Disclaimer:

Many stories herein are subject to the faulty, and sometimes creative, memory of the blog owner and should not be taken as factual, although the names and events are real! Kind of.

Thursday, March 22, 2012

This wedding--How many!


Since I've blogged about it ad nauseum, I thought you might be interested in how much stuff was necessary for this Tea Party/DIY wedding! We had sent over 400 invitations.  Les and Josh are both ministers so that necessitated more than the usual being sent.  There were 4 churches involved.  Large families.  Many friends! It was an overwhelming thought from the beginning!  And we had no idea of how many really to expect!  It could be a disappointing 50 guests or an overwhelmingly horrifying 400+ but we planned on 250-300 for the reception.




Molly was insistent in having the reception in the Family Life Center (aka gym) of our church since it is so much larger than the Fellowship Hall.  I resisted like so many things--too much work, what if no one comes, You (the bride) won't be around to take it down...etc, etc.








But, after all, it was her wedding and her dad let her have her way..... (spoiled brat!) so we did it and were sooooooo glad!


I've been collecting vintage tablecloths and linens for years--I like them and can often find them so cheap that I hate to let them languish in the thrift store bin or garage sale table.  I was really glad on many occasions for my pack-rat-ish ways!  We dug alot of my 'junk' out of closets and cupboards and drawers to pull off this extravaganza!  Molly had a wonderful vision and I need to quit doubting her 'cause she's got great ideas!




Reception setup:
-33 banquet tables to seat eight
-264 ish chairs for those tables
-22 white tablecloths from church
-17 vintage printed and plain flat sheets to be mixed in on the tables for table cloths
-30 ish vintage lunch cloths, damask tablecloths and embroidered scarves and runners for layering on the tables
-39 cloth napkins--damask and vintage prints for layering and food display
-300 vintage cups and saucers (yes--these were all ours--hunted down for the day--not borrowed!)
-50 + vintage hankies made into banners that were strung at the front of the church and on the tables in the reception.
-boxes of assorted 'stuff' like bird cages, teapots, unique candle holders, mini tea sets, etc for tablescapes



See the silhouettes on the doors?  Sarah designed those and used them
 in the invitations, on the cake topper and for the doors to the reception!  
Am I a blessed mom or what?!



480 pinwheels and mini quiches from Sams--well worth the money and we ran out! also 340 mini cheesecakes and 560 cookies--all gone!





Hundreds of handmade mints from a friend!  Yummy and pretty!

Indian Tea Punch:  Ten bottles of Ginger Ale, 64 oz lemon juice, 12 oz Almond extract, 12 oz vanilla, 5 cups VERY strong tea made with a box of Family sized Teabags, 25 cups of boiling Water, 20 pounds of sugar and Ice to make about 10 Gallons of punch.  If you want the real recipe, let me know!  It was delicious!


Oh--Of course you want another picture of the cake!  It was so beautiful and soooo delicious!  


We also made hundreds of fabric flowers and used them everywhere--on the tables, the cake (!) and mixed in with the bouquets.  I was doubtful--Molly insisted and once again, I was wrong!  :)  That's fine with me though!



8 comments:

Rebecca D said...

It all looks so beautiful! I can really see her vision... So fun and vintage! It looks like a lovely day! But I just can't wrap my mind around 400+ invites... Wowzers!! I'm am glad it all turned out so, well, beautiful!

Marilyn said...

It was all beautiful. Molly's vision is so much better than mine as I could not see the end results as she could. What a great idea, I know it was a lot of work and you did a great job, Mom.

Keetha Broyles said...

So unique which is just great since it was "hers" and no one else can claim anything like it!

I'm STILL wondering (maybe you said somewhere and I just missed it) but did you keep all those antique tea cups, or did each guest get to take theirs home?

DLC said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
DLC said...

I love the things you have been sharing! How blessed you are!!

Love the fabric flowers -- have you seen the scarves made from t-shirts - cut in spirals??
I think those flowers would be FABULOUS made in to pins to be used on those scarves!

In case you haven't seen -- here's a link: http://tidymom.net/2011/how-to-make-a-scarf/

KiteFlyer said...

(I'm behind on my blog readings.)

This sounds like it was a wonderful day. I'm sure you've got mixed feelings about it being over.

The cake looks delicious, the settings are gorgeous, and I'm shocked - maybe even righteously indignant - that you would go to all that effort, and then serve tea bags.

BTW, I'm moving and not telling you where to so you and Les can't hunt me down and hurt me. 8^)

Congratulations to the newlyweds.

Freckled Hen said...

It all looks so pretty! Congratulations to your daughter and her husband and you and your husband! I wish them endless happy years togather!

Relyn Lawson said...

You gave your Molly a beautiful day. Well done, Momma.

One Last Thought.......

Pleasant words are a honeycomb;
sweet to the soul and healing to the body.
Proverbs 16:
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