Weddingbee Blog

Now on to the real wedding goodness. Reception details! I absolutely loved how everything came together at the reception. McKenzie did such an amazing job with the florals—they looked even better than I had imagined.

Here’s a big shot of the ballroom, all gussied up, as well as some closeups of the tables. I literally did nothing the morning of to set up, so when I walked into the ballroom, I saw everything for the first time. It was amazing and beautiful.

Those freaking flowers just kill me. So fabulous.

Another shot of our last-minute menus. I think they turned out quite nicely—we kept it simple.

All of our pretty escort cards lined up in rows. Our coordinator at the Club, Amy, laid everything out in alphabetical order! I can’t remember if I alphabetized them before I gave them to her or not. Possibly? Glad I didn’t have to deal with this. I asked them to put our silhouettes at the escort card table, and had sort of envisioned them as on either end in the back, but this worked too.

For those curious, the Club said that we needed to establish who would be served beef, who would be served fish, and who would be served the vegetarian option. We indicated meal preference by calligraphy color—purple was beef, green was fish, and gray was the vegetarian. I just let Amy, the venue coordinator, know ahead of time which color meant which meal, and it all worked out!

For our favors, we did indeed have a candy buffet. We hired someone to do the candy buffet and it was the best decision ever! She took care of the labels, the jars, the little favor baggies, and the candy. I supplied a little sign (using our silhouettes, of course!) letting people know that the buffet was of course for people to take! I was able to customize the candy choices, which was fun; I decided to stick with a palette of purples and whites, and I think it turned out just beautifully.

One very slight thing to note was that I had told her ahead of time that I did not want that beaded glass tree as part of the display, so was slightly disappointed to see it the day of. I am sure that detail just got lost in the chaos of wedding-day setup, and it really wasn’t a bit deal at all. I noticed it as I walked into the reception, then promptly forgot about it! Overall, I was so happy with how the candy buffet turned out, and I hear it was a huge hit with the guests as well! My mom also ended up with quite a few little baggies of candy afterward, so we were able to take some on the plane ride home. Excellent.

I absolutely had to have these little candy crystal sticks. They just look so pretty!

Below is our cake table. We ended up going with multiple cake rounds on pedestals, rather than one big wedding cake. I absolutely loved how this looked! Again, I made a little sign telling people which flavors the cakes were. It was pretty simple—chocolate and vanilla!

Our adorable cake toppers, by Goose Grease

{Photo courtesy of McKenzie Powell Floral & Event Design}

{Photo courtesy of McKenzie Powell Floral & Event Design}

The infamous “Table Three” / Letterpress by Kristin at Twin Ravens Press. Last-minute calligraphy attempt by yours truly, horribly copied from Calligraphy byMichele.

A normal table number

Ahh, the Smilebooth props. This was so fun! Honestly, Mr. CA and I just went to a few local Goodwills to find props. I picked out some pretty random stuff—old-fashioned tennis rackets, a huge mirror (that I popped out and just kept the big frame), a lamp shade, random huge spoon and fork, and some weird gourd scoop thingy. We also went to a party store and bought a few moustache-glasses and top hats. As you will see in a later post, they were excellent.

My suggestion for props? Just grab random stuff and let guests figure out how to make them fun! You’ll be surprised at how creative people get.

More floral shots below. Because, honestly, I can’t get enough.

We had a few extra letterpressed table number cards, so I asked Michele to calligraph “Mr” and “Mrs” on two. Then I put some pine twine on them and someone hung them on the backs of our chairs. Perfect.

For our guestbook, I used our engagement pictures and designed a photobook in Blurb. It took a bit of time, because I didn’t like a lot of their photo layouts so I needed to do some customizing, but I think it turned out really well. I left lots of white space for guests to sign, and put a bunch of black pens out. You can’t really tell in these pictures, but I also framed a few of our engagement shots and put them on the table with the guestbook. For cards, I just bought a birdcage on sale at Pottery Barn or Crate & Barrel (or something—I honestly can’t remember, but it was after Christmas and super cheap!) and stuck that on the table as well.

Did your details come together as you had envisioned them? Anyone else do a candy buffet? If you had a photo booth, what did you use for your props?

• Recaps commenced. Sort of.
• I got over my dress regret.
• We made it official. Legally.
• I stressed out big time.
• We did some last-minute prep.
• We rehearsed.
• Our wedding day arrived!
• The little details fell into place.
• I got all gussied up.
• The guys got ready.
• We had a first look.
• Mr. CA and I took “formal” portraits.
• We took pictures on a dock.
• After some mishaps, we made it to the church.
• We walked down the aisle.
• We said our vows. Voila! Married.
• We took tons of family pictures.
• We relished our alone time.

Our Fabulous Vendors:

• Florals: McKenzie Powell Floral & Event Design
• Cakes: Rosellini Sweets
• Candy Bar: Sweets Treats and Designs
• Escort Card Design and Printing: Twin Ravens Press
• Calligraphy: Calligraphy by Michele
• Silhouettes: Blue Clara
• Day-of Coordinator: Sugarcomb Events
• Venue: Seattle Tennis Club

**All photography by Sarah Rhoads Photography unless otherwise noted**