Feathering Kristin's Nest - Part 5: Baby Shower Nesting Theme Misc Decor

It's important to carry your theme throughout all of the decor.  Every small touch makes the difference for an elegant event!


Create an inviting entrance.  At this shower, I used the same chocolate burlap used on the table inside to cover a planter that I used as a "shelf" to raise the lantern.  This Pottery Barn lantern is the larger version of the small lantern used on the table inside.  I also used pumpkins on the front porch steps.  (Small white pumpkins were used inside...)

I also lined the fireplace mantle with cream candles (reused from my wedding!) tied with chocolate raffia:

Candles in glass cylinders tied with brown and blue ribbons were used on the bar dispersed among the coffee, water pitchers, and fruit tea urn.  Liz (one of the fabulous hostesses) had a Southern Living at Home urn that we used.

The back of the piano held a woven tray like this with the favors on it, as well as glass cylinders and candles of varying heights.  The favors were small bags of Kristin's famous "Old Maid (Homemade) Caramel Corn."  She wanted to make something to share with her guests as a thank you for coming, and her caramel corn is FAB.  We tied the cellophane bags with the same ribbon I used on the invitations, and Kristin wrote a note to everyone displayed with it:

One of my FAVORITE elements of the decor was the baby clothesline.  This has been done in so many ways at many baby showers, and it's always precious.  I wanted to keep the baby clothes in line with the theme.  So, I made sure everything was brown and/or cream with small touches of blue.  Everything on the line would be part of my gift to the mom to take home with her.  I also staggered some baby pictures of the expectant parents throughout the sweet little baby socks, onesies and bibs, etc.  In order to get some extra-sweet and special items on the clothesline, I went to JoAnn's with Erin (one of the fabulous hostesses) and we picked out fabric she could use to make little soft caps, bibs, and burp cloths that Kristin could keep after the shower.  We found a soft toile in brown & cream (YAY!!!), and super soft chocolate brown nubby fabric that she used as well, like this:

Here are the images of the clothesline...

 This is the toile fabric used for the bibs and burp cloths.  LOVE!  

THIS organic onesie was an amazing find on Amazon from Apericots.  I couldn't believe how perfect it was for the shower!  

We had a wonderful time celebrating Kristin and the blessing she is to all of us, and helping her "feather her nest" in preparation for the special gift that Kristin & Shayne were expecting with the birth of sweet Jesse.  Amber Beckham wrote a blog about the shower that you can see here.  She is such a gifted photographer and I am enamored with her work.  It was SO wonderful to have her share her talents with us, and I can't wait to work with her again!  Amber also did maternity pics that were stunning.  

Janna, Kristin and me:  

The hostesses!  Angel, Liz, Janna, me, and Erin...

Feathering Kristin's Nest - Part 4: DIY Cupcake Tower How-to

I researched different materials to construct a cupcake tower, and found many websites that used styrofoam and boards.  I also found a kit to put together a cardboard tower at a craft store.  However, when looking for the styrofoam I wasn't able to locate something that worked well, and the all-cardboard kit appeared unstable.  I finally found information where someone had used cans of vegetables for the core of the tower, and indicated this made the tower much more stable.  

I decided to give it a try.  Instead of constructing the entire tower, I used my Pottery Barn Emma Collection cake stand as the base, which matched the other serving dishes on the table and gave stability to the tower:

I bought cake boards from this local bakery supply store.  Since my base was basically 12 inches, I went with 10 inches, 8 inches and 6 inches for my tiers.  I bought two of each cardboard round, and glued them together with my hot glue gun so that each tier was thick enough.  Then, I glued thick pearlized cream card stock to the cardboard and cut the card stock around the cardboard using an exacto knife:

Tip: 12x12 scrapbook paper will perfectly cover a 10 inch cake board

Then, chocolate brown grosgrain ribbon was glued along the edge of the cardboard:

Then I got two cans of Rotel tomatoes for the larger tiers and a can of tomato paste for the top tier.  These cans are smaller in diameter than typical vegetable cans and therefore leave more room for cupcakes on the surface of the tiers.  I covered the cans in a toile print paper using a hot glue gun:

   

Then, turning the cardboard tier upside down secure the top of the vegetable can to the bottom of the cardboard using the glue gun.  

I also secured each tier to the other using glue on the bottom of the can.  Be certain you have the can centered in the cardboard before utilizing the glue.  

Here are the pictures from the party and the finished tower courtesy of Amber Beckham Photography.  (see my previous blog for info about the muffins done for the bird nest theme baby shower):

Feathering Kristin's Nest - Part 2: Baby Shower Tablescape & Menu

Kristin's baby shower theme was set and I moved to planning the tablescape and other design details.  We (the other hostesses and I) decided to go with a light brunch menu buffet-style.  But this wouldn't be the standard "buffet" line!  


I wanted to keep everything brown and cream, and it just so happened I was blessed with great cream serving dishes from my wedding registry at Pottery Barn.  The Emma Collection serving line looks beautiful on a table, and was a great contrast to the table cover.  (I went with chocolate brown burlap to cover the table.)  I bought about 6 yards of the burlap at Hobby Lobby, using one of their 40% coupons to do it. (a single cut of fabric up to 10 yards is eligible for the coupon savings.)  The shower took place in the fall, so in addition to the birds and nest theme, I wanted to pull in small seasonal touches as well by utilizing the rustic burlap, lanterns with candles, and white mini-pumpkins.  


When setting up a serving table, vary the heights of your dishes to create interest and drama.  This is easily accomplished by using small (but very sturdy) boxes under your fabric covering.  The table was covered with a tablecloth, then the boxes were placed and the brown burlap loosely draped over and around the decor.  


I found a carved brown bird at Hobby Lobby that was dusted with a light blue paint in some of the grooves and I was SO excited.  It fit in with the table decor perfectly.  I used a small lantern on the table (again, a wedding gift from Pottery Barn) and votive candles dispersed throughout the table as well.  


The menu items were: 

• Chicken salad rolls (yummy super-simple recipe: chicken breast--shortcut is to use canned chicken breast, finely chopped celery, chopped pecans, Duke's mayo, fresh ground pepper...and my special touches are finely chopped green onions and a dash of garlic powder--mix well and use just enough mayo to achieve a semi-stiff consistency.  Serve on fresh baked Sister Schubert's parker house rolls or fresh croissants) 
• Breakfast Casserole (hostesses Liz & Angel both made delicious breakfast casseroles!)
• Turkey pesto spinach wraps (turkey breast, pesto, baby spinach and cheese on tomato basil and wheat wraps, rolled then sliced into "pinwheels" held together with toothpicks)
• Fresh fruit with yogurt dip
• Fresh veggies with ranch veggie dip
• Hot spinach dip with pita chips
• Assorted muffins -- some with homemade icing to create "muffin cakes." Flavors:
• Pumpkin Spice with homemade cream cheese icing
• Cinnabon
• Banana Nut
• Double-chocolate with homemade cream cheese icing, topped with toasted coconut and blue jordan almonds to mimic "nests."  (The inspiration for this came from Martha Stewart's website, but hers were cupcakes with birds made of icing.  They are absolutely adorable but much more labor-intensive than the modified version I made.  I iced the muffin then topped it with toasted coconut and used a dot of icing on the jordan almond to attach it and create the bird's egg.)  
• Fruit tea (Liz Young's fabulous recipe), coffee with pumpkin spice and vanilla latte creamers, water with fresh lemon & lime slices, and regular tea. 

Take a look at these pictures of the table (the centerpiece and the cupcake tower assembly "how-to's" will be covered in additional blogs)...photos are courtesy of Amber Beckham Photography.

DIY Wedding...elegant touches make all the difference!

I hope to finish with wedding blogs soon (well, the ones about my wedding anyway)...just a few more details!  SO much goes into the decor details of a wedding.  I didn't want anything over-the-top elaborate.  It didn't fit our taste.  Good thing, since I didn't have the budget for over-the-top!!  I knew I wanted my bouquet to be calla lilies, and that I wanted everything black and cream, with touches of bling and lots of candles for mood.  I created a sketch of a general idea of what I wanted the front of the church to look like:

I originally thought we'd do something with curly willow or manzanita branches, and what was used at the front of the church for the altar would then be moved to be centerpieces for the tables at the reception.  (we were using the same venue for both.)  For the smaller square glass vases, the idea was to fill them with cream roses.

Then, I made a million trips to Hobby Lobby, Michael's, and JoAnn's to explore items they might have.  I knew I would need to purchase some glass cylinder vases, but I also had a friend (who was incredibly organized and a tremendous help as my wedding planner) who already owned many of the glass vase cylinders and the square low vases that we would use for centerpieces for the tables.  I also did online research for the hanging votives.  There were so many great ones, but the cost began to add up.  This is the basic idea:


These were $6.99 and $4.99 each, which is pretty much an average for what you can purchase online (new)...

However, the need for a bargain drove me to explore.  Michael's was the winner in this category.  I bought "fishbowl" glassware for $.99/each. (Remember to use your store coupons for craft store purchases--they add up at Michael's as each receipt gives you a discount on your next purchase, and they regularly release coupons in the sale papers!) 

After the glass was purchased, we had to figure out how to create the hangers for them.  I married the handiest man ever, so he figured it all out and made them all--using a 16 gauge black coated wire from the automotive department at Wal-Mart.  CHEAP!  Then I bought ribbon at Hobby Lobby when it was on sale (best ribbon prices I've found when they run the 50% off sales).  These are pics of my wedding votive holders, courtesy of Amber Beckham photography:

This was the front of the church, altar decor:

We rented candelabras from this place in Nashville, along with the cake stand.  The centerpiece was made with the calla lilies that were shipped in from here.  WARNING: there was drama with this shipment.  Apparently flowers can get delayed in customs...just sitting at an airport somewhere wilting away in a box.  I got an email notification the day before I was expecting my flowers (Thursday prior to the wedding) that they were scheduled to arrive several days AFTER my wedding.  We went through hours of phone calls, speaking very calmly but sternly to people in Ecuador who couldn't understand what we were saying, and put the heat on for them to get my flowers to me!  My fiance drove to the shipping place to pick them up when they finally arrived locally on Friday.  

Since we didn't know whether these calla lilies would actually arrive, we quickly reserved some for my bouquet (so we would AT LEAST have enough for that) from Import Flowers, which is also where all of the roses (for centerpieces, corsages and bridesmaids bouquets) were ordered from, and the mini-callas to use for Jonathan's boutonniere.  We went back there to get the filler touches for the corsages and boutonnieres, as well as some of the centerpieces.  I loved Import and would highly recommend them.  The callas for my bouquet were stunning!  They also have great prices for the roses (almost the same price as Fresh Market) and the quality is great.  With Fresh Market they wouldn't guarantee the color of the roses...they might be cream, they might come in red.  Excuse me???  Ummm, no.  It's worth just a little bit more to know I'm getting the color I want.  

We did use the squares with roses for some of the tables, and the round cylinders with tall roses and curly willow for the remainder of the tables.  (We ordered curly willow online for the table centerpieces because it was much less expensive, but it came in not-so-curly...you win some, you don't win some. :)


For the front of the church we ended up deciding to go with one dramatic floral centerpiece on the table, surrounded by great mixed-height candles as opposed to a line of the centerpieces.  The tall glass cylinder was encircled with black satin ribbon and rhinestone cording from Hobby Lobby. 


We then moved that centerpiece to the food table for the reception.  (Reception food consisted of heavy hors d'oeuvres from Mad Platter catering--they were great and did the catering for the rehearsal dinner as well.)  The rehearsal dinner was hosted by Jonathan's parents, but was held at Bryan & Erika White's home in Brentwood--their back patio was covered with a white tent and we had a great time enjoying the fellowship and dinner!!  


Note:  Since we were using the same venue (major cost-cutter!) we reserved a beautiful white tent for outside the church (in case of rain) that the guests were invited to move to while the room was converted from rows of chairs and a center aisle to staggered round tables with chairs, some bistro tables, a buffet table, the cake table, and a center dance floor.  The tent had hot apple cider, coffee and water, and a great music playlist.  Guests mingled while the room was converted very (amazingly) quickly.    


We ordered all of the black table linens for the reception from this place.  Even with the shipping, it was surprisingly more cost efficient than the local options.  

Reception shots:

The cake table was placed in the center of the stage at the front of the venue where we had the altar for the ceremony.  This way, we took advantage of the hanging votives as a beautiful backdrop for the cake.

Keep in mind that candlelight is incredible for lighting on photos, and it's very budget-friendly.  When diffused in the background, it makes for gorgeous images! 

  

DIY Programs -- find a beautiful special font you love online...we did, and made our monogram from it.  The monogram was also projected onto the wall on both sides of the front of the church.  (If you have venue challenges, make it work for YOU.  One of ours was the two large white squares on the walls used for projecting the song lyrics and scriptures during the sermon on Sunday mornings.  We couldn't "hide" them, so we put our monogram up there.) 

The programs are two 8.5x11 pieces of paper, folded lengthwise.  The outside "cover" was light cardstock, and the insert was matching "regular" (but nice weight) paper.  The DIY programs were definitely the cheaper way to go, but they were fairly tedious.  We only achieved the layout we wanted by using a graphics program (Corel Draw or Gimp, but any number of programs would work).   It is better not to leave this to the last minute so you have the mental energy to make it perfect!

You want to set up the insert page to print like a book or a magazine.  You can print both sides of your paper to give yourself 4 "pages" to fill with your program details once the paper is folded.  Ours were folded lengthwise, and small black satin ribbon was tied to create the "spine" of the book and hold everything together.  A scripture was on the front with the monogram.  Page one was a welcome with the wedding date & time/location, and our names...page 2 was the order and content of the ceremony, page three the bridal party and page 4 contained the names of our vocalists, musicians, hostesses, and thank you's.  

The cake was phenomenal!!  We used a local cake baker who did weddings on the side.  I know, sounds risky...but we did a tasting with her and told her what we wanted and it was SO much more budget friendly than some of the popular places around town.  It was also DELICIOUS.  The cake flavor was butter pecan, with swiss buttercream icing.  Mmmmm!!  She took my design ideas and made it work beautifully.  We used real satin ribbon and real antique-look brooches (ordered from here for dirt cheap).  You won't BELIEVE the cost.  I was pleasantly surprised at the quality of the brooches.  (Another bright side is that I get to keep them and wear them occasionally...I did for a dressy Christmas party this year.)  

For a guest book, we ordered a photo book from Apple through my iPhoto utilizing our engagement session photos (by Amber Beckham, of course!) and leaving occasional blank pages.  Our guests wrote messages to us...and we can keep it on the coffee table or on a shelf for years to come.  It worked out great!

The bridesmaid bouquets were a bunch of cream roses with black satin wrapped around.  Midway down the "stem" of each bouquet, I wanted some bling.  For the bridal bouquet, we used the rhinestone cording.  For the bridesmiads, I ran across a clearance item at JoAnn's that worked perfectly.  It was actually a decorative rhinestone strap for a dress that I found in the fabric section of the store.  Marked at around 80% off, it was a steal.   Here are some pics (all in this post are by the freakishly talented Amber Beckham):

The picture on the left above shows the monogram projected on the wall as discussed.  We had matching chest-height iron candle holders borrowed from Erika White that were on either side of the entrance to the church with H monograms on the "candles" (flameless from Hobby Lobby). 

This picture (when you click and open it) will show you some of the crystal detail in the bouquet.  There were hair "picks" from Hobby Lobby in the wedding section (bought when running the 50% off sale) and inserted in between the flowers.

I just posted this one because it's a beautiful example of Amber's detail work.  This was before the stems were cut for me to carry the bouquet.  

This one shows the detail of the dress strap used as decor around the bouquets.  There were different designs...most were rhinestone flowers as pictured above.  

For two of my sisters, I used stars.  "Superstars." You can see them in this pic:

Biggest budget advice for a DIY wedding (or any wedding) -- PRIORITIZE.  Pick the most important thing to you and your fiance that is worth spending money on...... 


In my opinion, what lasts and will be something to always remind you of the beauty of your day are the PHOTOS.  Hire a great photographer and understand the value of spending on it.  Hiring Amber Beckham was probably the best decision I made in regards to my wedding budget.  When you hire a gifted photographer who captures your wedding day and the moments between you and your friends and family in a beautiful way, you will always have those memories to display as art in your home.  Food and flowers and elaborate decorations are noticed in moment and then forgotten......


Amber featured some photos from our wedding on her blog.  Check out her post here.


Most of all, ENJOY your day and the love that it celebrates.  Weddings are about you and your spouse and the life you're building together, not an "event" that is over the next day.