Monday, December 19, 2011

Our Reception

We loved our reception!
From the time we got engaged, to the day we got married I worked my tail off. Every lunch break and straight from work I was running errands and trying to make our wedding unique and us.
Russ is VERY outdoorsy, where I love cutesy, modern things.
For our wedding I tried to mix both of our personalities. I was SO nervous about our wedding. I had this vision in my head of exactly how I wanted it to turn out, but at the same time I was scared that everything wouldnt come together. Luckily, I was very happy with how it turned out.
After we got married, we had a great luncheon thrown my Russ's parents. It was perfect! It fit Russ to a "T". Russ loves meat, potatoes and hunting. His parents threw us a great luncheon at Texas Roadhouse. The food was great, the company was great...it was perfect. Both of our parents said a little something, and it was very touching and sweet. I LOVE the mango creme brulee from Zupas, so Russ's mom surprised me and had it brought it for me and all our guest after lunch. I thought it was incredible thoughtful besides being delicious.
From there, we went straight to the reception center to set up.
I got back in my dress and my niece Oakley loved to watch me get ready.
Our wedding colors were gray, white and yellow. We didnt have bridesmaids or groomsman, but I wanted all of our family to be the wedding party. I bought all of the brothers matching ties, sisters matching scarves, nephews matching bow ties, and neices homemade headbands or hair clips (thank you Lindsey for helping me make them!)
All the brothers
Sisters
Look at all these kids! These are all of our nieces and nephews minus 2 of his nieces in Washington DC that couldnt make it.
Details, details, details...
Our cake and throw away bouquet!
Our cake was lemon and coconut flavored. Russ and I couldnt agree on a cake, so we agreed I would chose the design and he would chose the flavors :) See! We started to compromise before we were even married ;)
Our center pieces...
I loved this one because it looked like both Russ and I. It had the tree for Russ, and the crystals for me.
You cant see in these pictures, but its was very dim and intimate at the reception. This center piece had a light that shined down to bring out the crystals.
Simple vase with flowers and twig.
I got these cute chairs at a boutique. We added a little MR & Mrs sign.
As you walked into the lobby we had a big tree with hanging crystals and candles. Below it, was our favorite picture we took of ourselves on the roadtrip earlier this year, with a cute "happy" sign.
My mom made those cute bean bags for a game we had for the kids in the lobby. My dad is amazing! I can show him anything I want him to make and he will make it bigger and better. He is the handiest man I know! I saw this cute idea for a bean bag toss game and he had it made a week later.
Russ and I went over to trace each others silhouettes and paint them on
To this day, I dont think Ive ever heard my dad laugh as hard as he did when Russ and I were in the garage tracing each others shadows to transfer. It turned out to not only be cute, but a fun memory!
Its hard to see in this picture, but here is the final product, in action!
We had these cute letters on our gift table.
BIG thanks to my great friend Kailey for helping me. She came over to my house 2 days before the wedding and saw the letters werent finished. She took them home and finished them and saved me! Thanks Kailey, you did a fantastic job!
For our guest sign in, I wanted to do something different and simple.
We had this cute sign with a glass bowl with cards in our wedding colors for people to sign the card and throw in the glass bowl. I liked how it turned out! We loved reading through all the cards, and now we will just glue them into a book.
We had lots of fun pictures throughout our dating years, but I loved a certain table when you walked in with this sign.
We were really lucky and had a fantastic turn out! It was a great time greeting all of our friends and family, and looking out into a full room knowing everyone was there to support you.
I especially love this picture of Russ in the line.
The one thing I really wanted for our wedding day was white drapes from the ceiling, and the Italian lights. Russ wanted lots of pictures of us all over. Check, and check.
For our food, I wanted something that was going to be cozy and make people want to stay around and hang out. We decided to do a hot chocolate bar that I was really happy with how it turned out. You cant see above this table, but there were 3 large flower balls hanging above.
The chocolate covered spoons were a hit! Russ, my mom and I spent HOURS putting our "logo" on all those mugs! Close to 400!
We had carameled apples..
Thanks to my mom, sister and Russ for helping with these!
Chocholate covered pretzels.
Chocolate covered rice crispy's on a stick.
And lots of other yummy treats!!
Yellow french almond macaroons, white chocolate covered strawberries..and other delicious treats.
Probably my favorite thing about our wedding as far as decor, was a fan board we made. My mom, sister and I spent HOURS folding paper to make these fans. I really wanted polka dotted paper but couldnt find paper big enough, so I bought plain paper and hand painted the polka dots one night at midnight. Worth it ;)
I was really happy with it. Thanks Mom and Kays for all your help!
I threatened Russ with his life if he threw cake in my face. He listened!
You can kind of tell by the look on his face he is like "Do I dare?"
Bouquet toss!
My dad took my cousin who is blind to join in.
My cute friends made sure the bouquet slowly crowd surfed into her hands.
I like my niece Oakleys sad face...I didnt even know she was in the toss until I looked back at pictures.
Russ wasnt shy going in for the garder!
Whenever we look at this picture of Russ and all his friends he always says its gotta be the oldest garder toss crowd ever. Congratulations honey for making it out of the single scene! Yahoo! You did it!
Congrats Jeff. Jeff is a nice guy and ladies...he is single! Also, he is the creative mind that started The Dirty Dash (The mud run race).
And that pretty much concluded the reception. Besides the wild party that was gathering outside my car downstairs.
Hi Dave & Linds
The day before our wedding, I knew Russ and I would be riding around in my car for the day. So I took my car to get detailed inside and out. What was I thinking??
Its never a good sign when your new brother in law, hands your new husband a pocket knife on the way down to the car.
I was still finding little balloons in my car weeks after
Thanks to these 2 guys
And these 2 ladies
We couldnt have done it without them. We love you!
Now...off to the Virgin Islands!!

7 comments:

  1. Wow it looks amazing! Wished we could've been there, but I'm so happy for you guys! Hope you guys have a great Christmas and hopefully we can see you shortly when you come to DC!

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  2. SO FUN!!! Everything looks like it came together great. Wish I could've seen it in person, but thanks for documenting so well! :) Very classy yet down to earth and fun.

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  3. Oh.my.WORD!!!! What a gorgeous reception Chels...I LOVED reading about all the details. You worked hard to make it perfect and that is exactly how it looks in the pics. You are the most BEAUTIFUL bride and Russ looks so handsome too. It makes me happy to see these pics and know that you are so happy. You deserve the best! Good luck with your new job!!!

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  4. You need to go into business doing this! It looks so amazing. I am honestly heart broken I couldn't come. Regardless, congratulations! You two make a very cute couple.

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  5. Chelsea, your wedding and reception looked beautiful! Congratulations!

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  6. WOW! I love all these pictures! Your reception looked BEAUTIFUL and you looked Stunning! That dress is gorgeous. Congrats to you and Russ!!

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  7. Gorgeous Chels! Sad we weren't there but so happy you were so detailed in your blog post so I could pretend I was there for a minute. Also, love the colors you chose(same as my house colors).

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