Reception Details - Planning Bio

Reception Decorations

We will be hanging wreaths on the french doors of the reception hall. There will be garlands going over the doorway as well. The garlands are going to have a wide variety of ornaments, a berry mini-garland, some ribbon, and white Christmas lights on it. I'm really excited about the lights going in the garland. With all of the candles everywhere plus the lights I think it will create a really nice atmosphere.

We also found some white, blue, and red poinsettias at Walmart for half off, so those will be placed throughout the room.

Here are some pics of the wreaths and garlands:

This was one idea my mom has come up with for a possible CP, but it wasn't exactly what I had in mind. We have now decided to make some of these to line the walkway outside of the reception building. I love the idea of have a candle-lit walkway. So romantic. :o)

I wish these were lit up so you could see what they will look like at night, but here are the lanterns we are going to set up along the walkway. There will be about 8 per side. I can't wait!

I know this isn't the best pic (my mom took it with her cell phone), but this is of a wedding she worked where the couple used navy table cloths with white napkins and white chair covers with navy sashes. I think this is soooo gorgeous. I'm trying to figure out now if we could somehow work this into our budget. Just imagine all of the tables lit up with candles too. I'm in love!

Ornaments

Since we went to rival schools (UNC and Duke), and both of their colors are blues (imagine that), I'm trying to figure out cute ways to incorporate school stuff into our decorations. Right now I have a school related garter and I just bought some candy cane ornaments. I haven't figure out where to put the ornaments yet. I'm almost considering on the cake somewhere. I don't know if that'd look too weird... I'd like to figure out some more things I can add to celebrate our rivalry. :o)

Toasting Flutes

I found some decent ones at Walmart for $15. They're pretty simple glasses with some clear rhinestones glued all over. I'll spruce them up a little with some ribbon and goodies.

Here's a picture of what I plan on doing, but I'll probably add some snowflakes somewhere too (of course).

And here is how they turned out!

The Send Off

I wasn't really in love with the idea of bubbles, and sparklers aren't allowed at my venue. Then I found this fake snow stuff called Ecofetti that disolves in water. After OKing it with my venue I went ahead and purchased 2 bags from save-on-crafts.com (they had the best price). It was about $22 for 8 quarts (300 scoops - I'm thinking 2-3 scoops per person) including shipping. We're just going to put them in a small plastic jewelery bags that are decorated with stickers and in a basket by the front door. I'm so excited to have some "snow" at my wedding!

And by the way, I did test it out and it dissolved as soon as water touched it. I would put up a fight with your venue if you really want it.

Centerpiece Ideas

We finally did a mock CP over Thanksgiving break. We've gone through about 5 different versions, all of them very different from each other, so it's nice to have something decided. The only thing I might change now is making the white branches shorter.

The pics were taken with my phone, so I know it's kind of hard to tell what's going on. Basically all it is is a large vase filled with sugar and mini ornaments, with a smaller cylinder vase inside that also has some sugar and a fake tea light candle. There are four white branches in the smaller vase, and then four white poinsettia flowers on top covering the opening of the vases. There is also a small garland on both the rim of the vase and the bottom. The vase is then sitting in a round styrofoam holder that has navy ribbon covering the outside, and there are mini lights in the bottom garland. There will be votive candles all around the vase and it is all sitting on a mirror.

Here are the mini lights I got from save-on-crafts.com for $2.39 per package.

Here are some of the previous versions of our centerpieces, although none of them were finished products.

We found these at Big Lots for like 75% off and thought they were so pretty (this one's kind of crooked but oh well). I'm not sure yet what we're going to do with them or if we'll even use them, but I think they'd be nice somewhere.

Here are some of my CP inspirations:

Planning Bio

Venue

Ceremony Details

Reception Decorations

Ornaments

Toasting Flutes

The Send Off

Centerpiece Ideas