Weddingbee Blog

While we were out in the vineyards taking bride and groom portraits, our guests made their way into the Grand Salon for the cocktail hour and reception. Here is what they saw upon entering the reception space:

The tables all set up with Casa Real’s standard chocolate brown linens and a mix of high and low centerpieces. You can see our candy buffet in the background. (Cliff Brunk Photography)

Our florist, Nona Tai of Floral Design Studio, completely surpassed my expectations. I was a little worried about how she’d be able to pull off my vague descriptions of “autumny flowers with grapes,” but she did a beautiful job—right down to the grapes in the vases of our tall centerpieces! (Cliff Brunk Photography)

Low centerpiece. You can also see a closeup of the “through the years” table numbers we worked so hard on! (Cliff Brunk Photography)

At the very last minute, we decided to do signature cocktails. “Tuscan Sunset” was our play on the classic Tequila Sunrise, and “Stinson’s Delight” was named after our pup and was the big hit of the night—it seemed like everyone was ordering it! (Guest photo)

Once cocktail hour was over, guests sat down at their tables to find a menu and lotto scratcher favor at their place setting.

Read about our adventures in lottery-scratcher favor making here. (Cliff Brunk Photography)

Off to the side of the room was our candy buffet. We went with our favorite candies instead of trying to do a color-coordinated look, and I think it came out great nonetheless!

Top row: Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, Reese’s Pieces, Haribo Gold Bears, Skittles, Red Vines, Skittles, Dum Dums, Sour Strawberry Belts. Bottom Row: Hershey’s Kisses, Peanut M&Ms, Jelly Bellies, Starbursts, Reese’s Pieces and Chocolate Covered Almonds from Costco (my favorite!!). We bought most of our candy from Costco, Wal-Mart and Target. (Cliff Brunk Photography)

(Cliff Brunk Photography)

(Cliff Brunk Photography)

I love how our photographer incorporated the candy into our ring shots! (Cliff Brunk Photography)

Guests also got a sneak peek at our wedding cake, which was to the left of the candy buffet. The cake absolutely took my breath away when I first saw it! Our amazing baker Debbie Caracciolo-Smith of Not Just Cheesecakes modeled the cake after my dress, and she really nailed it:

(Cliff Brunk Photography)

(Cliff Brunk Photography)

You may recall that Mr. Jelly picked our cake topper before we were even engaged, when he saw it in a magazine I was reading and told me to save it “for future reference.” I ended up painting the bride’s hair dark brown with a small brush a la Mrs. Turtle. (Cliff Brunk Photography)

Up next, we get the party started!