Weddingbee

from Robert Evans Studio, via Bridal Bar Blog

from Lisa Lefkowitz

A few logistical concerns…

1) Is it harder to find your seat when there are only 10 tables? I just keep picturing the little dance that we do when we are trying to decide where to sit.

2) Our room has an odd, octagonal shape. I’m not sure how to arrange them in the room so that it doesn’t look and feel awkward.

3) Will this make finding linens more difficult?

4) I have never actually been to a wedding where this was done, so I could be full of bologna.

I am scheduled to go order my linens in a few weeks, so I need to figure it out before then. Has anyone considered long tables as an option?

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Even though this would be totally be a splurge, it would be so nice next to my not so thematic guestbook. I was trying to find ways of making my whole decor more movie-ish without going overboard, so this would be a good choice - right? I can re-use it for decoration in our new home (when we buy our house of course) - it’ll be a great way to remember our wedding. To top this off it’s on sale… now, how could I resist a sale?

Well, after much debating, I finally decided to purchase it. Problem - they don’t ship to Canada. I could always ship it to someone I know it the states, but the billing address must be in the States as well. Maybe if I tried calling them…

Since it’s a final sale, I would love to know if any of you have seen these projectors in person?  I don’t have a Pottery Barn near my house so I can’t check it out for myself.

Did you splurge on something for your wedding? Is it something you re-used?
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Stands of iridescent clear pearls - purchased at Wal-Mart

White pillar candles in two sizes - purchased at Ikea

bags of tea lights - purchased at Ikea

square mirrors for the base of the centerpiece - purchased at Ikea

Chandelier imitation Hand beaded curtain - purchased at Shop Wild Things

I have 22 centerpieces though I won’t need to use them all. I had purchased more in case of breakage or for additional decoration. I am really happy with the whole ensemble… our reception site will glow. Luckily Mommy Flamingo was there to help me out, with the cutting and placing.

Are you liking what you are seeing so far, even though it’s not much? :) Are you making your centerpieces?

Image source : 1,3,4,5 /2,6

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As you can see, they’re not the most hardcore kind of shepherd’s hook with the “stabilizing arm” at the bottom (generally used for the super-tall hooks), but they are a solid and sturdy metal that should be perfect for hanging pomanders, cones, buckets, and more!

I love the way the shepherd’s hooks are used in the photos above (click for big), particularly with the cones in the last photo on the right. We’re going to be doing something a little different to make use of our mason jars and cans. I’m making wire hangers for the mason jars, which will hold flowers that will line the aisles during the ceremony. We’ll then re-use the flowers at the reception and swap votive candles into the jars in the evening. I might also make some lanterns out of cans with hole-punched designs to alternate with the clear jars. We’ll then scatter the candle-holding hooks around the reception tent and/or dance floor for a romantic summer ambiance.

I’d normally veto an idea that requires running around to move things from one location to another, but because the ceremony and reception will be so close AND because we have a wedding coordinator to take care of such things for us, I’m really eager to get maximum use out of all our accessories and decorations!

Are any of you using shepherd’s hooks in your wedding?

( Image Sources in composite: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 )

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I have until June 20th to return them if for some reason I change my mind.

As far as what to put under and around the candles? I am still not sure. I will probably go with 10″ or 12″ mirrors from saveoncrafts.com ($2.39/each) for under them and of course the paper roses somewhere. I may also go with Michael’s to purchase the mirrors. It turns out they would be $1 each to ship which doesn’t really save on this craft.

I think there still may need to be another detail like ribbons around some of the candles.

Any suggestions on how to dress up the candles? Something vintage-y perhaps?
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Some of the jars are big, possibly for centerpieces, and others are teensy, for votives:

Most of the jars are modern canning jars from around the house and in the pantry:

I’ve been asking grandparents and other family member to look for pretty old jars in their basements, pantries, and toolsheds. There are a few family-owned places we can search where we think we can hit paydirt as far as finding spiffy old items to use.

We also live conveniently close to a weekly farmers and antique market, where I picked up a good number of (overpriced but) awesome additions to my collection, including a sweet antique coffee can and a wooden Dupont explosives crate. Though I haven’t had much luck in the jar department, Goodwill, Value Village, the Salvation Army are almost always sure bets for a variety of antiques.

And of course I am an Internet addict so HAD to look on eBay. It’s a freakin’ treasure-trove for this kind of stuff. Unfortunately, most of the items I’m interested in are really heavy and the shipping cost negates any sort of real savings I might make on an auction. Maybe my local Craigslist can help. Hmm…

I’m still in search of miscellaneous jars and cans for decoration. Help me, Hive, where else might I be able to find them without shelling out big bucks?
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Ooh to the aah aah aah, I lurve it and will keep it to use later on in our home. Mr. CB is really going to hate cherry blossoms after the wedding. It’s super overload! LOL.

I had tons of leftover votives and didn’t want to waste em, so of course, I created another project for myself… insert *Mr. CB shaking his head*. I scoured the net for some easy tutorials to help me in my quest to spice up my votive candles that are tapered. A simple, straight 1.5″x 4″ was not going to cut it, it was going to connect really weird if you wanted it smooth against your glass. But I came up with na - dah. Then genius strikes again! Wah - bam!

I have to say I drool worthy love ‘em tons. I wrapped up all the bunked etched votives, NOTHING goes to waste, and wrapped up all the leftovers too. I left it up to my coordinator to use them in the room for our cocktail hour and anywhere else she saw fit. Lookie, more splash of CB patterns and I put more use to my LARGE rolls of ribbons! Me smoochies.

And girls, because I love y’alls, Imma share my how-to! HI FIVE YO!

HOW TO:
1) I created the template in Word.
2) I measured the circumference of the circle so I knew how far apart I’d need to draw my lines.
3) I drew slightly diagonal lines, tapering inward.
4) Then to get the most difficult curve for the votive, to make sure it tapered perfectly… I just drew two ovals, connecting the two sides of the ovals to the tips of the diagonal lines.
5) Next I trimmed the paper cutting around the top of the two circles and two diagonal lines. And voila, wrap it around the votive, and perfecto fit!

As simple as that!

I changed the lines to a faint gray, so that you could use it as a guideline, it may show a little on the inside but it’s what’s outside that matters! I didn’t bother to go back and try to draw over the line - if you’d like to mess around with the template you can download it here!

Votive Wrap Template

Happy wrapping away!
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Not that I’m not going to try to give him a run for his money in the cuteness department….

Going for the wedding cake even at the age of three. Notice how quickly my left hand is moving away, as if I was ready to swipe some icing or something…..

Probably (no, definitely!) the only time you’ll see a shot of me in a bikini.

At Mr. Cupcake’s cousin’s wedding last fall, a great slideshow was included but the photos of Mr. Cupcake’s grandfather (whom he was very close to) got him very upset when put to some emotional music; he told me at that moment “no slideshow at our wedding!” He doesn’t speak up much about wedding details, so this was one request that I had to honor. We still wanted to include some old photos in our day, but thought it best to put the photos somewhere where guests can look at them throughout the night if they so choose. But how to do this?

Several weeks ago Mrs. Bird of Paradise featured the Knottie bio of bkbistro (as well as her planning bio) and I fell in love with her amazing idea of displaying old family wedding photos:

In the process, from her planning bio

And the finished product, from her wedding bio

As you can see, she found these old windows on Craigslist, which have a wonderful vintage look to them. While she included one large wedding photo in each of the panes (leaving a few with the glass exposed, which I love), I think it would also look cool to include collages of us through the years in many of the panes, and leave others with the glass exposed. On the panes where the glass is exposed, I think it might look cool to have some words or phrases printed out on vellum or some other kind of translucent paper (words and phrases to be determined!).

I am so excited about this idea, and I’ve started scanning all of our old photos that we want to include. I think it would look great displayed in the area that will be used for our cocktail hour, and where the bar will be located throughout the night. The only problem, though, is that I still haven’t found the perfect windows or doors to use! I found a great set of old French doors on Craigslist a few weeks ago for only $50, but someone else beat me to the punch and they were gone. So, I’ll continue to search for the next five months and hopefully find something that will work. Craigslist and flea markets are my friend.

(We have a beautiful set of French doors in our apartment that Mr. Cupcake is convinced that we could use, and they are perfect, but I don’t want to take the chance that something would happen to them, since we rent our apartment!)

Check out another one of bkbistro’s cute ideas, also using an old window:

And I love the simple way they decorated the aisle at their ceremony with fabric:

Have you found a lot of inspiration from Mrs. BOP’s Knottie bios of the week? How are you planning to display old photos at your wedding?
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For those of you who have never seen one or heard the word before, the chuppah (sometimes spelled as huppah) is a canopy traditionally used in Jewish weddings. It is made of a cloth or sheet - sometimes a tallit or “prayer shawl” - which is stretched over four poles to form a little house like structure, symbolizing the home the couple will build together. Usually, this structure is placed under an open sky and is carried to the ceremony site by attendants who may or may not hold the poles during the ceremony.

While there is further religious meaning to the chuppah in the Jewish faith, I was touched by the essential sweetness of the symbolism and sentiment behind it and wanted to incorporate something similar into our day.

So with Mr. Hum and his brother being expert craftsmen, they’ve begun working out plans to build our own little chuppah type structure out of bamboo, while a lovely clothing designer friend of ours, Ashley, has offered to help us screen-print some nice fabric that we can use as the canopy drape.

By doing things this way, while the structure can be broken down after the wedding is over, we can take the fabric home with us to keep as a keepsake, hang as a wallhanging or maybe even someday in the far distant future, turn into a blanket for our first child.

It’s probably a little bit unconventional of us to borrow this idea, but since weddings are all about uniting and sharing as one, we figured it would be a nice way to tip our hats to that.

What about you ladies? Are you doing anything unconventional when it comes to your wedding ceremony? What kind of ceremony ideas have you borrowed?

(Ceremony picture also courtesy of www.chuppah.com

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