After the Ceremony it was time for some more celebration...The Reception!
For
my memory sake, let's go back to the beginning of wedding planning for
this one. One of the first things we did (about a year before the
wedding) was book our reception venue. We felt like we were ahead of the
game! Well fast forward 11 months, to be exact four weeks before the
wedding. We ran into a little bump in the road, actually kind of a big
bump. We were expecting a little more guests than we originally thought
which was wonderful and no big deal at all, we were so excited for every
single person that could come and celebrate with us. Then the hiccup
happened...we were told we could not have that many guests in our
reception venue and if we did it was likely the fire marshal would come
and shut us down. Shut our whole reception down that we had planned for
almost a year? No thank you.
Our brains started to go
crazy. Not before a little "Bailley melt down" I might add, almost a
bridezilla moment. We ran through all our options... should we chance it
and go ahead and have the reception at this venue? Should we get some
tents and extend the reception to a parking lot? In the end we said no
to those options and frantically started looking for a new venue. About
three weeks before the wedding. Wowza.
Let me add here that Rob had been in Europe playing basketball for nine months (we did a lot of the planning process the summer before he left) and he got back just in time for this little fiasco. And man was I grateful, he is much more level headed than this girl :)
I called tons
and tons of places
(all were booked, of course), my mom asked tons and tons of people and in the end
my mom came home with the win!! After looking at a beautiful winery that
had a cancellation and could not hold our guests list but thought they could make it work
(which we really considered) finally we found the perfect place...
Louis Hopkins Underwood Center for the Arts. A woman my mom worked with
suggested it, we went and toured it and they were available! And let me tell
you we could not have been happier with this place. It was a total
different look and feel than we imagined and it ended up being
better
than we ever imagined. It had plenty of room, a hip vibe and some
beautiful vibrant colors. Not to mention the staff there was wonderful.
We would highly recommend this place to anyone and everyone!
We found a reception venue! Not way ahead of time like the
planner self in me had planned but two and half weeks before and it
turned out spectacular! You know how people always say not everything
will go perfectly or exactly how you planned? It is so true. You have to learn to go with it. Trust me I had my freakout or two. And then realized it really is NOT that big of a deal. Sometimes I need a week day or two to get a good perspective, a rational perspective :) I calmed down, looked for a new place and it all worked out! So remember you will run into
some hiccups and there is no better moment than then to learn to go with the flow!
More importantly remember...it doesn't matter where the reception is, what food you serve, what color the table cloths are, what matters is you are marrying the love of your life! It is easy to get caught up in the planning process,because it's fun and it should be! But let all that just be details, it is just "icing on the cake" compared to saying "I Do" to your man!
So with that in mind lets move on to the icing on the cake...the details! This is lots of little details, ones I want to share in hopes in will help those of you planning your big day!
I really enjoyed planning little details for the
reception, it can be a little overwhelming, trying to get everything in
order. But
was it fun? absolutely! Planning all these little details is what made
the reception "ours", its what brought little pieces of our personalities to life. All
from the colors to the food, it was things we loved!
^^^The main room. Look at that wall...I just loved it! Like I said this is an Art Center so the art on the wall was already there and I thought it went perfectly with our colors! Right under the turqouise "X" is where Rob and I and the wedding party entered and the silver entrance to the right is where guests entered.
We rented the white chairs and I bought the Navy tablecloths from
here. Tip for the day: Surprisingly buying table cloths is more budget friendly than renting, go figure! These table cloths are 120", this size allows for the cloth to reach all the way to the floor.
^^^This was the back room. Not a huge fan of the flags on the walls, this was the only part of the venue I wasn't completely fond of. Do not get me wrong, the paintings were beautiful just not "wedding friendly". But this is what happened to be featured for the month and remember? Go with the flow :)
We had more tables set up for seating and this is also where food was served, along the back wall.
^^^This hallway was to the right of the big turqouise "X". We set up cocktail tables with ivory tablecloths from the
same place, 120" as well, and navy sashes for bows from the
same place. We topped the tables with votive candles from Hobby Lobby and taller candles that I borrowed from my cousin. Behind the cocktail tables at the end of the hallway was a...
POPCORN BAR!
Rob and I really like popcorn so we thought this would be a fun treat!
We got our popcorn from
Goody's World Famous Popcorn and were
soo pleased. We got to taste test about a month before the wedding and picked our favorite flavors. We ended up choosing Green Chile Cheddar, Kettle Corn, Fruity Loops, Shirley Temple and the crowd favorites... Butter and White Chocolate Pretzel.
Our sign in table. We used a tall cocktail table with a flower arrangement on top. Our sign in book was a picture book I made on Shutterfly. We had it displayed at the Rehearsal Dinner, Ceremony and Reception. It is so fun to look back at now and read everyone's sweet comments.
Our gift table. A bridal portrait, bird cages for cards and beautiful floral arrangement.
Next up...flowers!
And these are not real, my friend. These are fake flowers and I adore them! I borrowed them from my cousins which they used in their weddings as well. I think they are so beautiful!
Tables were decorated with these two flower arrangements and others with candle centerpieces, which I thought set off a beautiful glow!
Now back to the good stuff...food! Our caterer and bakery was the wonderful
Market Street as well. Since we took pictures after the wedding we knew guests would be at the reception before us so we made sure to have drinks flowing, the popcorn bar open and chips and salsa ready as "appetizers" if you will:) then after we arrived and said a prayer, dinner was served! We decided to go with the stations theme. We had a station with fruits and vegetables, a station with shrimp cocktail, coconut chicken skewers, gourmet roll sandwiches and a Mexican station with chips, quesadillas and all the fixings. AND Rob and I got to sit down and eat! Somehow we found time, it was kinda a priority. And let me tell you that food was delicious. I think the guests loved having a variety and we got so many compliments of how great the food was, win!!
The cake. White cake with white "messy" icing (a little plain but wait you'll see why!) and topped with gorgeous flowers...so yummy!
White cake with white icing is a classic but also very plain. So we decided to throw in a little fun and variety with one of my favorites...cupcakes!
We ordered these from my absolute favorite cupcake shop,
Cake in Lubbock. Snickerdoodle...words cannot even explain.
A few more very special details...
This cup we displayed on our cake table. It was the same cup that was used in my gigi and poppy's wedding and then in many family weddings after. Such a special item.
Then the glasses we toasted with and drank out of. These were the same glasses Rob's parents used in their wedding! I mean...I just loved it. All these cups and glasses are so special and we are so glad we could use them for our wedding. So grateful.
One more detail that sadly I do not have a picture of! My aunt had three of our engagement pictures blown up (very big) and we put them up on easles around the reception venue...we absolutely loved it! A fun personal touch!
So there are all the little details that I really enjoyed planning and loved how it all came together the day of! Hopefully this helps some of you out there who are planning your special day!
To catch up, you can view other wedding posts here...
Only a couple more wedding post left...some fun with friends and lots more of the reception! A little sneak peak...
