Tablescapes

This week my coworker delivered tons of decorations from her wedding a few years ago. We got TONS of stuff - shells, sea glass, & candles. Seriously awesome stuff. This allowed us to really finalize our table designs.

For the reception we decided to use 3 large tables that will fit 8-10 people, 1 round table that seats 5 (My parents, Ben parents, & sister), and a square table for the two of us.

Here's the design for the long tables:

Yes, I measured out the tables on our floor with tape. I have a scale drawing on the computer that we used to visualize the table layout but when it came to the decor on the tables I needed to see it in person and full size. You can see Juno was a huge help observing from the head of the table.

Included in the shells my coworker gave me were ones with slits cut in them that she used as escort card holders. I decided they could function as our place cards that Tensing Pen requires. Here's a close up of them:

Next up was the round table. Unfortunately, I realized I used 1/3 of the seaglass on the long table so I portioned out the seaglass and then took a bit from each table to add to the round table.

After I created those 4 tables, I created bags for each table so it would be easier to decorate once we get down there!

Finally came our table. I'm out of seaglass, but I do have plenty of shells. They may be added to our table if I feel that it is too plain.

Tensing Pen includes white table cloths for all the tables so that's all taken care of now!

3 months!

1. Ben tried on some wedding bands to get a feel of what he likes. I have chosen my ring design and Ben is narrowing his down so we can send them to the jeweler to get made.

2. Centerpieces have been mocked-up.

Each table will have something similar to this on it. We got the lanterns from Ikea on a recent trip. Next steps = figuring out how many tables and ordering enough supplies, taking the glass out, making better numbers.

3. Dress fitting. Yesterday, I had my first fitting of my dress. There are very few alterations that need to be made. Tacking on my sash and flower as well as a bit of hemming since my shoes are so flat. I did my hair, hair, makeup and painted my toe nails for the trial as well. It was nice to look in the mirror with everything done. I was able to make a decision about my toenail color and I am sticking with the shoes I have. I had my hair half-up and half-down and wavy and liked it. The exact style may change though as it was pretty destroyed by the time I got home - I'm sure the hood on my coat didn't help that much...

Decor Decisions

The beauty of Jamaica will be our main 'decor' for our day. The ceremony will be outside on the rocks and the restaurant is open air with plenty of natural beauty surrounding it as well so any decor we do will be minimal.

I want our ceremony to be 'in the round' as pros like to call it. Basically, I want everyone surrounding us in a circle during the ceremony.

Photo from Jessamyn Harris Photography, via A Practical Wedding)

Thus there will be no aisle to decorate and any decor that we do to mark the ceremony space can't hinder anyone's view. So if I get my way and get to have that ceremony set-up there will be no decor needed. Scattering something like the pictured couple did wouldn't really work with the nice sea breeze we'll hopefully be experiencing.

While I haven't received more detailed pictures of the restaurant space we'll be using for our reception to get any further ideas about decor for that, I do figure I'll want to do centerpieces. However, they won't be what most people imagine when they hear the word centerpiece. There will be NO FLOWERS.

Having no flowers is very important to me for multiple reasons. First of all, the commercial flower industry is full of human rights and environmental abuses. If we wanted organic flowers they would have to be flown in from a fair distance at a huge price. Flying organic flowers from further away than conventional flowers kind of defeats the purpose. My mom is also allergic to a TON of flowers. Like seriously almost every flower. I also think they're wasteful and expensive, so no flowers here.

So now that I've squashed your idea of centerpieces here's some inspiration photos I've gathered for our centerpieces:

(all from google search of non-floral centerpieces)

So the common element is candles. The candles will either be on top of mirrors or driftwood and there may or may not be shells present. The shells bring up another contentious point for me - I don't want to be staring at the shell of an endangered species (conch) while I'm trying to enjoy my reception. Even if they are shells of abundant species, I want to know that they are sustainably harvested. So this once again may be difficult to make happen so they may not make an appearance at our wedding.

I sent these photos to a florist that works with Tensing Pen a few weeks ago with a description of what I was imagining and making sure all of my wants were clear and never heard back. I figure they will charge way to much money for some candles anyway so I'm soon going to start getting things together myself with a plan of how to get it down there.