wedding reception ideas

19 October 2010

Well, hello.
Her arm was broken. I felt awful.
No more throwing up.  The garage door got fixed today. The birthday cake is all gone. She’s done with soccer for the season  (is it so bad that I am secretly THRILLED??)  We all had a good night’s sleep. Thank you for your comments that made me laugh and feel so much better.
Here are some ideas from my sister’s reception in Montana I said I would share with you all:
First of all, on the way down set things up at the reception site, we had to stop at some yard sales. Of course.october 2010 108 1
Look what my cute sil Kristine found! It was *free* and she is going to turn it into a chalkboard.  I had to restrain myself since I was flying home, but I got a few frames.
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Okay, back to the reception. We wanted to put something with the flowers, so my mom got some good old dollar tree frames and spray painted them. It was her first spray painting project and she did AWESOME!
We put love quotes in some…
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Totally stole this from Edie’s sign on her mantel. october 2010 137 1

Totally stole this idea from Beth (the quote on the take home candy table) and put it in a spray painted yard sale frame:
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My sister Kelsey found these other black frames at her Dollar Tree and we put cute pictures of the happy couple inside:october 2010 119 1
The cek: (in Fronk voice)
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It was a gorgeous setting on a golf course, but it was freezing after 5 p.m., so we were mostly inside.
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More love quotes: october 2010 140 1

It was late, I could barely keep my eyes open and I needed one more love quote and here is what came to my mind…Bambi! I got major flack from my brothers on this one. It just says, “from Bambi” on the bottom. Ooooh, I forgot to tuck that edge under too. Oh well.
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We wanted to put something in the entryway to kind of draw attention away from the plaques on the wall, so we did this:october 2010 225 1thanks to my Dad for being official branch gatherer!
The pictures are not good~it was so beautiful in dim light! If I did another reception, I would gather tons of branches and put these in the center of all the tables.
We used battery operated votives from Costco because we were kind of worried about those sticks catching fire…october 2010 223 1  These hanging votives were 1.99 each (we got them here), but you could totally rig something up with  some wire and regular votive cups as well. It would be such a big impact for just the cost of the votives, containers, and some free branches. How beautiful would it be for a Christmas arrangement as well?
This was our inspiration picture:
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Any great reception ideas you’ve seen or done yourself lately?
I hope you are having a wonderful Wednesday~

30 comments

  1. Great job! Loved that you stopped at a yardsale en route. Classic! :) The tree branches are beautiful. Where did you find the glass votives??

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  2. I so love that you used Fronk voice. LOL

    I got married about a year ago. I think the best thing I did was decorate with feathers. A few feathers in a Dollar Tree vase looked really class and was super cheap!

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  3. It all looked fabulous, from the cake to the hanging votives, even the view of the golf course! And what a cute idea with the love quotes in frames scattered around....just LOVED it!!!

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  4. Just wanted to let you know that I did that with all three of my kids... yep, three times I said "oh its not broken, you just sprained it" and all three times the Doctor disagreed... they are all grown now and haven't had to go to therapy yet..
    And the wedding reception is amazing by the way!

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  5. beautiful decor for reception...love the branches with votives. helped with a reception in oct. and hope to post it soon. it was a true budget wedding but beautiful. as they say...location, location, location is what makes it!
    judi ;)

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  6. OMG!! I love those ideas, and I must confess I might be stealing a couple. The colors that they used are the same as mine. I'm getting married next fall, I'm sooo excited!

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  7. Julie~we got the votives here: http://www.wholesaleflowersandsupplies.com/store/p/787-Hanging-Votive-Holders.html

    littlebrownhouse~thank you. I was telling her all Sunday..it's not broken...you'll be fine...she looked up at me when the doctor told us and said, "I told you, Mom!" I got bad mom of the day award.

    judi~send me an email when you post the reception. I'd love to see!

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  8. Wow! It looks beautiful! I wish we could have been there. I met some of your sisters at the wedding, but didn't get to meet you in person. Kerri referred me to your blog, though, and I love it! Keep the good ideas coming.

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  9. What a beautiful setting. It makes all the difference. Wasn't it fun to work (craft) together to add those special touches?

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  10. How in the world do you know Kristine??? She's MY AUNT!!! How fun is that! And Guess what I'm a wedding florist with lots and lots of really great wedding ideas here on our blog: http://thebloomingidea.blogspot.com
    I'm so curious to know how you know her! I found your blog randomly too...Kiki is always a bargain shopper! Gotta love it!

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  11. Hope little girl is on the mend soon!!! :)

    Fronk would have loved that reception! The flowers were gorgeous. :)

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  12. I LOVE that movie!! Steve Martin is hilarious :) The wedding reception pics were great! I LOVE the idea of having picture frames of the wedding couple mixed in with the love quotes.

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  13. Melissa, thanks for sharing all these beautiful ideas. The reception looks gorgeous! I LOVE the hanging votives....wouldn't that be beautiful in planters outside at Christmastime? Do you know where the wired votives came from? Thanks for the great idea.

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  14. I love these.What beautiful ideas. Did you get the hanging votives at Costco as well? They're beautiful and would be so pretty on a Christmas tree.

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  15. What a beautiful wedding. I love everything you did. Just stunning Sounds like your life might be getting back to normal a little bit, you guys deserve some normalcy after this week.

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  16. You did such a great job decorating! Looks like it was just beautiful!
    I got the exact same frame as your sil (different pic inside) really cheap at a thrift store and made a bulletin board with it.

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  17. I cannot see any of your pictures!? Yours is not the only blog with which I'm having this problem, I should tell you. But it's frustrating nontheless!!!
    ; -(

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  18. So beautiful. What a great idea! Loved the LOVE quotes and that TREE! What an awesome idea. The cake was one of the prettiest I've ever seen.

    Warm blessings,
    Spencer

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  19. Poor baby girl! Hope her arm is all well very, very soon. And I'm glad your garage door is fixed, no more throwing up, etc. Wow. What a day.

    Now, as for the reception--what glory! Beautiful colors, gorgeous "cek," and that lighted tree--now that's smashing! Great job.

    Three cheers for mom for a great spray-painting job! Like daughter, like mother! :)

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  20. We had the broken? not broken? dilema when our son was 18 months old. since we were leaving for Hawaii the next day (without him) we erred on the side of caution and took him in. It was broken. Or "bowed" as they call it at such a young age. You just never know for sure until you get the xray.

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  21. When we did our outdoor reception/bbq in June I knew that I wanted beautiful fresh flowers, but I didn't want to spend a ton...so...we hit up the farmer's market. I got one large bouquet (for our entry table) and 3 smaller ones (for the eating tables) for about $25 dollars total-custom made bouquets, too-we got to pick the flowers and colors ourselves! Best deal of the whole event, I think.

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  22. Last winter 2 of my boys both broke their arm on the same day doing the same thing- sledding (although not together). It happened on a Saturday but we didn't take them to the dr until Monday because we really didn't think they were broken, but they were. So, don't feel bad! Broken arms are hard to tell because they often don't hurt a lot after the initial fall, and even though not being able to move it is supposed to be a symptom, sometimes they still can. What I've learned is that if it's swollen and the swelling either won't go down or gets worse, or if they won't use it- even if they say it doesn't hurt- it's probably broken. Not a dr- just my 17 years of being mom to 4 boys experience!! Anyway, glad things are going better! Maybe she can work it into her Halloween costume somehow!

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  23. WOW! Everything is absolutely gorgeous! And who knew branches could be so classy? haha! I love the branches and the votives, very pretty!

    And I'm sorry about the broken arm. I have actually heard many stories like this from other parents so don't feel too bad.

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  24. Everything is just gorgous! You ladies did an amazing job! I just got married last month and tried to hang votives from branches for a memory tree but they were too heavy :( I'll be posting all of my D.I.Y. projects (and there were A LOT of them) as soon as we get the professional pics back. I looks like it was an absolutely beautiful wedding!
    And I'm sorry about your little girl's arm. I hope she heals soon!

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  25. Absolutely gorgeous. The flowers, the pictures, the hanging votives...all of it. That was one lucky bride!

    I can't believe the picture frame your sil got...I picked one up just like it about two weeks ago at Salvation Army. The only difference is the picture in it. I was planning a chalkboard too! I just have to find a place it will fit...it's huge!

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  26. Oh my goodness what an amazing wedding! It looks like such a perfectly done event!

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  27. The cake is stunning!!!! What a beautiful event...congrats to the lovely couple!

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  28. I love the branches with the lights! I completely want to copy that on my mantle this winter. Love it!

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  29. I was just thinking about making a branch piece when I come across this post! How did you get the branches to stand securely in the pot?

    - Cari

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  30. Cari~ rocks in the bottom and then florist foam to hold them up.

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