That's all I Have to Say About That

I wrote and re-wrote stories and tips about our reception venue and our florist. But honestly I just didn’t know what to say about either one of them. Both vendors were wonderful and listened to my vision, but I just don’t have any tips or advice that aren't totally obvious. So here’s a little run down about what made our vendors perfect to us.

Our reception venue was at a restaurant/brewery that my parents love. It has a beautiful party room that got as close as possible to my concept of a rustic winter celebration. I mean you can’t go wrong with floor to ceiling windows, large wooden beams, and paintings of fox’s covering the walls. They took my idea of mini versions of our favorite comfort foods as appetizers and just ran with it. As they waited for the party to start, our guests were able to enjoy mini mac & cheese, tomato bisque shooters with grilled cheese, tiny cheeseburgers, mini tacos, and shot glasses with fries & ketchup. We had a hot chocolate bar set up for our friends & family to warm themselves up with. Our dinner was a pasta & salad bar with every fixing you could imagine. Granted, my tight dress coupled with every person coming up to us to congratulate us made it near impossible for me to eat anything. But I didn’t care. I was too excited to leave for our Disney honeymoon! My only grievance with our venue was the cake. The package that we took advantage of included a cake, but the budget left very little wiggle room for design. The cake wasn’t at the top of my list of concerns, so it ended up being a white cake sprayed with edible glitter. I brought faux purple flowers and pinecones to add a little oomph to it. Mr. & I had a great time, and one year later we still have guests from our wedding telling us that it was the best wedding they have ever been to. If you’re looking for a beautiful and creative venue for your reception, the Onion Pub is just the place.

Our florist was just as great. I always knew who I’d use as our florist, but we went to a different florist that we had heard wonderful things about. Remember Franc from ‘Father of the Bride’? Yeah that was the florist. Even though he was truly an amazing designer, he took my ideas of sweet & simple and turned it into giant trees lining our aisle with candles hanging from the branches. No thank you. So we used an even more local florist who I had actually worked for when I was 16. She sat down with us numerous times and went through every single picture I had and helped me create my dream bouquet. My Mom’s side of the family are all crazy about gardening and flowers, myself included, so I knew the flowers would be one of the most important things to me. My florist created a stunning arrangement for me, and followed my wish for each bridesmaid to carry a different white bloom. She even hunted down white peonies (my favorite flower) for my bouquet; despite the fact that peonies are wildly out of season during the winter. Our ceremony décor was simple and no fuss but she turned our simple idea into a fairy land. We gave her 10 lanterns (the movie ‘Tangled’ was an underlying theme of the wedding) and she attached them to hooks, and then put them in galvanized containers filled with fake snow. Fake snow covered the chapel’s aisle. It was like walking down the streets of London during a snowfall. For our reception we gave her a ton of little bottles and mason jars and she filled them all with purple wildflowers. She did an awesome job of mixing our old books, tree slices, and white birds throughout the flowers on the tables. It was wonderful.

I really don’t have any tips or pieces of advice to give in regards to the florist or reception venue. Just remember your vision and what you want for your wedding, and don’t let anyone talk you out of it or change your mind. It’s your vision and dream for a reason.

Well I had intended to write a lot more about our wedding planning process. We were engaged for a year and a half and were planning up until the last possible moment. But we are currently packing up our house to move and the time to write just wasn’t there! I’ll be sharing a little summary of our first year of marriage on Monday and since I have time off next week, I’m hoping I’ll get to share some of our honeymoon too!

My something blue was a pin my Papa received. He passed away earlier that year and I needed him with me in some way.