If you thought that Nicole and Grant’s wedding was gorgeous, wait until you see their reception. It’s full of surprises, full of thoughtful details, full of great family and friends, great wine and great food.
Oh and that first picture…well, that is the picture that made me get down on my hands and knees and BEG for more pictures of this wedding. It’s bliss.
all photographs by the lovely and talented Lauren Brooks
From Nicole, the gorgeous bride…
Our tight budget encouraged out of the box thinking when it came to catering. A few years ago an acquaintance had attended a wedding that served pizza. We love gourmet pizza so I began researching some options. Living two hours from our venue made this difficult, but I ended up finding a Pizzicato owner who was willing to work with me. It was a big risk – he had never catered an event of our size (100ppl), but the price was right. Being detail oriented helped me in getting every little thing into a contract. And the food turned out perfectly – it was all delicious and hot. Our guests thought it was a great idea (we are a pretty casual bunch).
A wedding cake was never something I dreamed of so I ignored everyone who told me it would be too much to do it ourselves and did it. I made a 10-inch lemon poppyseed with raspberry cake for us to cut and brownies, lemon bars, and cupcakes for our guests. Our cake topper consisted of a $3 thrifted bride and groom and crepe paper flowers I made using a Martha Stewart kit (I had used these as my bouquet at the rehearsal). I had seen the mini bride and groom picks in a featured wedding on Style Me Pretty and couldn’t resist – we hand painted the hair and flowers on all 100. We placed our desserts on trays we made using thrifted plates, glasses, and candlesticks.
For our bar, I rented two cocktail tables and we had family friends pour wine. We had barrels of ice and bottled local microbrews (and corona – a nod to our honeymoon) for guests to serve themselves.
The whole reception was fantastic – I don’t think I left the dance floor. I have had many guests tell me it was the most fun they had had in years. All the work and effort is worth it because of that and the fact that we ended up married.
A few more fun details are on their way!