WEDDING DECORATIONS

It has been a busy week around here!  The minute Easter was over we started taring down the "bunny stuff" and began putting  up wedding decor.    We have been planning  a wedding reception in our back yard for a really good friend of ours. Wedding planning can be a little overwhelming if you let it. I tried not to let it, and had everything done I could before hand.  We have been planning for weeks and weeks and, finally... it was time!

Of course...as always, I began decorating for the wedding with the front door!  First impressions are important! 

The bride was absolutely beautiful, the night was fantastic, and everything went smoothly! 

I really wanted to dress up the porch, we (my crazy sister and I) thought for days about what would be perfect for the porch.   This is what we came up  with. 
LOVE IT! It makes my heart so happy!

We swagged ribbons on the ceiling of the porch.  I love the "important entrance" that the draped ribbon made!  We did buy a substantial amount of ribbon to make this happen, but it was worth every penny.  There are layers of lace, satin, glittered gold and silver all in different widths and textures.   To keep costs down you could replace some of the ribbon with tulle. Tulle is inexpensive and always beautiful at weddings.  We didn't stress too much about the hanging tails of the ribbons, the inconsistency was actually really fun!

The walkway to the door was lined with lanterns that hung from decorative stakes.  The sidewalk glitter was a happy mistake.  After all the glittered ribbon was swagged on the porch there was glitter everywhere!  For a second I panicked! 
Then my crazy mother had a brilliant thought...leave it...in fact, let's buy more!  Right before the wedding guests arrived we sprinkled the rest of the walkway with gold glitter and confetti.   It reflected the light and lit up the entire walkway beautifully.    I am going to admit that there was a trail of gold sparkle into the house, and to be honest, I loved that too!  I have a vacuum!

 We hung 3 pieces of wire secured by screws into wood just above the door and then to the overhang of the porch.  This was the base for our ribbon entryway.  We then loosely tied the ribbon to the center wire.  Once that was all in place, we began to secure the the ribbon to the outside wires. The differing height of each ribbon swag created
an important  entrance. It was a beautiful welcome our bride and groom and their wedding guests.  This might be one of my favorite wedding decorations ever!

 This is what it looked like during the day and then at night.  The different ribbons were so beautiful, especially the glittered ribbon. It was absolutely fantastic!  The glitter picked up the light perfectly!

 Next, the wreath on the front door was... lets just say,  more than a little work.  However, I loved every minute of it!  The wreath is made up of homemade fabric flowers  varying in colors of gold, white, cream, silver, and a funky flesh tone.  I made each one!  There are over 200 flowers on this wreath!  I was so proud of myself when it was finished.  Once I had the flowers done, I  added gem and pearl  embellishments to the centers of each flower to really kick it up a notch! Bling can be expensive.  I saved money by purchasing inexpensive blingy bracelets and cut them apart to build the middles. I love how it turned out.   In my opinion, it is the perfect wedding wreath! 

Oh, I almost forgot!!! I also made a nosegay.  It truly is a sweet little thing. 

 I figured while I was already up to my eyeballs in fabric flowers...I should just make a few more...what would a few more flowers hurt?  This nosegay was not made for the bride, she  had her own beautiful bouquet of flowers.   The nosegay simply laid beautifully on the table. It's only job was to look fantastic!  It did it's job perfectly!  I am thinking that I sort of want to get married again!  I had many more things going on...this was just the start!