post that you can use.  I love looking at weddings even when I am not planning one.  My favorite wedding blog is Green Wedding Shoes.  They showcase creatively beautiful weddings.  I think it is wonderful that couples feel free today to express their individuality, creativity, and personalities through their weddings.  It really makes it interesting for the rest of us!