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I am REALLY, excited about my final idea for giving our ballroom a makeover!
The inspiration came a few weeks ago during a trip to visit my parents in Florida. I always buy a magazine for a flight, and ever since the engagement, the bridal magazines always win my dollar! I opted for the latest Martha Stewart Weddings. It wasn’t until I arrived at my parents’ house that I flipped to stationer-extraordinaire Cherie Berry’s pretty, paper-inspired wedding. And what did I see?
Pretty, punchy paper!
Above, we can see one of the 16-by-12 foot vinyl banners printed with the bride’s designs. The couple hung these around the reception room, and it completely personalized the space! The ceremony signs, below, turned around to reveal the letters XOXO in time for their kiss.
Both pictures from Martha Stewart Weddings
So here is my idea: We will print similar signs and use them to cover the picture frames in our ballroom! Each wall at our (most likely) venue has several large framed photos of celebrities from the 1920s and ’30s. They look amazing with other celebrations, but I would prefer to conceal the famous faces during ours. Since they could only be partially hidden by fabric and lighting, we could use these banners to completely mask the framed photos! Our signs would be smaller than the banners used at Cheree Berry’s reception, but with a similar look—graceful designs in fun, popping colors!
Writing these past few posts has made me feel more comfortable about our choice of venue. We chose it for practical reasons, but the ballroom was always too dark for my taste. Poor Mr. Parfait has heard me complain and stress about it for the past few weeks. Now I have a whole slew of ideas for brightening and personalizing the space for our reception!
Any ideas for what we can print on the banners? How are you planning to personalize your ceremony or reception venue?
Love quotes? Excerpts from your vows? I love that first picture!
A paper background like the first photo would be amaaazing. They actually did something similar on TLC’s Wedded to Perfection last Friday. They printed out a large pop-art style mural that served as the couples escort “table.” It was fabulous.
I like the Just Married. A favorite quote or an excerpt from a favorite poem would be cute, too!
This sounds like the best idea so far!! I can’t wait to see how it turns out in pictures.
You could put pictures of the two of you in one or two frames. And then your monogram in another if you have it. Just married could go in another. Love is sweet if there’s a frame by your cake table. Maybe you could even put something along the lines of thank you for celebrating with us in one.
I love the first photo!! I like the idea of using an exerpt from your vows or even “Just married”. This is a wonderful idea Miss Parfait!
I find the L-O-V-E pic at the church is a little distracting. Your eye is drawn to the banners & not the couple!!
Depending on how cheesy you want to be, you could always use quotes from famous writers’ love letters a la Mr. Big in SITC…except without the whole getting ditched at the altar thing 
I LOVE those banners in the church! We’ll probably get married at boyfriends parents church, or the church he was ordained in. They’re both beautiful and don’t really need any other decoration other than something on the pews but still… *sigh* I love the LOVE letters!
I like this idea, too. Have you done a price comparison on drapery v. lighting v. banners?
i agree with Mrs. Bruschetta or maybe you could also do a collage of your pics, like a time line.
This reminds me of a little DIY I did once upon a time. I’ll try to explain it as best I can, because I think it might be a cheaper and more eco friendly solution to big banners than vinyl.
So my very first apartment was a basement-level with dark wood paneling over all the walls. I couldn’t deal with that but wasn’t allowed to do anythign permanent.
So, went to the library and found a black and white print that I really liked in an art book. I think it was a Picasso (maybe this one, but I really can’t remember: http://www.antiquehelper.com/auctionimages/2009t.jpg)
I took the book to my local print shop, (kinko’s maybe), and asked them how big they could make it. They said that the biggest rolls of paper they had were about 24″ wide.
Since I was looking to wallpaper an entire wall we blew it up in sections that were 24″ wide. I think I used 5 sections in total and pieced them together to cover the wall. Since it was only a black and white copy it was relatively inexpensive (under $50 for sure, maybe even under $25).
If you were looking to do banners though, you could do 24″ sections of really cool black and white prints, blown up to be as tall as you wanted. You could even use them to cover drapes, or sections of walls, leaving a gap so that one print would be spaced out over the entire length of a ballroom. At the end of the day they can just be recycled. (Or used to cover ugly paneling in somebody’s house)
I don’t know if I explained that very well, but I gave it a shot. Email me if you want and I can try to do a better job of it.
Hi, Miss Parfait! I really think that you chose the right venue at Signature Events. We actually went to High School together (go, redhawks!) and I know that SE is the perfect location! When I was planning my wedding, I often thought about having our reception there. I think that by adding those backdrops, you will completely make the space your own, and it will be something that isn’t often seen in most weddings. It’s such a creative thing to do! Even after the wedding, you could use the piece as a headboard in your bedroom! Good luck, and I am so excited to see someone that I know on Weddingbee!
i love this idea! you can use love quotes? or pretty designs. the possiblities are endless and i’m stuck because of it. lol
Ugh, I LOVE the graphic behind the couple in the first picture. Total swoon.
I hope bunnies make an appearance. If you have a friend in architecture school they probably have access to cheap large format printers.
Depending on how many frames you have to cover, you could always mix it up, maybe put colorful paper in one frame, a picture of the 2 of you in another, and maybe love quotes from movies or plays the two of you like.
@Mrs. Bruschetta & @RecessionistaBride: Aww, I love the idea of having excerpts from our vows. Very personal and sweet.
@Miss Dachshund & @Kathryn: Ooh, I do love my some poetry and sheet music. Thanks for the suggestions!
@kmattso2 & @bkgrahamwedding & @nhlchick4: Great ideas! I’m taking notes now.
@Mrs. Mouse: I haven’t yet, but that would be helpful for making a decision. I could DIY the banners but would probably hire another vendor for fabric draping and lights.
@GreenDani: Thanks for sharing about your project. It’s good to know that someone has tried this, and it worked!
@Katie: Yay, thanks for the encouragement! Glad to know there are peeps from my hometown reading.
@mrspaetz: Yep, they’re well aware that I’m not a fan of the celebrity faces on the walls. They said it’d be fine if I covered the frames with fabric or these banners!
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Mrs. Parfait, Chicago Age and Occupation: 26, Teacher Fiance's Age and Occupation: 24, Senior Online Consultant Engagement Date: February 14, 2009 Wedding Date: April 2010 Venue: Signature Events About Me: I have a soft spot for all things sweet and romantic. Desserts, love songs, sappy movies? Yes, yes, and ohh yes. My fiance and I enjoy singing to our dogs, creating crazy ice cream sundaes, and generally being lovey dovey cuddle bunnies. We also do socially acceptable things like dancing, throwing Frisbees, playing high stakes board games, and taking unreasonably fun road-trips. We're planning a Korean/Serbian wedding with plenty of playful, personal touches!
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