{Real Wedding} Ryan and Liz: Reception

And now for the forth and final post of this amazing day! The reception.

The sign in table was just gorgeous! Lizzie really did the details up here. Such an amazing and totally unique way for people to say hello and sign in at your wedding! And this little canvas tree idea has already been used again.

Jasmin from Wildflower Event Florals did a phenomenal job on all of the flowers. The bouquets were just stunning!

Definitely the greatest shot of a garter catch ever!

And now for the surprise of the night. The MOH and a slue of other people worked hard to create a 20 minute video with each of the BMs and GMs wishing the bride and groom well and telling stories from the past. It was hilarious and sentimental all in one. And it was the perfect little surprise for them.

This day really was perfect, and I am so honored to have been a part of it.

Liz is selling a few of the items from her wedding as well as other vintage finds on her Etsy Shop. If you love her style, you'll love her shop!

Photography: Jason + Anna Photography Florals: Wildflower Event Florals Programs: Designed by Liz. Check out her Etsy Shop Venue: Murietta's Well. Livermore, CA Dress: Vineyard Collection (for sale!) Bridesmaid Dresses: Express, H&M, Forever 21, etc. Boys Attire: Express for Men

See the rest of this wedding: Getting Ready, First Look, Ceremony, Reception

{Florals} A Little DIY Tablescape Inspiration

The fantastic Kia Gregory sent over some images of a little DIY tablescape she did on a whim after picking some gorgeous wildflowers the other day. Now talk about inspiration central! This whole vintage look is so simple, elegant and just all around amazing. Adding a touch of lace to the table and those chic mirrors (not those ugly ones that come with most venues) definitely sets the tone of the overall vintage centerpiece we've got on our hands.

Such a great addition, those teacups are fantastic!

Now that's what I call table love right here!

Check out Kia Gregory for more gorgeous inspiration!

Ventana Inn, Possible Venue Spot???

As you can probably imagine, I am driving myself crazy with this venue search! Holy Moly this is just getting ridiculous! So, I have decided to just go flat out and look for a place until I find one. I am having 2 major problems when finding a venue: First is that I can't find a place with my true style with what I really want. Some are close, but have some great big draw backs that just won't work. My second problem is just that I am not willing to completely overpay for a place. I just can't do it and feel good about myself, which makes finding a reasonable venue that much harder.

I found this place again today and remembered how much I like it. I looked at the numbers and so far, they don't seem that bad actually. I know that the place will probably not be as great as it seems at first glance, but as of now, I'm in love with this place, so I'll consider it for a moment longer!

Ventana Inn in Big Sur, CA

The view from the reception Terrace.

The Gorgeous Fire Pit area! Seeing as firepits and s'more making is one of my favorite ideas ever, I am really happy to see that they have a space for that!

Here is the option of having a reception at the firepit spot, or I could just do the cocktail hour there, then come back for dancing!

Backyard Wedding Cuisine

The heat has me all obsessed with backyard weddings, spring and summer themes, and some really creative foods! Mix it all into one and I have created a full menu for your backyard wedding affair. Quite honestly, this would be perfect for a bridal shower or engagement party as well. Keeping with the causal theme of the backyard affair, this menu is simple, easy, and pretty darn colorful.

My favorite way to display fruit has to be on a stick in the form of a kabob, or in those cute little balls. I love the creativity of these fruit displays so so much. I definitely wish I had thought about this before my own engagement party!

Source: Intimate Weddings

Always a hit, mason jars and spouted jars with colorful and fun drink choices! LOVE LOVE LOVE.

Depending on the formality of your wedding, these are the perfect solution to a dinner. I love kabobs and all the choices you have with ingredients, but on top of that, the clean up is virtually none. If you are planning on making your own food for your wedding, and I know some of you really are, then this is a great idea for dinner. So simple, and so yummy!

Source: Culinary.net, Country Living

Yummy Yummy ice cream. Now, on an extremely hot summer day, ice cream is the perfect solution. You may not be willing to let the tradition of the wedding cake go, I certainly am not, but as an alternative, or along with the cake, ice cream can be a really fun way to cool down the guests and offer a little something else.

I'm still completely indecisive about the venue and the type of wedding I really want to do, so I am just looking over my options a bit to see how I really would do things and how I could create a really fun and amazing wedding with certain types of venues! I'll probably have more to come as I sort through all the different styles of venues until I can pick the one that I love the most for my wedding!

Who knew venue hunting would be this hard in Northern CA???

Napa Style - Fresh Spring Wedding

Oh the colors! This wedding is so fresh and bright and fun. Hannah Suh was the gorgeous photographer behind this lovely event. I actually looked at this venue once when I was in Napa. It is a pretty spot with some of the most amazing views!

Such a gorgeous ceremony spot.

I totally love this wooden table and this whole shot. There is just something about it that feels very vintage chic. Gorgeous sign in table :)

Is that I cake or what! I haven't seem something this big and extravagant in a long time. Let's hope it was all eaten (or maybe they saved half of it and froze it so they can have a piece of cake the size of my whole wedding cake!) Either way, that's impressive.

Thanks to Hannah Suh for the feature of this gorgeous Napa Valley wedding.

The First Look

The first look was one of my favorite parts of Ryan and Liz's wedding. Of course none of the bridesmaids were at the scene, but instead, we were all crammed together on the end of the balcony trying to get as close of a look as possible. Even from that distance the moment was amazing, you really could just feel it. The body language really spoke for itself. I love this little sequence below because it takes no words to describe. The love and excitement is so present between the two of them that it is rather hard to try to put words to this incredibly romantic moment.

The First Look:

How do you feel about first looks? Are you going to do one??

I wasn't really that into them before, but after seeing this and thinking about it more, I really do think I am going to do one. The reasons I have been able to muster up would be first and foremost, the photography opportunity! It is really hard to get these kinds of shots while walking down the aisle, and could you imagine if they didn't have these gorgeous shots? Oh and a side note would be that you could get some of the photography shot list done before the wedding. Second reason would be the intimate moment of the whole thing. I would like the moment between him and I to be special, intimate and alone. Plus you can say a few words to each other possibly lighten the jitters a bit?? Plus I think the walking down the isle moment is in such a different element, that he will look just as he would've if he didn't see you in the first place.The last reason for me personally is that my eye sight is really bad, so chances are, I won't even be able to see him half the time I am walking down the isle!

So what are your pro's and con's on the first look? Are you adding it to your wedding, or are you sticking to tradition??

Photo Credit: Jason + Anna Photography

Chic and Simple Wedding Inspiration

I'm not going to lie, it has been incredibly hard for me to finalize my vision and figure out which of the 100 million styles (and I love them all) I am going to go with. Part of the problem is that I am meshing so many different styles together (think simple, chic, modern, vintage, and fresh), so I can't just search for one genre. Since you of course need inspiration to at least build off of, it really is important to finalize some sort of color scheme, vision, and style. Enter, this photo. Now this is pretty much what I am looking for in so many regards. Let's break it down. I love the fresh and airy color scheme, natural colors and textures, white table clothes with bright and bold color pops. So this photo pretty much covers it right?? I have been trying to stear far away from pink (as much as I highly love it) because I don't want it to turn out girlie. I am totally fine with adding in pops of pink and incorporating it since it is just an amazing color, but for Ian's sake, I want to make it a bit more neutral.

And now for the details! I'm seriously obsessed with those burlap-wrapped mason jars holding the centerpiece bouquets and candles. Those candles would be so romantic letting off light through the burlap textures. I am definitely adding that to my to-do list!

And since we are on the subject of my wedding, how is the venue search going?? I went to see the Old Whaling Station last weekend. After seeing the space for a fourth time, I decided that it was just too small to work. The amount of DIY I would have to do before and during (yes during! We would have to convert the ceremony spot into the reception spot while people were fully standing there!) just seemed like it was not worth it in the end. So, the search continues.... I found a few spots, but again, I still have to go see them all. I think I should check out Napa again? Or some place like that. Or maybe I will check out some destination locations??

Image Source: Sea Studio

Two Wedding Favors?

I'm pretty sure that by the time my wedding comes around, I will have about 8 favors for my guests! They are so fun to look at and get creative with, it's all I seem to be able to pay attention to these days! That being said, I have thought of another super duper cute idea. One of the main things I am obsessed with having are fire pits with lounge couches. We will are going to have a little cigar bar there as well. The dance floor will be outside near that area so people won't be cut off from each other, but we definitely have a few people that are going to want to hang out, and a fire-pit seems to be the best way to do that.

So, I want a favor there with the ingredients to make a s'more or two. I think it would be so cute and such a good way to incorporate everyone in doing something together. This is the main element I really like, everyone can have fun with them together, chat it up around the firepit, etc. Sounds like a lot of fun!

My only concern, and this may go for pretty much just me, but I feel like there will be way too much sugar at this wedding! After the wedding cake, there will be s'mores, and after the s'mores they will have their pie wedding favor to take home (if I still decide to do that??). All three seems a bit excessive, but I am pretty sure most people won't really complain.

Source: Cupcakeology,  Elizabeth Anne Designs, Craft My Bride, Wedding Window

So, I may replace this with the pies, or I could add it on top of the pies, either way though, I think it is definitely something that I want to incorporate into the wedding plans for sure. Thoughts??

Pie Favors

I have said before that I want to do apple pies as my wedding favors. I mean, look how cute these are! Source: Martha Stewart, Finsihing Touches Event Design, Elizabeth Anne Designs

Now the next question is, how do I display these lovelies?? I actually really like the idea of doing a dessert table type design but putting all the favors there instead. Since the pies are fairly large, it would fill up literally a whole table of cake plates and cupcake tiers.

Source: Martha Stewart Weddings

I am going to add a really cute little "thank you" tag on each :) I think that would be so cute. The only issue I see with these is, how are people going to bring them home?? Obviously they aren't going to eat them right then...well, I hope not! But, you can't just put a pie in your purse and walk out the door!

So I had two thoughts on this. I could display the cakes on a dessert type table like the above and make a 3 tiered cute cake looking thing out of the mini to go boxes like the ones below. Then all the cakes on the tiers could have those super cute flags below and I could even make a few different types of pie (maybe pumpkin, and pecan or another berry one??). The tags could say "Apple" on one side and "Thank You" on the other! That would be such a cute little addition actually. When they are ready to leave they can pack away their pie in the to go box, but I will still get to do the whole epic display that I want!

The other option is making the little folded pie and putting it in a box. I could organize the boxes in a 3 tiered cake thing as well.

The first idea is better right?

Source: Martha Stewart Weddings, Twig and Thistle, Emerald Green Weddings

Ok-such a cute idea right? I have to say that it is going to be A LOT of work....but it's probably so worth it!

Part 2: Vintage Wedding in my Potential Venue!

Ok here is part two of the amazing wedding. Again, this is the venue I am planning to use so it is great to see that someone has actually done a fantastic wedding here! Just so that everyone doesn't think I am crazy for being majorly indecisive on this space :), here is the update. I am taking the moms to see the place on Sunday. At this point, unless they point out any insanely major issues, I am going to book it. I do have a few cons keeping me from instant love, the first being the homemade food. I actually have no doubt in my mind that it will turn out to be 100% incredible, but it is the stress of getting to that point that is really killing me. It is obviously just a lot of work.

The other major concern is that the space is just not a wedding set-up. In a way I actually really like that because I hate a lot of cookie cutter wedding venues, but at the same time it takes lots more creativity and pulling in different elements to ensure the space is how it is supposed to be. I am definitely very excited to work with the non-traditional aspect, but in times of wedding inspiration-block, I am nervous that I won't know where to put anything! Oh my. That probably won't be the case, but I guess it is worth freaking out about.

SOOO CUTE on the food right! Love the way they did this.

OMG! I am sooo doing milk like this..I am in love :)

One thing I love about this space is the very versatile photography spots! There are so many different places which are all totally different styles. I think that will make for some great diversity!

This is the outside of the building. Not something we would be seeing from the seating in the reception.

OK all, I could REALLY use the help and feedback! What are your thoughts? Cute, not cute, keep looking, do something in particular?? I can't believe I might actually have a full venue booked in the next week. YAY