Reception Song Requests

So far we’ve received about 15 RSVPs for the wedding. I love going to the mailbox or checking my email and finding them, especially when they have notes. Shout out to Keri for being FIRST! And her dad for being SECOND. Prompt replies must run in their family.

Surprisingly, more people haven’t jumped all over this song request thing. If I were a guest at my own wedding, I would totally request some Beyonce and Whitney Houston (both of whom will be making vocal appearances no matter what Brad says, hee hee).  I would also make sure I showed up 15 minutes early to the ceremony and danced all night, because that’s what good guests do. But I digress. Here’s a flavor of what’s been requested so far:

“Everything” by Michael Buble
“Bust-a-Move”
“Pride and Joy” by Marvin Gaye (and, of course, “Let’s Get it On”)
and a “good hoe-down song” (hahaha, thanks Cheri!)

And my family, never fear, we’re trying to track down some good polka music as well. Have any others? You can request as many as you want here. DO IT.

image courtesy of my amazing fiance, who designed this awesome site for our wedding. Via my sub-par screen shot.

The Val Air Model

My wonderful husband-to-be is at least as detail-oriented as I am. Maybe more. The proof is in these photographs. Here, to scale (although I’m not sure what scale), is what our reception will look like, complete with tables and tissue paper ceiling swag.

We will either donate this to the Val Air following our reception for placement in a glass case or cherish it forever in the comfort of our home. Isn’t Brad wonderful?

images courtesy of Brad’s dreamy new iPhone.

Let Them Eat Cake!

18 cakes, to be exact. At the risk of giving away every fun detail of our wedding, I’m letting you know that Brad and I are having not one, not two, but 18 cakes of assorted flavors at our wedding. (Get excited!!) We know so many people who make AWESOME cakes that we decided to forgo a traditional cake and make tons of delicious layer ones instead. We’ll still have one that’s our “official” cake, but also be on the lookout for a lemon cake, a chocolate peanut butter cake, a carrot cake, and, of course, a chocolate-chocolate-chocolate cake for me! Brad has an extra-special groom’s cake planned–if you know what it is, don’t tell! It will be way more fun to see everyone’s reaction at the wedding.

image courtesy of whitebox weddings

The Bestie’s Wedding: Part 3

After the ceremony and a cocktail hour, our guests moved into the courtyard. The scheme continued but my mom and I really wanted to fill the space with tons of flowers and candles.

Table Decor: Thanks again to the amazing Angelic Grove for their unique centerpieces. I loved the votive tree (far right). We had three different arrangements that span the tables. We also debated about table linins. At first they were going to be sage green, but as I incorporated more brown into the scheme we switched it out for chocolate. We also added chair ties on every other chair at the last minute (yeah, I ended up slightly over budget).

Sweet Treats: Cakes and a candy bar kept our gets on a sugar high throught the reception. I loved the candy bar (even though I didn’t get to snatch too many treats that night). I had about 30 pounds of candy for our 175 guests. I kept our wedding cake super-simple and traditional. Just a white cake with butter cream frosting with swirls, dots and flowers. Dave’s chocolate grooms cake was in the shape of Yankee’s hat.

The Band: Dave and I aren’t big dancers but we love dancing at weddings with bands. So this was at the top of our list. Seriously, the best decision we made. Our band, Shining Star, rocked the place. Our friends and family LOVED it and we had such a blast! The dance floor was packed the ENTIRE night!

To get more insight about our wedding click here.

Photos by BQ Photography.

Ceiling Swag

Just to dispel all those rumors that the groom has not been involved in all of the planning stages, I thought I would stop by and mention how much fun it is imagining what our wedding day will be like. Securing our reception venue opened up a world of ideas since we now don’t have to worry about having enough space for roughly 300 food and dance hungry family members and friends. In my research for ideas, I found several images of ceiling swag. Yep. That’s right. Ceiling swag. Once I found the correct name for these swooping strands of cloth, all sorts of photos popped up. The color and lighting in this example from Creative Concepts Special Events is particularly well done. Now the question is, “What material would be inexpensive, yet have a distinct and soft cloth-like look?”. I soon learned that tulle is out of the question, but an alternative to cloth may be gossamer. Or maybe a fabric made specifically for events like ours.

image courtesy of www.creativeconceptsevents.com

Party Place Set!

Here’s the scene for our reception–the Val Air Ballroom! It’s normally used as a mid-size concert venue in town, but we’re going to dress it to the nines and take over the dance floor for the reception.

Tomorrow, the Bestie, the Groom, and I are going to take measurements and pictures (we’ll probably post some interior shots here) to help us plan the decorating. Brad’s actually coming up with most of them. He’s got great plans. Family, take note: We’ll need your help to pull them off!

image courtesy of Val Air Ballroom

The Great Reception Search

Last night, Brad and I were sitting side-by-side with our laptops, researching potential reception locations. It was like dueling pianos, except we were both showcasing our Google savvy. (For the record, Brad was a much more successful searcher than I was, but only because I got distracted by daydreaming about a reception at Jasper Winery, which is way too small for us. Booooo.)

Today, my task is to contact potential venues. I had no idea what kind of questions to be asking, so I asked my bestie (of course), who gave me these questions for starters:

• What’s the room’s maximum seating capacity?
• Do you have our date available?
• What rental fees are usually associated with a wedding reception? (Brad and I discovered last night during our research that the price quoted doesn’t usually include random fees for things like an off-duty police officer (no joke), clean up, that kind of thing–better to pry now than be shocked later when we get the bill.)
• Do you work with or recommend a specific caterer?

Those questions should get us off on the right foot and we’ll ask about the details later.

image courtesy of Jasper Winery, the reception venue of my dreams