Wed Recap: All the deets! (photo heavy post)

I'm not gonna say much in today's post.  Honestly, I have had some major stressful things happening at work lately.  I don't want to go into all of it but we're talking about my boss losing millions of dollars due to an issue with a lender.  :(  This means I haven't been able to spend much time on the net browsing through all of your lovely blogs I follow.  Don't dismay - I am totally still here!  Those of you who have noticed I haven't been commenting much lately, please know that I will be back over there to more thoroughly digest archived posts and catch up as soon as things are resolved here in the office :)

Thankfully, I schedule most of my posts months in advance so I have still been going regularly over here.  And I can honestly say that the wedding recaps will finally be ending this month!  Five months after the wedding, I will be wrapping it up with a few more pics and videos to share with all of you as I finalize my memories of our big day.  Thanks for hangin' in there with me.

Today, I wanted to share this cool little recap video that our videographer included in our wedding video (note that the song is not the song used in our wedding video, I had to change it due to YouTube copyrights).  It is a recap of the cocktail hour but I love it because it shows a few of the little details of our event, specifically the reception tables.  So after the video, I'll share a bunch of photos as well:

One of the two door hangers that my sister made for our day:

Our Flip Flop basket covered in red silk fabric holding 72 pairs of multi-colored flip flops:

Reserved seat signs designed by Serendipity Design

Red chinese take out Favor Boxes containing little red or turquoise key chains with a 5 ' tape measure inside:




Place cards were tucked into the napkins with each guest's name sticking out at the top.  The card was not a menu card but rather a list of activities and favors that we had available for the guests:

Personal photo

Cake table:  Our cake was made by a family friend and if you remember, Mr Fix It tried to recreate the stand from a professional picture we found.  It didn't turn out the way we envisioned it but it was amazingly good!

Our Gift Card box was the one thing I did NOT want to sell but Mr Fix It said we didn't have room for it in the house :(  So I took it to a wedding swap meet where other girls fought over it :)

A photo of my friend's guitar which he played during his solo at our ceremony

I loved this simple poster board of our room layout which made it easy for guests to locate their tables when they picked up their escort cards.

Cocktail tables (without the pen holder and votives that were also on them):

I absolutely adored the way that my coordinators tied the linen around the high standing cocktail tables!  I had shown them a picture of what I wanted and they recreated it perfectly!!!

By Amber Marquez

These Parasols were part of my gift to my BM's...loved them in a few photos.

By Yan Freedline

5 page Fan Programs designed by Serendipity Design

Gobo light

Kleenex tissue packs:  A last minute ceremony favor idea that I quickly threw together on the cheap:

Personalized water bottle labels that I designed and placed over bottles for our wedding party (unfortunately the photographer did not get a better shot of just how adorable these were...they had a custom ingredient chart on the back, too):

Our Unity Cross:

Each younger child (and some younger teens) place settings had a personalized menu under their napkin which had a word search, maze and even a scavenger hunt for the reception:

They also had a circus favor box full of goodies with a little thank you message label on it:

 The label reads:  A basket full of treats and fun, especially for the younger one.  Color, draw or play a game...just have some fun, so glad you came!

I won a free print via blog giveaway months before the wedding and had this engagement photo printed on a canvas which we displayed on an easel next to our gift table:

Some of the many little signs that we place around the event for the guests' convenience:

Photobooth table signs and baskets:

Our super cool and unique toasting flutes which I can't wait to use on future anniversaries!

Share Time:  What was your most favorite detail, DIY item or decor item from your big day?

Unless otherwise noted, all photos by Robert Mullins Photography

Great bridesmaid gift idea

So being that I am all about practicality I have come up with the following that I have recently purchased for my six bridesmaids as their gifts:
1)  A blue parasol for picture taking...the nylon kind (not paper) so it can actually protect well from sun AND rain.  Matches our pretty wedding colors (not exactly but a good shade).  And I found them on sale on theknot.com for $4.99 each!

2)  A jewelry roll...a pretty silk roll up holder for the girls to pack up jewelry neatly when traveling.  I ordered them in 6 different colors so the girls can fight over which one they like best.  But I have also seen them on the net with monograms and personalization...there are tons of them in many price ranges but these were only $12.95 each, are silk and were some of the bigger ones with the most pockets.  Found these on amazon.com but you can search google as well:

How cute will we all look like this?

3)  And finally, I will be buying them some type of bracelet or necklace to wear on wedding day...but that will be something different for each girl.  All in all, I think am spending about $35-40 per girl for some pretty and useful things that they are sure to use/wear in the future.
What have you gals come up with for bridesmaid gifts?