Let's Talk Wedding: Reception Decorations

I had such big expectations of myself in the beginning of planning. I didn't want my mom and I to be doing a lot of work, but I still thought I could do most of the decor cheaper than paying someone else. I was wrong! The hotel was beautiful and I was pretty impressed with the wall-coloring....and even the carpet wasn't as offensive as some hotel carpet I've seen. :) When we booked the hotel banquet room, we had no idea that they did chair covers and sashes. We walked into the main lobby and this was their table display for the summer.

I really wanted all black (big surprise) with dark purple sashes, but the florist said that wouldn't look good...and they only have black and white...which I didn't want. I also didn't like their chair covers b/c they were loose and baggy. I was frustrated b/c I thought that was my only option. UNTIL, I walked into the hotel, one day, after they had changed the table in the lobby for their fall look.LOVE IT! Black table cloths, with black FITTED chair covers, and dark purple sashes! YAY!!!! I told the hotel I wanted my tables set up EXACTLY the same!!!! I was so excited!!!! :) And, this is exactly what they did! (I really can't say enough about The Renassaince! They were amazing and had everything set up perfectly! The tables, the food, the cake cutting, EVERYTHING was just amazing! They made my wedding reception so easy and stress-free!!!).

For the centerpieces, I thought mom and I could find some tall vases on our own and then get some flowers and throw some petals on the table and be done...just like what we saw at the hotel display! :) Um....yeah.....no. (I'm thankful we decided against doing the decorations ourselves b/c it really gave us the entire wedding to relax, take pictures, and enjoy the day...exaclty what I wanted to do). These were just a few of the ideas I had in my head. As I started looking for vases to for 22+ tables, I realized it was way too expensive...and then we'd be stuck with 22+ vases and nothing to do with them. So, we talked to our florist and came up with something better! I'm so thankful for my mom b/c she knows all this stuff so much better than I do. She wanted height on 1/2 the tables and then something shorter on the other 1/2. We decided to use the reeds with sparkles on them like we used at the church. I wanted to mimic the urns, but our florist didn't have anything for it (sadly we found this out two nights before the wedding). My mom and I went on a mad dash to Lowe's to see if we could find anything, but no such luck. So, I called the florist (Lindi with Bridal Garden) I used for my programs and flowers for my parents (Ok...before you think I was rude my going to another florist, I just have to say that the one we were using wasn't helpful at all! They basically told my mom and I "good luck" and "let us know what you find" and "we'll be waiting".) She didn't really have what we were looking for, so FRIDAY (before the wedding) she went to her wholesale place and purchased white urns and spray painted them black. We picked them up on Friday afternoon and took them straight to our florist so they could get the centerpieces finished. The urns were filled with the reeds and the fall leaves and berries that matched the girls' bouquets. The shorter centerpieces were these large "fish" bowls filled with water, a different style of reed, and had flowers floating in them. Everything looked AMAZING!!!!! THANKFULLY! God is so good...and everything just fell into place!

The head table was all the idea of the florist and I loved it!!!!!! I wasn't planning on having a head table for the bridal party b/c its awkward to sit with people you don't know. So, the florist suggested that we encase the dance floor with long tables. We had enough chairs for the bridal party and their spouses. It was PERFECT! We did large, tall center pieces with white hydrangeas that matched my flowers and lots of tea lights. It was beautiful!I did do the entrance table myself. I liked this idea with the pumpkin, but I got nixed on the pumpkin idea. Which was fine. I think our entrance table looked great since we brought all the guest-signing stuff, my pictures and my flowers over from the church.

I was also extremely excited about this new trend!!!!! I was so thankful that my DJ was able to create a monogram for us too! It was the first thing I saw when I walked into the reception site! Loved it!