centerpieces

Jan102011

Party Set-Up… 5 More Days

On an entirely different note, our wedding reception is in 5 days. And I gotta tell you, I cannot wait for it to be here… then be over! I am not putting nearly as much thought and time into the reception as I did with our wedding/ vacation to Las Vegas. It’s going to be truly amazing to see family and friends we haven’t seen in years and to introduce Steve to all of them. Hey, the gifts aren’t that bad either… 😉

I mentioned a few weeks ago about the new location for the reception. It’s in the much larger part of the yard and already beautifully decorated with orchids, bromeliads, bonsai and palm trees. My father is a truly amazing, even if amateur, landscape artist. On Saturday, we (mom, dad, Steve and myself) set up 3 tent frames, trimmed tree branches, moved the tables and benches my father built, and raked up the loose rocks and branches. Dad put down an entire palette of mulch (75 bags!) and then we went back to Home Depot to buy another palette and check our options for the centerpieces. It turned out he needed another half palette, but everything is finally complete. Wow, that’s almost 200 bags!

I’ll leave you with a few pictures of the setup. Kayla and Jake were instrumental in helping by standing on and in front of the golf cart, lying in the grass and licking everyone. The next pictures will likely be after the party. 😀

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Dec272010

The Actual Reception Location

Seeing as it’s now less than 3 weeks from our wedding reception, my folks called us outside Saturday afternoon to start discussing the logistics and layout of the tents, tables, food, drinks, etc. I’d posted pictures on here not long ago of the yard where the party was going to be held… well that’s totally changed! Rather than party in the big open yard with bad lighting and trenches where dad pulled all the trees out, we’re having it in the yard between their house and ours.

Dad decided to hang a few more light strands around the yard to increase the lighting. It’s a gorgeous area with tons of plants and natural beauty already in place. AKA zero need for additional décor! The strung lights cast plenty of light, but there will also be several spot lights around the yard. Over by the tents, there will be more lights. Good thing my father is so crafty as there are electrical outlets all over the yard perfect for additional lighting.

He’s also going to buy mulch to even out the ground so no one else trips like I did a few weeks ago. I’ve been checking the weather and it is going to be the perfect Miami “winter” with a high of 73* and a low of 53*. So much for my idea of wearing a cute dress! More like a cute sweater with a pair of jeans and maybe boots.


The plant house in the middle of the area


The large tree surrounded by seating, the appetizer/ drinks tent


The food tent


The whole area taken from the area where the seating tents will be located

We still need to make the favors. I bought 100 sheets of origami paper to make the candy dishes and 7lbs of candy. Also need to…
* organize the guest book canvas boards and markers
* make the flags for the centerpieces
* order the food!
* make sure we can borrow tents and chairs from Cathy’s family or else find a place to rent
* buy the centerpieces (6″ plants) and plant sleeves [or maybe make them]
* find table cloths
* clean our house!
* and probably several other things

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Aug082010

IKEA as a Wedding Supplier

Today, Steve and I took a trip up to the IKEA in Sunrise, FL. I cannot even begin to tell you how much I adore IKEA and could walk around and enjoy all the pretties. Before we moved back to Miami, I would scour the catalog and envision how our home would look and our future children’s rooms and everything else. Naturally, I turned to their little accessories for reception ideas.

My vision for the reception is very loosely based in Asian design. Our invitations have orange and blue bamboo trees and leaves. I am toying with ideas of lucky bamboo or fortune cookies as the favors. A recent idea was little bamboo steamers or baby take out boxes filled with candies. The party will be really low key, but for centerpieces, I’m picturing lots of vases with floating candles and submersible lights. Today, I took the following pictures for inspiration and potential future purchases:

White round paper lanterns can have lights inside or not

Blue vases, 3 different sizes, for centerpiece groupings

Plant pots for low centerpieces. Since they’re white, I’m not sure how to use them.

White pots that are just super cool looking, centerpieces maybe?

Clear vase, 1 per table for rocks or shells and floating candles or something.

all images taken by me inside IKEA

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