This meant that at least two out of every three dollars we were spending on the wedding was also being spent on improvements at home that we will continue to enjoy for years and years.
The Guest Entrance:
How will folks enter into your venue of the day? Is there space there for a sign-in table and perhaps another area nearby to set up a table where they can drop off their gifts?
Make sure it is a space where you can set the stage for the feel you are going for overall - flowers are lovely here and tablecloths that play to your palette.
Hospitality Coming and Going:
As friends and family entered through the gate into our back garden, we had servers ready and waiting with trays of champagne.
After the wedding, we used this same location in the side garden for baskets filled with little thank you gifts to our guests for sharing in our big day. Needing to keep the cost small, but wanting each gift to be special, I opted to get inexpensive silk organza jewelry bags in our wedding accent colors and fill each one with a box of designer matches and a pair of colored votive candles. At the top of each bag we tied it with a card
A Special Backdrop:
We analyzed several locations in the garden for the ceremony itself. In the end we decided to do it on our raised patio area in front of the doors into our breakfast room.
To frame the area with something beautiful, we had a long garland of flowers made to drape above and on both sides of the doors.
The patio was a natural setting to give a view to the 80 guests. The neighbor who officiated the ceremony stood on the top stair and faced our guests, and we stood on the step below and faced each other. We were able to set up about 20 chairs on the patio itself for close family and the elderly, and then our other guests stood behind and to the sides of the patio and looked on.
Simple Touches to Set the Stage:
Aside from the garland flanking our ceremonial stage, I had the florist create simple small bouquets in our colors of blue and orange for each of the tables in the garden. On each side of the flowers, I had mercury glass votive holders - at dusk they were all lit and sparkled simply and beautifully.
On the stairs, I used paper lanterns that I also filled with votive candles. They were pale blue bags with cutouts of hearts and doves so they looked great before dark and then took on a whole different feeling as friends lit the candles at dusk. I also gardened like crazy planting new camellias and roses and princess flowers.
Food Service:
Our garden isn't particularly large, but we were able to set up a dinner buffet to the side. The caterers suggested we pull the tables out a bit while most of the guests dished up their food so we could get folks through twice as fast. Later, they adjusted the tables towards the side edge of the garden to create more space for our guests to congregate, but still go back for seconds.
Because they took up less space, we used smaller bar height tables for guests.
A Dance Floor:
Any excuse to dance is fine by me! And what better excuse than a wedding!
After our guests had finished up most of their meals, our help folded the white chairs and put them at the side of the house and the patio became the dance floor.
The best part aside from the dancing with friends? Doing it to music coming out of the new speakers we'd just installed above our patio doors! Another wedding expense we'll be enjoying for years to come.
Sasha Witte is the owner of Sasha Witte Design on Broadway.
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