Our dinner was the night before the wedding in late September. We wanted the evening to be nice yet casual and relaxed, and we made it easy on ourselves and had it at our church where my husband is one of the pastors. We have a gorgeous archway gathering space and it had plenty of room and made it convenient for us to set up. We chose to do a BBQ dinner that we had catered for the wedding party, family, and a few close friends who were able to attend.
But, let's start with the invitations! I made some simple invites using Canva. I combined a few pieces of their clip art to make the boots and bows graphic, added a strip of gingham across the bottom that would give a nod to the decor for the evening, then added the details and printed them out at a copy shop. I had some tan envelopes and of course we had to use the western stamps!
For the table decor, we used my black and white gingham tablecloths as a base but mixed in richly colored florals, black napkins, and a bit of rusty orange that is the bride's favorite color.
Mr. & Mrs. wreaths no longer available but similar here || Gingham Ribbon || Round Black and White Tablecloths here or here
My sister and brother in law brought buckets and buckets of zinnias, celosia, cosmos, and various clippings from their garden which she used to arrange for us to use as centerpieces and on the serving tables.
We put Grandmothers and Aunts to work assembling the photo picks to use in the flower arrangements. I printed out tons of photos from Caleb & Kenzi's time dating, and some of each of them individually growing up.
We attached them to a larger piece of card stock, then sandwiched two together so they would be front and back and hot glued a long stick/skewer in between them. We used these balloon sticks (without the cups on the end) that are longer than a wood skewer so they would stick out of the arrangements high enough to be seen well.
We also put all of those photos into a slideshow and had those looping on the televisions on the walls in the area through the evening.
The flowers were the main part of the centerpieces, but we also used tree slices on some of the tables and scattered votives around on all of the tables.
I ordered enough black bandanas to use as napkins and we tied them with a strip of orange velvet ribbon. Guests were welcome to take theirs home if they wished (some wanted theirs for a cute pet kerchief!) but I brought a good deal of them home and have them to use for other larger gatherings in the future.
I gathered all of my large brass planters and containers and we used those for the bigger arrangements. The taller one here is an umbrella holder for scale. So grateful that my sister used her talents and took care of all of the flowers for me!
She also used some leafy branches that she brought to line the edge of the backdrop, they looked so pretty! The backdrop has clamps along the top and edges to attach the white sheet to stands, so she just clipped the branches in with those- which also helped disguise the clamps!
I didn't realize until after the fact that the marquee sign looked cute and just right for the serving table, but it totally got covered up when we used that spot as a backdrop for family photos. Should have hung it a bit higher! We put warm cobblers and ice cream cups on this table for the dessert, and the Grandmothers also made a couple of chocolate sheet cakes for dessert options as well.
Black and White Checked Rectangle Tablecloth (we had 2 8ft. tables together for serving tables so we had to layer the tablecloths) || Photo Backdrop Stands & Clamps || White Photo Backdrop Sheet || Marquee Sign Tutorial
This was a large arrangement on one of the serving tables. I picked up the letters on clearance last year from Hobby Lobby and they came in handy for several occasions, we used them for their shower too.
The church has this cute easel chalkboard that we use for lots of different events. I lettered it and put it outside to mark the entrance people would be using.
The buffet style menu was Sliced Brisket, Pulled Pork, Grilled Chicken BBQ Quarters, Baked Beans, Green Chile Mac & Cheese, Coleslaw, and BBQ Bread with Blackberry & Peach Cobbler, Ice Cream, and Chocolate Cake for dessert. Yum! No one left hungry. 😂 We also had personalized cups made for party favors.
My babies! 💙
Kenzi's sweet parents and sister (missing another sister who arrived later). Two families now joined!
It was such a beautiful, special, fun evening... now we were all ready to get these two hitched!
I've got a few more wedding related posts coming over the next two weeks, be sure to check these previous posts out if you've missed any!
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You and your family are just the best at putting together celebrations! I always save your party posts to Pinterest for future inspiration. Your son and his bride are precious!
ReplyDeleteAww thank you so much, Stacey! We don't know how to do it unless we're all working together! :)
DeleteEverything looks amazing!! You are very talented. All your special touches added to your party.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much, it was a nice evening!
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