In this post I want to share some of the details of our wedding reception. I hope that this will give people ideas that can make wedding planning simple and fun. The Wedding Industrial Complex is a monster that can pressure people into doing things and spending money that they don’t really want to. By all means, embrace the Disney princess ideal wedding if that is your thing. If that fantasy isn’t you and your partner’s thing, though, there are plenty of other ways to celebrate your joining. You do you! This post just has a few of the things that Brad and I learned during our planning process.
Budget: Weddings are expensive. Large parties have a price tag, but there are ways to reduce that cost. Guest list, venue, entertainment, and photography are some of the largest contributors to your cost. Address these items first if you are looking to keep costs down. We decided to keep our guest list down to 40 people. That allowed us to rent out the party room at The Old Fashioned in downtown Madison. Jennifer, the event coordinator, was amazing! She helped us make sure that the process was simple and easy. The space was beautiful and the service was extraordinary. We didn’t have to organize lots of different vendors or wonder at costs. So easy, so stress-free!
Entertainment: We did board games and a couple Spotify playlists. This was kind on our introverted friends and meant we got to enjoy the evening ourselves!
Decorations: I sewed some tarten tablecloths to add to the space. On top of these my mother created centerpieces. We had intended to use pine boughs and pine cones. However, she managed to find these moss covered logs in the woods that we used instead. The cost was low and made set-up and take-down very simple. I made a few signs out of colored poster board and sharpie paint pens. These then went into picture frames I already owned.
The D20 dice was rolled by anyone wanting a kiss from the couple. 11-20 Brad and I kissed. 1-10 the person who rolled the dice kissed someone. This was fun and kept the PDA down. lol
For a guest book, people used fabric markers to sign quilt pieces. I’ll be sewing these into a quilt with the fabric from the tablecloths in the months ahead. Obviously, it would have been fantastic if the quilt had been down in advance. Two months just isn’t a lot of time to finish an entire quilt!
We also had guests fill out an envelope with their address so sending Thank You cards were easy to do. We probably had 2/3 of our guests do this. It was still a huge time saving item for us.
Guests took home little envelopes of seeds that we put together with a print-at-home sticker we designed on MyAvery.com This was a super easy DIY project!
Brad and I loved chatting with friends and families and playing games. We never felt rushed or stressed at our reception. It was low key and a reflection of the things and people we love.
Esoteric Moment 