The Details: The Set-up

A lot of brides describe their wedding day as perfect.  I am not one of those brides.  Lots of stuff went wrong.  However, one of the things that I would describe as perfect is the set-up of our tent.  It was exactly as I imagined it would be.  It was beautiful and everything I had hoped for.  

First, some photos of the tent set-up with the paper lanterns:

And now some close-ups of the centerpieces and table settings:

I loved it all: the paper lanterns, the books, the table settings, the candles, the photo frame table number luminaries, the burlap, the babies' breath.  It's all exactly what I wanted.  At least something turned out exactly as I had imagined it would!  :)

Photos courtesy of Howie Hartman of Double H Media.

Miss something?  Catch up here:
We arrive in Pennsylvania

We begin setting up

We stock the bar (and skip a rehearsal)

We have dinner and play games at our "Rehearsal" Dinner

We eat R2D2 and open presents at our "Rehearsal" Dinner

We bask in the glow of our paper lantern triumph

We finish setting up the tent
Wedding Day Details: The Favors

The Big Day Arrives!

I woke up bright and early the next day.  I had a ton of stuff left to get done.  I finished up with the paper lanterns, organized the favor table, and made a plan.  Then I went back inside to wake Philip up.  I needed someone to help me move tables!

We got the tables set up and finished up some other stuff.  Then, my mom and dad arrived to help.  We got the tablecloths put on the tables.  Then the burlap table runners that I made went on top.  Then we put out the centerpieces.  After that, we set the tables with the plates and forks.  After some creative planning, we figured out how to fold the napkins so that we could put in the I Spy photo scavenger hunt pages I made.  Then we put the vanilla sugar favors at each place setting and the tables were complete!  It took quite a while to get set up, but at least my dad went to get us all donuts.  :)

The homemade vanilla favors and the card box on the gift table. 

Our beautiful set-up.  :)

The table settings. 

Putting on the finishing touches.

The cake table just waiting for the cake!

Once the tent was all set up, I started working on the bouquets.  I bought a bunch of baby's breath from Sam's Club (it was delivered on Thursday).  Some of it was in the mason jars on the tables, some was for the pew cones, some was for the flower girl basket, and some was for the bouquets and boutonnieres.  Unfortunately, by the time I started putting the bouquets together, I didn't have much time left before it was time to start getting ready.  So, the I didn't get around to making the boutonnieres.  The boys were devastated of course (Me: I didn't have time to make the boutonnieres; Philip: What's a boutonniere?  LOL).  

One of the bouquets with our DIY photo box and some paper lanterns.

After everything was done, I was running a little behind.  Howie from Double H Photography had just arrived.  I left him with our rings to get some detail shots and went in to get a quick shower before he started taking our "getting ready" shots.  

Next up, the ladies get glamorous!

Photos courtesy of my mom and Philip's mom.

Miss something?  Catch up here:
We arrive in Pennsylvania

We begin setting up

We stock the bar (and skip a rehearsal)

We have dinner and play games at our "Rehearsal" Dinner

We eat R2D2 and open presents at our "Rehearsal" Dinner

We bask in the glow of our paper lantern triumph

It's Arrived!

Somehow, that just doesn't sound as good as "It's Alive!"  But, you get where I was going with that now.  

Anywho, you're probably wondering what exactly arrived.  This did:

My lovely burlap is here!  The box was heavier than I thought it would be.  That was mostly from this item:

It was delivered to my office, so I'm not going to open it until I get home (I don't want to end up with burlap strings all over my office!).  

The box also contained these:

But I'm not going to tell you what they are yet!  They're a surprise for another day.  Have a wonderful weekend, readers!  :)

Burlap News

I bought burlap this morning.  I'm going to be using it for the table runners as well as a few other decoration projects.  I'm a little nervous because I haven't worked with burlap before but I'm determined to make it work.  I just love the way it looks!

I bought the burlap from Uline.  I bought it in a 12" x 100 yards roll. 

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First up, the table runners.  I am really hoping that these suckers are easy to sew!  I don't think it will be too awfully complex.  I bought the 12" roll purposely so that I wouldn't have to cut and sew much.  I'm going to leave the edges as they are.  Then I'll just have to cut them to fit the tables length-wise and then sew up the ends.  I haven't decided if I'm going to cut them straight across or put in a pattern at the ends (possibly a V or an inverted V).  It will depend on how easy the burlap is to work with.  

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Next up, these beautiful burlap pew cones.  I'm going to use them to hang from the chairs on the end of the rows at our ceremony (previously I had thought about pails or cans but I just fell in love with these).  You can buy a tutorial on Etsy for these (or just buy them for $10), but I'm just going to wing it.  I mean, how hard can it really be?  (I'm fairly certain this is how a lot of terrible DIY projects begin!  ha!).  

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After that, I will be attempting some burlap bunting.  I want it to say "Love is Sweet."  And then I'm going to put it around the cake table.  :)  I think it will be fantastic.  I don't think that this project will be that hard, but I'm probably going to save it for last because I don't want to run out of time on the other burlap projects.  If I've still got time for this one, then I'll work on it.  If not, I won't be completely heartbroken.  

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Lastly, I will probably be wrapping our mason jars in burlap and ribbon for the centerpieces.  First I'm going to finish the burlap table runners and see if putting burlap on the mason jars will be too much burlap for one table.  I think it will be fine since I plan on putting the jars on top of the vintage books, but I want to make sure.  If I do decide to do this project, It should be super simple.  First, I'll have to find the mason jars!  Anyone know anyplace I can get pint sized mason jars for cheap??  

My love of burlap...

I've been struggling to come up with something to set off the centerpieces.  I like them but they are just missing something.  For a refresher, here is what I came up with last month:

I love the books and the candles and the table numbers.  But, there is just something missing.  It's just a little too bland for me.  I thought about adding a table runner.  I threw around the idea of a navy table runner since it's our major color.  In the end, I thought that would just be too much.  I thought that would be too modern for the vintage/rustic feel that I'm going for in the centerpieces.  

I kind of mulled it over for the past few weeks and then it came to me: burlap table runners.  

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This is actually a full burlap tablecloth, but since it had the books with it, I just couldn't resist! (Source)

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They are perfect!  They fit the rustic feel and they are just beautiful.   And while I'm drooling over burlap, I'll just share these with you, too.  

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Yep.  Beautiful.  I love burlap.  *Sigh*