Weddingbee

Since I’d spent part of the day setting up the reception room, I knew more or less what it would look like that evening. But there were some things I hadn’t seen yet: the cake, most of the flowers, the completed candy buffet, or the uplighting - and in fact, I’d never actually seen our venue’s reception room at night!

So at the end of cocktail hour, when Mr. Lovebug and I ducked into the room for a minute before everyone started filing in, we were just enchanted with what we saw. Everything was so soft and rosy and glowing. The ambiance, combined with all the little touches, had transformed a rather average ballroom into a such a pretty space. It wasn’t dramatic or striking - but it was romantic, cozy, and inviting:

The first thing that actually popped into my head when I saw the room was, Wow. When this is over I have to give MAJOR props to the Weddingbee reader who suggested I look into uplighting. So…HEY, DANIELLE! YOU ROCK! EVERYONE, READ DANIELLE’S BLOG HERE! Seriously, though - thanks for the brilliant idea. Once the sun had gone down, the uplighting was just the coolest thing ever:

That pilar of light behind my dancin’ fool girlfriend is one of the uplights. It cost $15 per light, and our DJ Luke had brought three different shades of pink gels for me to choose from. Considering the price to effect ratio, it was probably the detail that gave us the biggest return on investment. Cheap and simple, but with huge impact.

Taking in the look of the tables, I quickly zoomed in on one of the flower arrangements. It sort of sucked the breath out of me, and I think I actually clutched my chest like Fred G. Sanford. I dashed from one table to the next, Mr. Lovebug in tow, gushing over our mix-and-match silverplate containers:

All of my anxiety about our arrangements having “too many pinks” vanished. I’m completely, hopelessly, florally illiterate, and the sum total of direction I had given Elaine was “light pink and petal-y”. That bit of brilliance notwithstanding, she combined cabbage roses, ranunculus, and peonies to lovely effects:

In fact, while we’re on flowers - some close-ups of my bouquet:

One of Elaine’s assistants had the idea to keep the bouquet’s handle soaked in water until the very last minute to preserve the hydrangeas; it came to me delicately wrapped…but quite juicy! The typewriter keys were apparently attached by some form of sorcery. They survived hours of my mishandling, several (non approved!) trips around the room - they even survived an impromptu Anti-Patriarchal Bouquet Toss (more on that later).

Outside, a wreath at the Inn’s entrance announced “Pretty Wedding Here Today!”…

…while back inside, Mr. Lovebug and I looked to see how our “Lovebug press” books stacked up:

Ironically, this is the title of a book I’m working on (though very, very slowly). So nobody steal it, please!

Our guests got a kick out of the books, with some of our closer friends taking it upon themselves to explain the titles to anyone who didn’t understand them. In fact, I wish I’d made more! But, like Mrs. Corn, I had set myself a DIY wrap-up deadline: a must for saving on week-of sleep and sanity.

The itty bitty pink mini menus were a hit, too, even if the little suckers drove me crazy during set up (with doors on either side of the room open, the cross breeze kept blowing them over):

But by far the biggest comment generators were the table number photos. In retrospect, I wish I’d found the time (and funds) to get stands for them; cute as they were, they took up precious table space, and would have packed more of a punch had they been raised:

A word of advice: when your photographer does shots of the table details, ask him to remove any offensively ugly salt/pepper shakers and/or sugar caddies - those buggers ruined some otherwise awesome pictures!

As far as I know, there wasn’t any confusion with guests finding their tables by way of the typewriter key escort tags (and explanatory sign):

During set up, I’d chucked the plan of tucking our “Sweet Charity” cards into the napkins - I just couldn’t cover up the gorgeous letterpress. So I just sort of set them on top, with the tokens balanced on the corners. Not the most inspired of arrangements, but it worked:

I had fretted over whether or not our twist on favors would go over. Would people “get” it? Would they understand what to do with them? Well, like Borat, I’m happy to report: “Great success!!” Starting during dinner and all throughout the evening, people were making trips across the room to “spend” their tokens on the charities of their choosing:

Though for any of you doing something similar, it doesn’t hurt to have the DJ make an announcement encouraging your guests to visit the charity bowl table.

There were so many details to take in, it was almost sensory overload. But as happy I was with how all of these things turned it, it was nothing compared to the jaw-dropping delight I felt with…

how adorable and delicious our cake turned out!
how scrumdiddlyumptious and pretty the candy buffet was!
how cool our “Wish Paper Basket” looked, especially once it was filled up!

Which means another details post, before we even get to the first dance! Yikes! Until then, I’ll end with one more detail - a shot of the wedding poem I’d written for Mr. Lovebug:

All photos by the Inimitable Chris Richards.

• The Photo That Inspired I...
• For the Sake of the Weddi...