Mr. & Mrs. Welton - 05.21.2011

Well the BIG DAY went off with out many hitches - can't say without any but that only made for more adventure.  My little Leena is married!  As promised I told you I would document the days homemade details as much as possible - AFTER doing this for my sister I would strongly discourage the Bride from doing this all herself because it would be WAY to stressful for her alone! But if you are a friend wanting to help - Plan away!

The Flowers

I had practiced and practiced but its never the same as the day of - With only a minor hitch in the order (80 gerbers short) that actually turned out to be the biggest blessing ever - the Flowers turned out beautiful and JUST what i had envisioned.

Hot pink and Green were FLASHING everywhere!  With the AMAZING help of my Aunt Karen (she made all the coursages and boutineers) we were able to accomplish all the bouquets and centerpiece daisies.  At the last minute I decided not to slice the limes because in a test run, the lime juice had been to acidic for the daisies to sit in overnight.  The flowers were refrigerated at my church in an industrial refrigerator, and i must say for anyone doing flowers on there own - THIS WAS KEY to keeping them so fresh for the day of.  If this is a challenge you desire to take on, It saved us over 800 dollars to do on our own.  We ordered wholesale through Winn Dixie in Bluewater and they were fantastic.

The Ceremony Decor

Colleen wanted the church really simple - as previously blogged - I made the pomanders for the reserved pew markers.  They ended up looking wonderful.  Originally, we had planned a fall wedding and were going to do curly willow branches with hanging crystals for the reception decor...so i had ordered 180ft of jewels BEFORE Leena changed her mind.  So i put my mind to the challenge and used them wherever I could including the aisle candles and candlebras - our church coordinator loved them so much I donated them to the church!  It added such elegance to the ceremony - instant LOVE for me!

The only live flowers we used were on the Alter candles - added real gerbers for a little pop on stage - was perfect :)  Had a lot of bubbles left from my wedding so we decided to make the exit from the church bubble filled and thanks to our amazing photographer - Kailyn Paris of K.P. Photography http://www.kpphotography.org/ we caught some amazing shots!

The Reception

Now, it was time to party.  Colleen had expressed that she wanted a cupcake wedding cake - so after MUCH practice and a LOT of eggs, flour and sugar all 200 cupcakes made it onto the homemade wedding cake blinging cupcake tower.  She also requested a homemade cheesecake for the top layer, for her and Eric to cut - so one, two, three...thank you Ina Garten for your fabulous cheesecake recipe - It was finished.  First was making the cupcake wedding cake topper - I had priced around to all the jeweled metal toppers and they were REALLY expensive....sooo I found a wooden W at Hobby Lobby for 1.00, painted it white then silver and hot glued what seemed like 1,000 but prob not rhinestones on it.

SOO the second task was to make the actual tower - After MUCH internet research on buying or renting - I decided to attempt to create my own.  I went to Home Depot and bought 1 large panel of MDF Board.  The layers required  3 20"  3 16"  2 12" square pieces which the wonderful Gentlemen at Home Depot cut out for me.  Then we bought Gorilla Glue, 7 2 1/2in pipe ends, metallic silver spray paint and 1/2 gallon of "blushing piglet" interior flat paint and 5 crystal drawer handles.

I painted each MDF Board sqaure with 3 coats of paint first and allowed to dry - as well as spray painted the PVC pipe ends with the silver.

My husband and father then drilled the door knobs into the bottom piece of MDF Board - 4 on each corner and 1 in the center for stability.  I carefully with eyes at each side measured, centered and gorilla glued the PVC pipe inbetween each layer - I forgot to say the height was 3 1/2 in tall.  After letting it dry, I worked my way up to the top layer. I did make one false calculation which we discovered in transport - DON'T be afraid to gorrilla glue like crazy - too much is always better than not enough!  SOOO the finished product was just what she wanted - We had previously made the gift boxes as "Take Home" boxes for the cupcakes - They each had their initials and date - that was a great treat for guests AND saved me from eating a ton of left over cupcakes!

The reception location was right on the beach but it still had a bar type feel to it - Colleen really wanted to make it feel dressier - sooo my brain went into to overdrive with the next idea of again using my extra beads to create a chandelier with a tent like effect over the head table and dance floor.  Thanks to some awesome hanging techniques of Dad and Hubby - IT TURNED OUT JUST like what was in my mind!

All it required was 2 different size wooden knitting hoops from Michaels - spray painted in the same metallic silver - with the same length beads hung every 2 1/2 inches.  For the fabric I used the already cut panels from Walmart, split them in half and then sewed the two halfs into one long panel - THEN tied onto the chandelier itself.  Make the room sparkle!

We found the perfect magenta table runners to match her pink decor - so all that was left was centerpiece arrangements - which varied from limes/daisey arrangements, tall hot pink funky vases and hurricane glass with white candles in hot pink or lime green candle holders.

Pink Paper lanterns framed the edges of the dance floor to add color and warmth to the room.  Anglers was the perfect end to a perfect day - I will say though, if you are getting married in Niceville and having a reception on the beach - expect traffic delays on Saturdays in May!! It was crazy, 3 wrecks on the way but it all turned out perfect. 

All of these photos except a few are from k.p. photography and I say thank you sooo much for capturing this day in such a sweet and talented way! 

At the End of the Day - I thank the Lord for blessing my sister with such an Amazing man as a Husband.  This day was a day of celebration and joy for all of our family and his.  AND it surely cemented my LOVE for wedding planning and decorating - If you need help, Let me know because I love new challenges!

The last picture on the Beach summed up the day for me - Pure JOY! Congrats Colleen and Eric!