Some of the other projects that we undertook for the reception included a candy bar/ concession stand and the centerpieces. For the candy bar, we made some of the chocolates and purchased some. After Valentines Day I bought a ton of different Hershey kisses (all kinds of flavors) at 90% off at Target. Thankfully, they were dated for the end of the year, plus the colors fit our theme perfectly. Besides these chocolates we wanted to make some Mickey and Minnie chocolates with molds that we had originally bought to make items for the wedding welcome bags, which never happened! Plus, it was a subtle way to add Disney into part of the reception.
Since the molds only made 4 to 6 each and I only had one of each mold this was a project that we worked on for several weeks leading up to the reception. I had bought some foil and some bags with red harts for candy at a party store marked down too, so everything ended up being fairly cost effective.
We even ended up with some pink and red chocolate too. It all tasted the same, so that was a plus!
Instead of a guest book I wanted to make a wish tree that I had seen in several magazines. Original inspiration:
I printed off sheets with 8 cards on them using different images from our wedding and then we used our large cutter for scrapbooking to cut them up. Finally, we punched a whole through them and added the ribbon ourselves. These were really cost effective and were fantastic to add to our scrapbook afterwards.
Instead of buying some of the fancy twigs online that they suggest for the trees, I went on the hunt in our yard instead. I found that the ones from my moms lilac bush looked about right, so I chopped some off and then spray painted the branches silver. I then used a plastic popcorn container similar to ones I ended up using for the centerpieces to place the branches inside. I filled the bottom with sand then secured the branches inside finally tucking tissue paper around to cover the sand up.
I have to admit mine wasnt as classy as the ones I have seen in magazines, but it still looked cute and it fit our theme well. I also had gold beads that I could have strung on it, but they were too much once we tried them on it.
I know I have a better picture where you can see the entire tree with all the cards on it, but I dont have it uploaded right now.
The signs on the side read:
These cards will be for our wedding book a modern twist
On the standard look.
As we begin our journey, as Mr. and Mrs.
We could surely use your advice and good wishes.
Jot down a memory, a bit of advice for the day.
Draw a doodle or picture if youre not sure what to say.
Share with us your wisdom about marriage, love, and life,
The secret to being a good husband or a thoughtful, loving wife.
Please don't forget it would be such a shame to hang your card on the tree without signing your name.
Give us words of love or fun, write or draw your own design.
Hang it on the tree once youre done!
Everything was DIY for this reception and it pretty much came down to my parents, Kris and I to do it all. My dad was in charge of the audio/visual equipment. Through his business he was able to get a projector for us to use and he rigged up a screen for viewing the wedding video in the hall. Here are some shots of him practicing with the equipment at home.
Video on the wall
My mom and I worked on getting some of the wedding scrapbooks done too to document the events of the wedding week. We are the best at scrapbooking under pressure and finished 3 albums within a few short weeks.
Here is our dog Molly, tired out the weekend of the reception after all the last minute work going on around her:
Up next reception weekend and decorating at the hall!