Embellishments

Buckle up, mouseketeers. I think I'm going to take this time to wrap up talking about the decor and other visual elements. It will be fun. I promise. Though now that I look at all the photos, I think this may take two posts.

Centerpieces:
My little sister stayed with us for about a week back in early September and in addition to helping with the invitations and finding my mom's (lovely) dress, we put together some centerpiece prototypes.


Not to be unappreciative of her effort, but they never clicked for me. Which is somewhat unusual in the realm of my craft projects, but not entirely unheard of. While some of the component pieces made it to the wedding serving other functions (like holding programs), the only piece that survived outright was the foil frames intended to hold the numbers.

Table numbers:
The metal frames were just a few dollars apiece from Ikea, and other supplies used were aluminum foil and ink-jet printable transparencies.
-First, I figured that for the size of my frames, I could print about four numbers per 8.5x11 transparency sheet, then proceeded to print numbers in our signature font. Best to use the highest quality setting on the printer to get a nice solid black on the transparency. Then let the ink dry thoroughly and cut into quarters for individual frames.

-Meanwhile, cut a piece of aluminum foil for each frame that is a good bit bigger than the frame back, since you'll need to wrap around the edges. Crumple each piece of foil and carefully un-crumple. Took a while to get the hang of this without tearing the foil to shreds, so make some extra for practice. Then wrap each frame back with the foil, folding the corners around as neatly as you can, like wrapping a gift.

-Lay the transparency sheets into the frames behind the glass, put the foil-covered frame back in place, fasten, and voila. You may need to loosen the little tabs that hold the frame in to allow room for the foil, but this can usually just be done with a screwdriver. Then trim excess foil from the back, but careful not to trim too much.


What happened to the rest of the centerpieces? Well, they went away. And trust me when I say that they were not missed. There are many good things to be said for simplicity. At the event:


And just in case anyone was curious about the result of my LED tea light venture, check out the stairs and the mantle here:


Very candle-looking, if I do say so myself! Dad, stepmom, and step-aunt laboriously placed all 144 of them around the mansion, which makes it even funnier that in the photo below, my dad is definitely telling me not to worry about the "candles" I'm knocking over as we walk down the "aisle."

train + me = wake of destruction.

Fortunately, I had a day-of-coordinator and a professional flouffer to clean up after me, since the top stairs photo was taken after the ceremony.

Still to come (I can't believe there's more, but hopefully it's not a bad thing):
-the cake, in production
-non-floral boutonnières & corsages, seen in the wild
-programs (for real)
-place cards!
-other, non-decor things, as previously promised.

Anything you want to see?