Down Home Romance: A Real Wedding, Part 2

The Details
White and green roses paired with green and white hydrangeas, kraft covered books with hand painted table name signs, mason jars and touches of lace and burlap were everywhere!

Photos by Whimzy Photography

Bride's bouquet

Stitched Program

The Cake 

Nothing is more down home than bundt cakes and fruit pies so in lieu of the traditional wedding cake, we had a small tiered carrot cake with a cluster of bundt cakes and a cluster of pies to create a homey dessert buffet.

Place setting with homemade Salted Caramel Sauce favors

Simple aisle decor

To add to the fun, laid back atmosphere, we set up a S'mores area on the back patio for those wishing to enjoying the warm summer evening under the stars.

S'more Kits

Down Home Romance: A Real Wedding, Part 1

Mr and Mrs V

She is bubbly and outgoing, he is quiet and reserved.  She is passionate about celebrating life and he is passionate about her.  When Mike proposed to Rachel, he wanted to give her the wedding of her dreams.  Since dreams can't be bought with a price and real life vehemently disagrees, the two set forth to create a wedding that would fit into their modest budget of $5000 (which had to include all gifts, attire, rehearsal dinner and wedding bands).
       Mike grew up in a small town in the southern Colorado mountains and met Rachel when they were both English majors in college.  When I sat down with the two of them for the first time, we discussed the overall look and feel they were going for as well as how to accomplish those things with monetary restrictions.  They wanted a wedding that is relaxed and fun in atmosphere but beautiful and romantic in feel.  This is how we nailed down the "down home romance : burlap and lace" concept.  It is classy and beautiful but earthy and gritty- much like the two of them.

Enjoying mojitos on the porch during beverage hour.

We set out to make most of the wedding elements ourselves so as to save as much money as possible without compromising the details that make an occasion stand out. We were blessed to be able to use the ceremony and reception facility for only $75 total, thanks to a friend doing us a favor.  Her stunning photography was done at a VERY low cost by her lifelong friend, Shannon and her business partner, Celeste, whose business Whimzy Photography focuses primarily on maternity, infant and family photography. The catering was chosen both for its value and its taste (both the bride and groom were HUGE fans of Bird Dog BBQ) and we felt that it fit the theme perfectly.

The wedding party - all but two are family members.

The color scheme: various shades of brown, white and ivory with pops of granny smith apple green in order to echo nature and tie in the burlap and the lace.

Busy times!

Well, it must be busy season again because I am currently planning one event per month for the next three months.  I will try to update you as I go, but I can't promise too much.

Real party: Butterfly Garden Baby Shower

I don't have very many pictures of the dessert table or the food table, but here are some GREAT detail shots of the foods and desserts and such.  The party turned out to be such a sweet clebration of thsi precious new life!

Monkey Love...in progress.

I purchased a printable girly monkey party package from Etsy that came with a party hat template. Here is what I have thus far:

I found a tutorial online that had these homemade "lanterns" for decorative use.  I am a strong believer in adding a vertical element to your displays, so I took the plunge and got messy (VERY similar to paper maché process) to create these with my girls.

I have a ton more projects to complete:  the main one being painting a base layer on the heart photo frames that I bought for the kids to paint/decorate.

Monkey Love: A Party in the Making

My baby is turning two next month which is quite bittersweet as she will no longer be a baby... You may remember the Little French Bakery 1st Birthday Party that I threw for her last year,  Well, due to the expense and time involved with throwing a very intricate and detailed themed party, my husband and I have an agreement to only do a "big" party every other year.  I guess that means that I should be packing up the girls along with their cousins and heading to Chuck E Cheese's, but I just LOVE parties too much!  In efforts to keep this year's shindig to a "small" party, we are trying to just do family and a few friends. We shall see how well I do at that...ahem.

Claire loves monkeys at the moment: from watching Curious George to reading her favorite bedtime story, Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed.  But with Valentine's Day so close to her birthday and my not being able to do her party the weekend of her actual birthday (the hubby and I are headed to Rome for 5 days), I thought it best to combine the two by choosing a pink & brown color scheme and incorporating both hearts and monkeys to give...Sweet Monkey Love!!!

My favorite part of throwing a party with a simple shape is the vast number of possibilities from crafts to food designs.  My four year old daughter has already begun assisting me with craft projects...pics to come.  I purchased these gorgeous fabrics to use for the dessert display backdrop, the table topper and a "photo booth" backdrop.

I was delighted to find these cute Monkey Love craft kits at Target...10 for $5.  

I plan on having a kids craft table decked out with craft supplies in cute heart-shaped containers with a few different crafts to do, ranging from the Monkey Love crafts to decorating little photo frames to cover the photos we take at the photo booth (thanks to digital cameras and modern technology which allows us to plug in the camera and print out copies of the photo booth shots in a matter of moments).  These crafts will make for wonderful party favors for the kids to give away to loved ones for Valentine's Day two days later.

I just snagged these on Amazon for the kids!  I may paint their names on them too.

Needless to say, I am already getting sucked in to this party.  I wish I had a ton more time and money (and guests) allotted to make it truly out of this world, but I will do my best to give my little girl a day of wonder.

The New Website!!!

I officially launched SAVOR Events & Sweets back in July, but I am just now finding the time, money and energy to create a website and do some serious branding!

I hope you get a chance to check out my new site to see my services, pricing, portfolio as well as featured parties.  Let me know what you think!