{ Fall Wedding }

Hi, Friends! I thought I'd check in and give a little attention to this ol' blog. It's been awhile since I've shared something, so I thought I'd share a wedding I helped with a few months ago. My brother got married in November and it was lovely! He and his fiance (now wife) live in Seattle, but since the majority of their friends and family live in Utah, they chose to marry here and have the reception here as well. That meant they needed someone to act as their unofficial wedding planner. That's where I stepped in! We threw around a few ideas and came up with some fun ideas- I was a crazy busy woman juggling a baby during the day, and working on wedding details by night! After a few mental breakdowns, a valium, and some helping hands, it came together beautifully, AND we were able to do it on a tight budget! I will say that I am pleased as punch that it's over!

Here are a few of my favorite details from the night!

For the sign in table, I cut out small squares of white card stock and lent my design rendering markers for people to leave "advice and well wishes for the new Mr & Mrs". I used 40% off coupons at local craft stores and bought the mini clothes clips to hang the notes on twine, strung between two vintage ladders. We also hung pictures of the couple sporadically on the twine, in between the note cards.

 I introduced them to the idea of incorporating chalk boards in the wedding, which they loved! I found this large frame at a local thrift store and spray painted it white. Then, I cut a piece of heavy mat board to fit the frame and painted it with chalkboard paint. I drew in the rest by hand.

 I loved how the backdrop turned out! This lovely ditty is the work of a talented duo that also helped set up and kept things running smoothly throughout the evening! Dave & Paige, you two really should start a event planning business!
I borrowed the iron garden arbor from my parents neighbor. I had purchased a few bunches of corkscrew willow from Tai Pan, which we tied to the arbor using brown zip ties (which you couldn't even see). Another neighbor had also recently pruned his willow tree, so we used some of the branches as well, which looked beautiful as there were still some fall leaves on the branches! The arbor was finished off by weaving burlap and white twinkle lights throughout.
To add some visual (and practical) stability, we anchored the arbor with two crates that were purchased at Joann and stained dark to give an antique feel. Each crate held a 36" cylinder vase with pea gravel and more corkscrew willow in it, as well as a short flower arrangement.

 For the centerpieces, my mom and I scoured local thrift stores for simple, 12-14" glass, cylinder vases for the tall flower arrangements, and small 4-5" cylinder vases for the shorter arrangements. They were a steal at $1 a piece! The flowers were from Costco (purchased and arranged the day before)! I am no florist, so my sweet friend Karlie stepped in to help me out! She was a professional florist for years and gave her time and energy to help me put these beauties together! We bought the black lanterns and candles at Ikea and my mom had the small votives in her storage.
My brother and his wife gathered the fall leaves a few weeks prior to the wedding and they looked so festive on the table!

The table runners were probably my favorite part of the wedding decor! My mom found a great deal on burlap and purchased two whole bolts of it (without knowing if we would even use it - when you find a good deal on burlap, you bounce on it!) and she cut them down to size, fraying the edges. I designed their monogram and used my Yudu screen printer to add a personal touch to the table runners.

 For their wedding favors, I donated some white, mini Chinese take out boxes I had and filled them with caramel corn (from the Pop Corn Cottage in Utah - a 7 gallon bag was only $35 and was more than enough to fill $100 of these boxes!) I finished them off with some green ribbon (from Tai Pan) and printed their monogram onto pearl ivory card stock that was framed with a bronze, metallic card stock square.

 The couple chose a dessert buffet and purchased an array of pies from Marie Calendars. We lined the white table clothes with a burlap runner and used boxes under the linens to add height variety. I found simple, white, ceramic pie plates at Tai Pan for $3 a piece and displayed the pies on white cake stands (some which I already owned and the rest were borrowed from friends). I also bought the pie servers at the dollar store (which  you would never even guess - they were great quality)! The mini chalkboards were rented from a local woman for a very reasonable price.
We also found small, white, square plastic plates at Zurchers and used some of my vintage milk glass to  hold the silverware. Tea lights in clear votives and white floating candles in cylinder vases adorned the pie table.

 I also used my screen printer to print "I love you more than pie" in silver in onto black aprons (purchased in packs of 3 at Michaels with a 40% off coupon). We let the servers keep their aprons as a thank you for helping!

 Barry & Kelly also love Italian Sodas, so we set up a little soda station! I used an old white crate my mom had to hold the cups, straws, and napkins (all purchased at Zurchers) and a big 2 gallon glass jar held the ice. I bought a small metal scoop at a local restaurant supply store to scoop ice and the cream stayed cold in my large, galvanized bucket. We stored the cream in glass Korken bottles (from Ikea) and had a variety of flavored syrups.

 This was originally a framed painting that I found at a thrift store. I loved the frame, so I painted it white, flipped the picture around and painted the back of the painting with chalkboard paint. I thought a variety in fonts was a fun idea to list the different flavors! While I wish my handwriting was normally this varied and lovely, it's not. I found fonts I liked online and carefully eyeballed them as I wrote out each letter.

 I was so happy with out how it turned out! Andrew was a HUGE help, taking care of Baker when he got home from work so I could focus on the wedding details! If you have any questions about where I purchased, or if you live in Utah and want help with a wedding, send me an email!