Wedding Week - The Details & Reception

We've made it - the final day for me to share wedding photos from our photographer Katie. (If you missed them you can see our getting ready photos here, and ceremony photos here). Today I want to share more of the small details and reception photos with you.

Before I get to reception photos, I have to share some of the great detail shots that Katie captured at the start of the day. We DIY'd and pulled as much of the day together as we could on our own - most of what you see below, we took care of...

I really loved this idea of not having a "bride side" and a "groom side" during the ceremony. My Mom set this whole poster and worked in a lace background, and included our monogram from our DIY save-the-dates and invites. The frame my parents already had, and the easel is my Uncle's. He was kind enough to let us borrow it for the day and it was perfect!

As previously mentioned, I made my own bouquet using pages from a Jane Austen collection, and the girls bouquets were made out of dyed coffee filters. To be honest, most guests did not even notice the flowers at all...

The table number stands my Dad made for us using wood and dowels. I painted the chalkboards themselves with chalkboard paint and then made a gold frame around them using a gold paint pen. I do have 15 of them that I am selling now if anyone needs table numbers for their wedding. 

The lanterns we used as our centrepieces we bought at IKEA on clearance last January for around $3 a piece. We purchased them in BC and had to bring a few back with us each time we travelled to Toronto - thank goodness they were flat packed. The flameless candles B's Mom bought at Kohl's on clearance, and they have since gone to be a part of another bride's big day thanks to Craigslist!

As for the table cloths - my patient mother sewed ALL of the burlap tablecloths for me (I ordered all the burlap from a company in Toronto and had it shipped to their house), while B's Mom was in charge of finding and collecting all of the vintage lace table cloths. She did a great job and got us a ton on the cheap! (She also managed to borrow all of the linen napkins that we used for the wedding which was a wonderful money saver... we have some pretty great family and friends to let us do that).

For favours, B really wanted to offer trees to our guests that they could take home and plant. So we found a great company out of Nova Scotia who had excellent prices. We ordered one tree per couple plus extra's.... and we had tons! My Mom printed all of the escort cards (which included our monogram and wedding date), and a few nights before the wedding we had an assembly party with bridesmaids, both Mom's, my Dad and one of my bridesmaids boyfriends! (They also bagged up some cookie favours that my incredible Matron of Honour made for us - you can find her business here). This wedding was a serious team effort...

Our card box was another really personal touch. The suitcase is a vintage Samsonite that belong to B's maternal grandmother. She let us have it, and even sent along vintage travel brochures for Niagara Falls, Toronto and New York City! Incredible and completely perfect! The letters to spell "CARDS" we purchased at Michaels and painted with gold glitter paint. We then attached them to a stir stick covered in vintage lace so we could stand it up in front of the card box.

And of course, I can't forget our DIY Guestbook that I pulled together myself. You can read more about it in this post.

For the bar, I made our own menu using wood my father already had. I bought some chalkboard spray paint and then hand lettered everything on. Once I had it as I wanted it, we used some matte clear coat and I did a number of very thin coats on the board to make sure nothing got too wet and dripped off. We were so happy with the final product and we plan on shipping it out to BC and having it hang as a piece of artwork in our dining room.

{ignore my one obvious spelling mistake - this was one of those projects completed a few days before the wedding}

Now onto the reception. Everything was held in the side and backyard of the B&B. We were tight on space and luckily everything fit perfectly. Tables were set in the largest tent, and dancing and DJ were set up in a smaller tent. It's where all of the party went down. We had our first dance right after we were introduced as husband and wife, and we danced to "You & I" sung by Michael Buble.

After our dance we moved onto dinner. Speeches came near the end of the meal, and we did our best to keep them short and sweet (we got a number of comments on how heartfelt they were, which was nice). We kept the speeches down to both sets up parents, the best man, matron of honour and of course the two of us.

Halle was out cold before the dancing even began (which makes me a little sad, since she is a dancing machine and she missed all the fun). On the upside, she slept the entire night and made it really easy on the babysitter that we hired...

We got a little caught up in all of the mingling that we fell a bit behind schedule. So, we were able to get the Father/Daughter and Mother/Son dance in just before our photographer squeaked out for the night. I danced to "In My Life" by The Beatles with my Dad, while B and his Mom moved across the floor to "Handprints on the Wall" by Kenny Rogers.

It really was the perfect wedding for us. We were lucky enough that a few members of our wedding party spent the night at the B&B with us and we enjoyed a delicious breakfast with them the next morning before we all headed to my parents house for an afternoon BBQ. 

Every time that B and I look through our photos all we talk about is what a great day it was, how much fun we had and how much we wish we could do it all again next weekend. So thank you, to each and every person who played a role in making our special day so perfect... especially Katie, who captured our day so wonderfully! We will cherish these photos forever!