Reception Decor & Food

Below are all the different things we did to decorate and make our wedding look great. I have also included little tid bits on how exactly we did things or where we got them.  

We had our wedding in my parents backyard.

We used vases we found at our local thrift shop buying more than 50 for the cost of less than 75 cents.

We found many frames at our local thrift shop and just spray painted them the wedding colors, we had tons of pictures scattered around the reception. We also decorated the vases using ribbon, lace, and twine.

Babies Breath is a beautiful and filling flower that is  extremely cost effective. We ordered our babies breath from Costco.

We had bowls of mints that were coordinated to our color scheme scattered around the reception for our guests to enjoy.

We were lucky to have my brother-in-laws mother allow us to borrow her large set of chairs and tables to give people places to sit and enjoy themselves.

My Absolute favorite thing, this is a Lindsey Weiss original idea. I wanted a honeymoon fund that wouldn't just ask people for money so after a month of trying to figure out a way to redo this pinterest idea I got. Instead of one jar we would have two jars a brides jar and a grooms jar, the concept was that whoever at the end of the night had the most money donated into their jar would have to sing a song prechosen by the other. This way people would be placing their change into whoever they wanted to hear sing that night It was a huge success we got $50+ and everyone enjoyed it. To know the end result my groom lost having to sing to me A Drop in the Ocean by Ron Pope. 

We had a diversity of roses and babies breath to add a spark of color and volume.

We did a Jenga guest book, we have already played it twice now and love seeing everyone's messages on the blocks.

We made these signs ourselves. I wanted a way for people when they arrived to know everything that was available to do and eat. This was our cute and handmade solution.

I have always wanted a outside wedding and have been to fortunate to have parents that have a gorgeous backyard, it was beautiful.

I was given my great-great grandmothers heirloom quilt as a wedding gift from my grandmother.

There were ducks in the stream that add a fun animal aspect for everyone!

This fabric flag banner was made by my mother and sister was simply made by getting about 8 different fabrics in the wedding colors, then making a cardboard template of the flag, using the template they cut flags from the fabric. Finally with a string they sewed them onto the string leaving 1 1/2 the length of a flag in between each flag. 

I wanted our guest to not just come make small talk, get some sweets, then leave. I wanted them to come and want to stay and enjoy themselves, we did this by having games around the reception with instructions on how to play. This is our instruction on Ladder Golf.

We used organza and ribbon to decorate the gazebo. 

On Sean's list of things he wanted at the wedding was cotton candy, which I think many people (kids) enjoyed this sugary treat

We got sugar colors that matched the wedding to continue the theme.

We tried for a long time to figure out something to hold the cotton candy, then a month before the wedding we found these vintage mental baskets at Tai Pan that were perfect!

We got ice cream catering to provide people with something to eat. We used Leatherbys who were great! They came with 6 different flavors of ice cream.

Everyone got a waffle bowl with their ice cream.

Along with tons of different toppings to enjoy!

We use vintage suit cases to make sure everywhere was decorted.

Everyone gets thirsty especially in the summer. We use oranges and strawberries to slightly flavor and sweeten the water.

We were able to get my mother's and grandmother's wedding dresses to create a special memento to showcase them and their weddings.  My grandmothers dress could surprisingly be worn to day with little to no alternations to the style. 

As a favor to our guest we provided popcorn they could take home with them and also enjoy during the reception. 

I found the design for our wedding cake on pinterest, and I love it. 

It was chocolate, we both didn't want something snazzy that only a fourth of the people would like. So going with something we both loved and was super simple caused it to be almost completely gobbled up!

We used an English/Garden rose as the flower on our cake.

We hung a chandelier above the cake and put in lit candles it really looked good.

Our wedding planner/decorator put ribbons in the trees and it looked super cute and pretty while transitioning the wedding with the trees and nature.

We strung our flag banner and Christmas lights across the the dance floor to create a false ceiling. It was absolutely stunning to stand beneath and was surprising illuminating.