9 September 2014
John and I are coming up on our second anniversary (September 15!) which means our dear friends Jackie and George just celebrated their first anniversary (September 7!). I shared a little bit about their wedding right after it happened last year, and you may also recall the inspiration board I put together for Jackie back in January 2013. I thought you might like to see how everything came together, and of course, the photos from Bryce Covey are too good not to share! I’m pretty proud of that photographer recommendation – he’s blown up since 2012! :) Yes, Jackie is one of the cutest people in the world. We’ll just get that out of the way right off the bat. Is she not a modern day Audrey Hepburn? This sweet groomsmen photo was one of my favorites! John and I had the honor of reading at the ceremony, and we were so happy to do it! I might be getting mixed up, but I’m pretty sure I remember Jackie telling us that the only time she cried at the ceremony was during our reading (aww!!). This is only fitting, because when she read at our ceremony, she got choked up right at the end, which made me start sniffling, too. The cocktail hour and reception were at George’s parents house, and let me tell you, there are few things I love more than an at-home wedding – and one with a Sperry tent, to boot! His mom’s collection of vintage floral linens was used on the cocktail tables, a detail I loved. Sliders! Pigs in a blanket! Pizza! The food was totally up my alley. John and I had the pleasure of being the only two guests that got to be in both the high school and college photos. That’s
19 September 2013
Hello, friends! Thank you for your wonderful comments on my last post! I find it so interesting to hear the changes others have gone through post-marriage, so thank you for sharing. One of the most frequently-asked questions I’ve gotten in the last few months is about the layout of the Sperry tent from our reception. Random, I know (which I why I never posted about it on the front end), but it seems as though there is a dearth of information on the interwebs about tent layouts, so I am happy to oblige! In addition to the great beauty of their tents, I think one of the best things about the Sperry experience is their online layout tool. I found it by going to the page for my local office, then clicking on “Products” and “design your own event.” No download needed — hooray! You can choose the size of your tent and fill it with any furnishings you have on your rental order. This tool is super comprehensive, and was unbelievably helpful in figuring out, for example, exactly how many 8′ tables we could fit in a corner instead of leaving it at, eh, that looks like it might fit. The tent poles are marked and everything. Here’s the final layout we came up with: Because I’m a little nutty, I made another version that showed which linens went there, to assist my set-up peeps. That looked like this: The Sperry tent designer lets you save your layouts in your account for future fiddling, and also lets you export them for sharing and printing. Genius. People also seem to be curious about what size tent we rented. It was a 32×70′. It ended up being perfect for our number of guests (about 115) — but only because we had
26 February 2013
As we drove up the hill from the beach, we could see our guests transitioning from the cocktail hour area to the reception tent in the Sunken Garden of the O’Neill. As guests approached the tent from the side, they could take a favor, peruse the menu, and/or leave some of their belongings inside the cubbies we had set up, and just inside the tent was a table with our guest book, marriage certificate, and family wedding photos. Let’s take a closer look at all that, shall we? We opted to spend the majority of our “favor money” on a charitable donation to the shelter from which we adopted our beloved kitties. We did set out homemade popper favors filled with Snickers and Starbursts (two of our favorite candies!) as a small token along with a sign explaining our donation. Yes, those are actual watercolor paintings of our cats — we had them made through this Etsy shop a few years ago, and I scanned them for this special card! Since our reception set-up was a little unusual — what I termed a “strolling small plates” reception — I wanted to give guests an idea of what to expect right off the bat. Our oversize menu did the trick. To make it, I purchased an old frame at the flea market for $5, popped the “art” out and wrapped it in a textured silk fabric to match our linens, painted the frame, popped the backing back in and secured it with my staple gun, then added the hand-lettered menu cards and bow. Not sure why it was positioned behind the tent strapping, but oh well :) You’ve already heard a bit about our “Quaker” marriage certificate, but I’m happy to say it worked out great! A quick tip: Definitely plan