Weddingbee Blog

And now it’s time for my favorite part of any recaps ever. The details. Before I get into the dinner and dancing portion of the night, I want to give you a quick look at how our reception looked.

Let’s just jump right in, shall we?

First up, here’s the dining room all set up. One of my favorite memories from this room is the moment that I was running to the bridal room just minutes before the ceremony began. I ducked through here so I could cut through the kitchen, and it was the first time I had seen the room all set up. I was in a hurry so it was a bit of a blur, but I remember as soon as I made it to the bridal room, I kept replaying the glimpse I got in my head—I couldn’t get over how much I loved it!

Obviously, the cupcakes hadn’t been delivered yet when these photos were taken—they would later be placed on the table set up at the back window.

And now, a few close-ups.

I didn’t talk much about our centerpieces before the wedding, because I really had no idea what to expect until the day of. But, oh my goodness, did our florist ever do an amazing job. We had some small centerpieces…

And some larger ones.

The napkins that I went through hell to make turned out to be worth ever last minute of torture. They added so much to the room, and I’m actually really glad I did them. It was a huge relief that I liked them so much, because I was terrified that I went through all of that trouble for nothing and that I’d hate how they looked. Luckily, that definitely wasn’t the case.

That photo was taken before the room was completely set up—once the room was finished, each place setting had a favor sitting at it.

To find their spots, our guests used our escort card flags that were made completely amazing by the addition of some super adorable flower pins made by Mrs. Socks. Seriously…without her, these things wouldn’t have turned out half as awesome and I can’t thank her enough for helping me out. On top of how great they looked in their display, it was so fun to see our guests walking around all night wearing the pins!

There were also a couple of other small touches in the dining room – like the bride and groom signs I whipped up in the week before the wedding. I had never used Sister Cardy’s Cricut, and I was dying for an excuse to. So, I decided to put all of the projects that were actually important on hold so I could make these completely useless signs.

They turned out pretty cute, though!

I played around with the idea of creating menu cards to put at each place setting, but in the end decided to go with a much easier/cheaper option. We had made a giant chalkboard out of an old frame and some plywood, and we didn’t really have a specific plan for it – so, I commissioned Sister Cardy to write the menu on it so it could be displayed as the guests were coming in.

Have I mentioned yet that our wedding wouldn’t have been half as awesome if it wasn’t for Sister Cardy’s amazing crafting skills? ‘Cause it’s true.

Oh, and we can’t forget the cupcakes, can we? They were only the most important part of the dinner. Of course, in my book, dessert is ALWAYS the most important part of dinner.

I’ll share more details on the cupcakes when we talk about the cake cutting, but here’s a glimpse of what the cake table looked like.

(All credit goes to, surprise surprise, Sister Cardy for the amazing banner above the cupcakes. And the cupcake wrappers. You’re beginning to wonder if I actually did ANYTHING for the wedding myself, aren’t you? Don’t forget about the napkins – I did those!)

One of my favorite parts of our reception was the photo booth. I’m in love with all the photos we got from it, and it was a great way to get the guests who aren’t big on dancing a bit more involved in doing something during the reception instead of just standing around.

I originally didn’t want any props for our photo booth, but we ended up having a nice little selection of simple props – and I’m so glad we did! I’ll share the photo booth pictures in a later post, but just trust me when I say that these props looked awesome in the photos!

As much as I planned for the wedding, I put no thought into some of the most basic things like a card box. In my defense, I did have a last minute plan that totally fell apart when my dog, Ranger, stepped on and smashed it. So, it wasn’t really my fault. Luckily, I had grabbed this cute little basket on clearance at Michael’s and had no plan for it, so we quickly dubbed it a perfectly suitable alternative.

And now that I’ve officially overwhelmed you with photos of the inside of our venue, let’s step outside.

The plastic balloons that I found at the last minute turned out to be one of my favorite touches. The looked perfect hanging on a tree outside of the venue.

The outside of our venue was so beautiful to begin with, we didn’t do much to accessorize. We had a few tables out there, which ended up being a great decision because despite the fact that it was January, the weather was amazing and many guests spent a good deal of the night outside!

Other than the balloons, the only other thing we put outside was a sign, so people knew they were in the right place for sure (there are a couple of different places to get married within our venue). My dad made the sign for us, and I loved how it turned out!

The only thing I didn’t like about it was that my options for stencils at the craft store I went to were very limited. I didn’t plan far enough in advance that I could find anything else, so I had to make do with what I could find at the last minute. As a result, I didn’t really like the text on the top part (it’s partially because my name has so many damn A’s), but the sign as a whole made me very happy!

I’m glad we didn’t accessorize too much outside, because once the sun started to go down, the sunset totally stole the show – no one would have even noticed if we had put more out there!

And with that, you’ve seen all of the little details at the Cardigan wedding. Now, let’s get down to business—it’s time to eat!

(All photos by She-N-He Photography)

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Need to catch up?

• The Week Before
• The Day Before
• The Rehearsal
• The Morning of the Wedding
• The Gift Exchange
• The Makeup
• The Dress
• The Somethings
• The Bridal Portraits
• The Family Photos
• The Bridal Party
• The Ceremony Details
• The Moments Before
• The Processional
• The Bride’s Walk
• The Ceremony, Part 1
• The Ceremony, Part 2
• The Portraits
• The Cocktail Hour