Decor

We did a lot of DIY for the decor, and it was a mixed effort from all the family and friends from both sides!

1. Guest Book: We opted to have guests signing a board that we can hang for years to come. The most convincing argument to have this was when John said “Yeah! Then some day our kids will be reading it and say, ‘Hey! I know that name!'”
   We only had gold sharpies, but someone brought over a black sharpie at one point. So now there are maybe 6 signatures in black and the rest in gold. Classic. Gives it character… 🙂
2. Memories Table: My sister prepped the memories table for all of our family members from both sides who passed away. This table was very important to me and John, as we both had lost loved ones that we wished could have been at our wedding.
3. Legacy Table: This one was fun. We had images of the weddings of our grandparents and parents printed on beautiful slates. John’s aunt offered the printing to us as she runs her own Etsy business. They were stunning. We plan to hang them in our home.
   To each side of this table, we had the dresses of the bride’s mother and grandmother on display along with the their wedding dates.
4. Centerpieces: Together with my mother-in-law, sisters-in-law, and best friend from France, we DIY’d the centerpieces. We had 23 tables in total including the sweetheart table.
   
   For 8 of the tables, we used our bouquets as decoration. There were fairy lights already in the vase, and once we made our grand entrance, the girls would put their bouquet as the centerpiece. This way, the ladies had somewhere to put their flowers for the night, and the fresh flowers would have some more time to shine.
   
   For the other 15 tables, we created a lovely flower ball that matched our colors set atop a wine glass with a lights-up-in-water tea-light candle inside. We didn’t know how many people were going to come when we were working on them, so we made way too many. This turned out to be a blessing because we were able to decorate the cocktail hour tables and bars with our flower balls.
5. Seating Chart: The original plan was to write directly on a mirror in white. Do not do this; it is hard to read and the elderly will not be able to figure out where they’re supposed to sit. Lol. My friend from France who was staying for the week helped remedy this, and we made sweet little cards instead that we adhered to the mirror with gold stickers. It looks nice, no?