Wedding Blog
This weekend was a huge success! We met with the decorators on Saturday and discussed their ideas for the reception space beautification project. I am so impressed with their ideas; I can’t wait to see their vision come to life! Here is a very rough drawing of what the layout will look like.
When guests walk in, they will enter the cocktail area. The guestbook and gift tables will be near the entrance, along with the homemade photo booth. There will be staggered pedestal tables near the bar, and Chinese lanterns on the ceiling. The cocktail area will be separated from the dinner area by trees planted in white wooden boxes and covered in white lights. The entrance to the dinner area will be accented with curtains that are pulled back to each side.
The dinner area will primarily consist of long buffet tables with white linens and teal table runners. The head table will be located straight ahead of the entrance, and will hopefully be raised up so everyone can see what’s happening. There will be a few round tables for the family near the head table. The DJ will be along the right wall, next to another row of trees in white wooden boxes, which will be uplit with purple lights. The cake table in the right hand corner will also be accented with lighting.
The buffet table will be along the left wall, as well as the coffee bar. Chinese lanterns will be hung above the buffet. Dancing will take place in the center of the room, under the large chandelier hanging in the middle. The rest of the ceiling will be tented with white plastic (which looks like fabric) and strings of white lights.
I’ll admit that I was a little overwhelmed with the extent of the decorating they’re planning, and I thought that I could never afford a transformation like this one. When they handed me the quote, I had to look at it a few times to process it. I was so surprised to find out that the quote was less than half of what another decorator had quoted me, even though they are doing about 4 times the amount of work!
The reception venue decor has been the one element of the wedding that I have been most worried about since we began planning. After this weekend, it is honestly the one part of the day that I know will be perfect! These ladies get it. They have excellent taste and their vision has gone above and beyond what I could ever have dreamed up for the space.
I’m so excited to see the final product! Too bad I have to wait another six months…
Did you have to completely transform your reception space? What decoration element provided the biggest bang for your buck?
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Share this post: Decor Details
It’s awesome your decorators are so on top of what needs to be done! Lighting is going to be huge for us, because our reception venue is practically monochromatic.
That was cool to see a layout. But I don’t think it is a very good idea to have the gift table so close to the entrance. It makes it easy for theives to target your reception and steal gifts and cards with a quick getaway.
wow how awesome! i’m glad everything is working out for you with decorating the room! and yay for finding a good price tag!!! 
You guys are so organized. I need to make a map of our reception space.
Wow, I’m so impressed! Your venue will totally transform with this setup. I love the sectioned off cocktail area.
I wonder what the DJ will think of where you put him (our DJ requested that he be as close to the head table and the “action” as possible)
Did you ever come up with a solution to covering the walls? My friend is having a her reception (her husband has been overseas for a year) in a few weeks at an armory and I was wondering what solution you came up with!
Did you make that reception map, Miss M? Or did your decorator provide it? I’d love to know what program was used, because now I’m inspired to make one of my own!
I’m so excited to see the final outcome! I love the sound of it all!
Thanks for posting this. I was actually working out a layout today and your post reminded me to include a cake table. A few questions: How big is your room and how many guests? Is your drawing to scale? It seems your tables are quite close together. How much space did you allot between chairs, given that people will be backing out of their seats? Will you have a dance floor? Also, DJ’s typically stand behind their set-up, but yours seems to abut the wall.
I’m worried the tent we reserved is not big enough so I’m stressing a little about space. I also don’t want my guests to be right up against the walls of the tent, if they’re down due to rain.
@andrea: I’m with you on the gift table. It’s one of the things I’m going to move if we have space for it somewhere else.
@j_nicolle: For the ceiling we are using rolls of (good quality) plastic tablecloth that looks like fabric. As far as the walls — the docorators are taking care of it. They already have a lot of white fabric. We are also getting fabric a friend of Mr. M’s family who is using it for their wedding in June. My advice would be to find another bride in the area who also needs fabric and split the cost! Or use the plastic stuff. Here is the link to the plastic we’re using:
http://www.creativeconverting.com/cinc/creative/solids/tableRL.html
@BlushingBride530: I made the layout using MS Visio. It’s the easiest program I know of to draw out diagrams! If you don’t have this program, you can use the “My Seating” tool on Martha Stewart Weddings. It’s a little more cumbersome but it gets the job done.
You might want to consider putting the Guestbook or photobooth on the adjacent wall. We originally had a similar lay out and our caterer brought up the good point that it could become congested having those activity centres all close to the bar. With over 300 guests, that’s probably an important consideration! Then again, I’m assuming your diagram isn’t neccessarily to scale….your decor sounds pretty fab!
It’s so funny you posted this, I was just reading another post from Miss Perfume about how her floral quote was way MORE than she expected! It’s nice to hear that you can find what you need and for a great price! Yay!
Wow! Having the quote come out significantly less than you expected is great. Have you compared the two quotes to be sure that the really great, lower one includes everything that the other did? If so, that’s awesome!
Miss Mascara, how are you making your “homemade photo booth”?
can’t wait to see how it turns out! everything sounds lovely
just a tip: make sure to check for hidden costs / other undisclosed items if there’s a massive discrepancy between the 2 vendors.
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Mrs. Mascara, Chicago/Upper Michigan
Age and Occupation: 25, Biomedical Engineer
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 25, Process Engineer
Engagement Date: July 27, 2008
Wedding Date: September 2009
Venue: Catholic ceremony, reception at local armory
About Me: A lover of Mr. Mascara, crafting, baking, Gossip Girl, diet soda, and all things wedding. A Yooper girl somehow displaced in the Chicago suburbs, planning a wedding from a distance, and counting down the days until I marry my best friend.
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