Apple Wedding

I am starting with the Welcome Sign.  I found this shabby trough at an antique consignment store and fell in love with it.  For $15 I knew I had to have it.  I bought the board at a craft store and painted it with blackboard paint.  I screwed the sign to the front of the trough.  Since the wedding had an apple theme (wait for the guest book), I placed wooden apples, flowering vines, and dried moss in the well.

The bride and groom got legally married in Paris, as the groom lives there.  They met while she was working abroad.  They won't have enough room to bring back big items, so I created this apple tree with apples on which the guests could write special messages. 

I wrote this message to keep with the theme and give them my advice.  My nephew's wife is French.  She translated it to French and was side by side with the English in the frame. 

I found the idea for the favor cards on Pinterest.  The bride's mom (one of my best friends) had already purchased fireworks and matches.  I ran them off on cardstock.  The design in the middle is an image of a firework.  The caption is "Light up the Night."  The card also includes a thank you note in English and in French.  I displayed them in a basket filled with syrofoam blocks.  Next to the basket are the cake pops that I dipped in green chocolate to look like....apples.

I found this bird cage at the same antique store as the trough.  It made a great gift card holder.  Of course, my little blackboard told guests what its purpose was.  I found the Byers dolls at a gift store and had to add them to my wedding supplies I lend to friends. 

The bride's parents set the tent up so that it attached to the back wall of the house. It was a good decision.  We had a freak Halloween weekend snow/rain storm that soaked the area.  Guests had to "ford" streams to get to the reception.  It even soaked the heater they rented.  The rental business replaced it, and the party continued.  But, you could see your breath before the heater was replaced.  It was the father of the bride who decided to include the patio in the tent as a ready-made dance floor.

I have a large collection of paper lanterns.  To save time from climbing the ladder over and over again to hang them, I had the idea of making them into chandeliers.  I cut cardboard circles for the bottoms and have large battery operated lights in each one.  The bride's mom and I headed to Home Depot.  We found six pieces of scrap lumber, white plasic coated wire and eye hooks.  We cut three different lengths of wire and tied them through the eye hooks we screwed into the bottom of the freshly painted boards. Each wire held a lantern.  The brides father came up with the idea of stapling a white coat hanger to the top to stabalize them.  He said the hanging of the lanterns was a cinch.

I found this raspberry silk on sale and we added the scarves to the tables for a pop of color. 

The bride's mom and I went to a local nursery to make the living plant centerpieces.  Our colors were orange and raspberry.  The nursery set up a station for us to build them.  They even gave us rubber gloves.  It was a special memory.  We placed the plastic liners in Pottery Barn serving bowls.  They served finger foods, so we did not need place settings.

We found this tiny bird cage.  The bride loves birds.  There were love birds printed on the favor matches.  We found a tiny nest and hot glued birds into it.  It was a tad too big for the top layer, but we went with it anyway.  The cake was baked on an island.  No one could drive there in the flood.  So, the caterer hired a tow truck to rescue the cake.  I also have a collection of silver frames.  We put photos of the bride and groom behind the cake.

The bride didn't want a French themed wedding.  But when I found this Eiffel Tower, I had to buy it.  It was only $12, but it made a big impact.

I am including this picture of the dance floor because I am going to add my first movie to my blog.  One of the girls was dancing with a hula hoop.  The movie only shows a small portion of what she did.  She's not a cheer leader or professional, so we were amazed.

The rain finally stopped and we could have fun with the sparklers.

The bride's mother rented her dress from http://www.renttherunway.com/.  You don't even have to clean it afterwards.  Just put it in the pre-printed priority mail envelope which came with the dress.  Her corsage, which my daughter made, matches it exactly.  Isn't she lovely?

Here is our bride getting ready to walk down the aisle.