The Par-Tay
One thing I was willing to spend a little more on from our budget was the reception hall. I knew what I wanted it to feel like, and I knew that didn't mean a gym or a community center! I wanted a natural feel, without a lot of colors that would compete with my decor, or limit my color options. I also wanted something with a great view of the outside, so mother nature could help decorate with her beautiful leaves. I found the perfect place after looking at about three other places. We will be having the reception at Seven Oaks Lodge outside of Boone. With the knottie pine interior, vaulted ceilings, and windows all around, it was just right. The price was incredibly reasonable, and Carol has been great to work with. We booked right away and we could not be more excited!
The fee for renting 7 Oaks was $585, with an $80 kitchen fee if you bring in your own Caterer. I know the prices went up for 2009, but we were able to lock in the cheaper price. For food we will be using Grand Times Cafe and Catering out of Boxholm. They were recommended to us, and we were so impressed by the food! Its just a little mom and pop shop in a podunk little town, but the food is amazing! Our menu will be Pulled Pork on a Bun, Cheesy Hashbrown Casserole, Baked Beans with Bacon and Shredded Pork, and Homemade Potato Salad. We will be doing a buffet, and I love the casual feel of the menu. We are pretty picky, so some fancy exotic dish just wouldn't do...sorry guests!! The food will be costing $7.85 per person, so cheap! We will also offer Homemade Lemonade, Iced Tea and Bottled Water for non-alchoholic drinks.
I'd really like to serve our Lemonade and Iced Tea in Mason Jars with Lemons, but in reality, we will probably just use some other nice glasses.
I am LOVING this set up, but we would have the lemons sliced so people can use them in their lemonade or iced tea.
These drink dispensers came from Sams Club on clearance. I LOVE them, they are just perfect!
I got this gold fabric for $1/yard for another knottie and I originally planned on making a cake table runner out of it, but now I'm thinking of using it for two runners on our beverage table.
This is my inspiration photo, but instead of the monogram letters, I'm thinking of putting something like "To Have" on one and "To Hold" on the other...still brainstorming this!
I am so in love with these menus! A total splurge (especially for a buffet, but I always like to know whats for dinner, no matter how it is served).
Rough mock-up of our bar menu. I love the idea of the "old, new, borrowed, blue" drink menus, but I didn't want to add another cocktail to fit the "something blue". So instead I used our beer selection as our "something brewwed". Pretty fitting huh?
I've gone back and forth on the idea of having a Smore's Station set up and a Bonfire outside the reception site. Since I need something to keep my guests occupied duing the gap between ceremony and reception, I have been thinking this might be a fun idea, or it we might do it after dinner. I really can't decide. I worry about safety, but our reception venue includes someone to manage and supervise the fire, so it's much safer than just a raging fire pit. I'd also like to get people outside on the patio, and hopefully this will draw them out.
This set up is beautiful, and in case of rain, I'm going to discuss having burners available through our caterer.
Honestly, who could resist this shot? I mean, if you weren't thinking a S'mores buffet was a good idea before...now you are, right?
I got these for 90% off at Hobby Lobby after Christmas, and I don't really know what I want to use them for. I was thinking that they might work for the S'mores buffet, use 2 for the marshmallows, 1 for the grahams and 1 for the chocolate. Not sure if they are ideal for it, but it's the only idea I've come up with for using them.
Martha Stewart got me hooked on the idea of Silverwear Holders. I think for a buffet they are a really great idea! Below is my DIY version.
These cost me about $.04 cents each, totally worth it! More details on these in the DIY section.
We will be having a limited open bar during the Cocktail Hour and through Dinner, if that makes sense. Pretty much we will have Red and White Wine, Spiked Cider, and Beer available until the end of dinner, or until we run out.
On the tables
My wedding coordinator (Cynthia Betts, weddingsiniowa.com) has offered me a FAB deal on centerpieces for the reception and I am so excited! I cannot wait to see some mockups of what she has in mind, so I can see it in person, but for now, here are the descriptions. She will be doing a mix of 3 different ones throughout the room:
5 tables of tall curly willow limbs set in a tall clear glass vase with fall accents collaring the top and swaging down to one side, spilling onto the table.
6 tables of 5-7 glass cylinders covered with creamy ivory vellum paper with candles inside for a soft glow to the table. We would surround these with rich fall accents
5 tables of square vases with fall arrangements consisting of berries, twigs, leaves, and faux fall flowers in rich tones.
All tables would sport 9-12 votive candles with more candles for the high cocktail tables, escort card table and where needed.
I would also provide a tall dramatic display for the escort card table and of course, the head table is my gift to you!
Professional centerpieces were a complete splurge, but the logistics of the day of the wedding didn't leave much time for setting anything up ourselves. Cynthia has been a life saver and I HIGHLY recommend her to any bride!
Below are some photos of work she has done before, in a fall theme. Everything she does is beautiful!
Instead of using floor length linens on our 90" round tables, we will use 90"x90" squares. As the photo shows, this size actually covers quite a bit of the overhang, covering the legs, and when the chairs are pulled up, give the illusion of having floor length linens. This little tip is saving us about $90 on our linens.
These will double as aisle decor and centerpieces for the 4 square tall bar tables. I got them on clearance at walmart and they match my theme and colors perfectly!
I'm getting these table cards free from another knottie, so generous! They match our colors perfectly, and I think we will just add some linen paper with the names printed in chocolate brown, and tie some ribbon along the top. Perfect! Below is a quick mock up I did, of course they will have table numbers on them but this is the basic idea.
This was a quick mockup I did of the place card layout, I think we will need to go sans floral-peice though, as it doesn't really go with the colors. These are the tablecloths we will be using on the place card tables and the guest book table. I really love them.
We will be using 3x3x2 kraft favor boxes from uline.com (100/$12). We will tie them with chocolate brown satin ribbon, and have labels attached to the sides, like above. The label in the front will have our names and date, and the one in the back will say "baked with love by the mother of the groom".
I like the label design below, ours will be printed on linen paper and we will bring in the red color with the label.
Yummy Pumpkin Bar favors! FMIL makes the BEST pumpkin bars, and they are a favorite of mine and FI's. What could be better for a fall wedding?
This is a monogram I designed and had made into a custom stamp by ebay vendor loongchai74. More info on this in the DIY section. I plan to use this to stamp the top of our favor boxes, and also to make DIY cocktail napkins.
This is how the finished cocktail napkins turned out, I used StazOn Ink Pads and they tuned out great. The ink does not smudge since it is oil-based, it just takes a little longer to dry.
I love this simple and elegant idea. We will use it on the head table.
We will have clusters of candle throughout the reception
Here are some easy instructions for making these cheap and chic decorations:
http://diy.wed-central.com/?p=62
I love the look of Luminarias lighting up the reception. I DIYed 80 of my own, pictures in the DIY section.
These are grapevine wreaths that I DIYed. They were my first time working with silks, but I didn't find it to be very hard. The total cost for each one was $13. The supplies that I used are below, one medium sized Hydrangea bloom, one Rose stalk which had a large rose, a rose bud and a smaller rose, one stalk of small orange berries and one stalk of the orange leaves.
