April 29, 2012

My Daughters Wedding Reception

My oldest got married!
It was such an amazing day.
I want to share the reception with you.

We had many friends and family helping to get the church building ready for the reception.
We feel blessed to have them in our lives.
A lemon tree and a sign that April painted for us for outside the door.

I love that they can hang this in their house after the party.
Here is our sign in desk Mary and I bought at a garage sale. Mary painted it to match the decor. I borrowed the door from my friend. I love the color!
We made a sign in book using all their engagement photos.
I've had this old typewriter for a while. It goes perfect with the vintage feel of the wedding.
I love, love, love, how the cake area turned out.
Old garage sale frames and an old table from my grandpa Olsen.
My friend Roxanne did a great job on the cake.
I ordered the gum paste flowers off of etsy.
Jamie did a great job making the cake topper! I love it!
We found this etsy shop with the cutest cake toppers & decided to try & make one.
Jamie said it was much harder than she thought it was going to be to make it so she suggests you just go here to buy one.
Cake details. Straight pins held the ribbon in place.

The wall behind the cake.
This is the throwing bouquet.
We added one of the vintage brooches that we didn't use in her bouquet.

My friend Sandra made lots and lots of macaroons. My favorite!
They look beautiful in jars with a tag.

I made this cute little pendant banner for the pie.
It says "For my Sweetie Pie".
It is our version of a grooms cake.
My new son-in-law loves pie!
Old suitcase holds gift cards. We made the word 'cards' out of chipboard letters covered with strips cut from old books and modge podged on. Kind of a sticky mess but cute.
My dad and I built the photo wall together. I love doing daddy/daughter projects with him.
He made an actual wall with supports on either side.
We cut holes for the frames I had bought at various garage sales and them wallpapered and glued them on.
This shows April, Jamie, and Me.
Some of the cousins pose using disguises.
This table was next to our photo booth wall.
We had disguise pieces like mustaches, crown, beard, etc. that Traci made.
We used small clothes pins to attach them to the twine hanging on the hinged windows.
People were supposed to come by later to pick them up.
More photo booth decor. I cut out pendants out of an old grain sack and stamped them with the lettering.
I just hot glued them to some twine.
I borrowed my friends top to her hutch to display the pies.
My sister April is the sign queen and made this sign too!
Along with all our mini pies my sister Laurel made all these cute pie tags.
We had lemon meringue, pumpkin, chocolate, apple, and three berry pies.
Kyle and Dianna were in charge of making all these pies.
We tried several recipes to get the crust size right for the kind of pie.
They were so good, but tons of work.
It took us 3 days with 5 people to make all 600!
Each of the centerpieces was different. We used hydrangea, roses, and billie ball flowers on them all.

 I went all over the place collecting as many white vases and jars that I could.
I borrowed silver platters from my mother in law and found a few extra in my thrift store shopping.
It took a while but I love how no two tables are the same.
I found these blue mason jars on ebay. I had one on each table to add a touch of vintage blue.
Photo holders with a love poem made out of Salvation Army bought books. We had Michael's Craft store cut the mattes. Half of the tables had these and half had little trees from West Elm.
Some of the food...
green salad
pasta salad
grapes
We also served two kinds of sandwiches. My friend Laura made Cashew Chicken Salad on croissants, and my friend Susanne made some ham and turkey sandwiches with spinach on asiago foccacia. All the food was delicious!
It really was a wonderful day!

April 4, 2012

{Kitchen Before and After}

It's been a while since I've posted anything. Life, as so often happens, got in the way. However I did take a few pictures of my kitchen the other night that I thought I'd share. 
 It is FAR from finished, but as you can see in the before picture I've come a long way. I'm trying to remind myself that I've only been in my house for a few months. All I've done so far is paint, but what a difference!
 Eventually, the microwave will be replaced, and I can't wait to install knobs! I think they are the jewelry of the kitchen. I also just bought a light fixture for over the sink from our local ReStore. Hopefully I will install it soon.
 The lower cabinets are showing a lot more green in these pictures, it actually has a more blue/grey tone to it. The countertops aren't in the best shape, but I did color match the top and painted the wood trim on the edge. It made a HUGE difference and it makes it workable for the next few years until I can get them replaced.
I added the bead board and trim on the island again like I did in my old kitchen which I love! So cheap and it makes such a big difference.

 That's all for now, but I just made some new pillows for my family room couch using spray paint. (Yup, spray paint) and I. Am. In. Love. I'll show them to you soon...