Weddingbee Blog

Before we transition to our reception in earnest, I thought we’d take a wee virtual tour of our wedding to see how the various elements came together. Imagine yourself in the shoes of a guest, and let’s start at the very beginning with our beloved invitations!

{Photo by Aruna B. Photography}

I wrote about the inspiration, design, and crafting process for these precious bundles—and we couldn’t be happier with how they turned out. They truly set the tone for our event, and every time we went to someone’s home and saw our invitation displayed on the refrigerator or carefully set aside on the counter it made our hearts swell with pride that our hard work didn’t go unnoticed.

Upon arriving at the Royal Park Hotel, our guests were guided to the welcoming table that housed our guest book and wedding programs:

The ornate, vintage gold chalkboard was purchased from Etsy seller ShabbyChalks, and I used a liquid chalk marker to write the welcoming message. Our programs were hand made by the perpetually-crafty Mr. Tartlet, and because I constantly fretted about not having enough—of the 42 we made for a total of 60 guests, we only had four leftover.

I didn’t write about our guest book prior to the wedding because I was suffering from a serious case of indecision due to all the beautiful options out there. Lovely alternatives like Mrs. Elephant’s thumbprint tree, Mrs. Sand Dollar’s guest bench, Mrs. Meerkat and Mrs. Earrings’ photo books–the list goes on—all tickled my fancy. In the end, we chose to offer a “Polaroid” guest book. The album was ordered from Adesso (which has sadly since closed its doors), and the modern version of the Polaroid camera—the Fujifilm Instax 210—was purchased from Amazon. One of my favorite parts of the evening was stepping out into the hallway during the reception to read what our guests had written. To our delight, some of our vendors even got in on the action!

{Personal Photo}

After taking a photo and leaving a message, our guests rounded the corner and stepped through the double glass doors to take in this idyllic setting:

{Photo courtesy of Twofoot Creative}

Because we had our ceremony and reception in the same room, one of the restrictions our venue enforced was to have all items (tables, centerpieces, place settings–the whole nine yards) set up prior to the start of the ceremony. After a bit of negotiating and convincing, we were allowed to set our chairs flanking the aisle rather than at the tables as the Royal Park originally intended.

Our centerpieces were a mix of combo, muscadet, and caramel roses, peach lisianthus, and peach ranunculus, enriched with seeded eucalyptus, honeysuckle vine, scented geranium leaves, and Spanish moss. These gorgeous creations of The Parsonage were housed in gold-flecked, rustic rental urns that they ordered new specifically for our wedding (thanks, Liz!).

Interspersed between the floral centerpieces were gold mercury votive holders that I acquired from our very own Weddingbee Classifieds. The majority of these held unscented soy votives purchased from Etsy seller DewOnAPetal, while a few were occupied by a single caramel rose blossom cradled in Spanish moss.

{Photo courtesy of Twofoot Creative}

Also intermingled down the center of the tables were glass cylinders of various heights containing floating candles, the latter being purchased online from Wholesale Flower & Supplies.

I haven’t regretted our decision to use long tables–I was (and still am) enamored with the sleek and elegant air they imparted to the room. The gold chargers at each place setting were also purchased second-hand from a local bride. I waffled on actually using them because these ceramic lovelies were incredibly heavy, but I’m so glad we did as they added a lot of dimension to the tables.

The iron and glass room was softened at the front with organza draping, tied back with garlands of ruscus and ivy that were accented with seeded eucalyptus and combo roses. At the base of the drapes on either side of the room stood more glass cylinders with floating candles that imparted an incredibly soft, romantic glow as the sun set.

While not intended, there were also some air vents located just underneath the draping that created a dreamy ripple effect. The breezy movement of the fabric added even more to the “outside, in” ambiance we were striving for.

After the ceremony finished, the staff at the Royal Park and our superb day-of-coordinator worked together to swiftly make the room reception-ready: our seating chart was put on display and the place cards we made were distributed atop the napkins at each place setting.

By matching their name to the corresponding table number, our guests thankfully found their way to their seats with ease.

Our sweetheart table was also arranged at this time, with my bouquet used as the centerpiece. Although we had planned for the chair swag of ruscus and Sahara roses, the wicker chairs were a complimentary surprise upgrade from the Royal Park.

You can just barely make out our cake table on the opposite end of the room in the above photo. Three to-die-for flavors, two unique designs piped in buttercream frosting, and one custom cake topper from Etsy seller lollipopworkshop shaped this delectable scene:

The celebrated Anthropologie mugs that took the wedding world by storm dressed up the table, each accommodating a distinct floral arrangement.

After the cake cutting ceremony, the table was wheeled away and transformed to display our wedding favors.

Attire-wise, we’ve already laid eyes on a plethora of pictures that feature my dress, jewelry, and shoes.

Although I’ve shared some close-up shots of our bouquets, there is one teeny detail that I played pretty close to the chest–only a handful of people knew about it, and I didn’t even mention it to our photographer. You can just barely make it out in the photo below, but an homage to my treasured time here on Weddingbee kept me company along with two little bee charms that have been handed down from one blogger to the next (Mrs. Rainbow incorporated these into her reception attire!). The miniature food charm was custom made by Etsy seller PetitPlat.

{Left Image: Aruna B. Photography, Right Image: Personal Photo}

My bridesmaids modeled Alfred Angelo Style 7093 in Harvest Gold. Their jewelry, designed by M. Grazia Musi, was a gift and purchased from Ideeli. Their shoes were Vivenne Westwood’s Anglomania + Melissa Ultragirl V, acquired from my shoe Utopia, Zappos.

My sister wore a rhinestone beaded bridal headband from Etsy seller AmieNoelDesigns (it’s been well-established that I am a total Etsy junkie) that I had originally intended to wear as a sash, but decided not to at the last minute. In a “eureka!” moment, I asked if she wanted to wear it and in two shakes of a lamb’s tail it was snugly fastened in her hair.

Mr. Tartlet wore a custom three-piece charcoal grey suit from Indochino, and the groomsmen were head-to-toe Express (with the exception of their shoes; they each wore their own). All of the men sported boutonnières of succulents, seeded eucalyptus, and scented geranium leaves all bound together with twine.

Because our ring bearer was of age where everything ends up in the mouth, Mr. Tartlet found this adorable felt boutonnière for him to wear in lieu of live (and potentially hazardous) flowers:

Our moms and Mr. Tartlet’s grandmothers were given wrist corsages of muscadet roses and seeded eucalyptus, accented with ivy:

And last, but certainly not least, our wedding bands:

Phew! High five if you’ve made it this far, Hive! Brides-to-Be: are you looking forward to seeing everything come together at the wedding? Married gals: what was your favorite wedding detail?

*Unless specified, all photos by Aruna B. Photography

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