We did it! Friday noon’s ceremony was beautiful, the weather was sweet and the food was amazing. I worked quite hard on this one, and was very thrilled about how nice everything came out. I’m happy to share all the little details with you.
I’m warning you! This is a LONG post with lots of photos…
I found several fabrics in my chosen purple and green color scheme. From these fabrics I sewed about 30 pillows, to mix and match on the white sofas I rented for the wedding. When it comes to mixing colors and patterns, I believe there are two ground rules to make it work: 1. The colors need to be harmonious and “work” well with each other. To make sure I’m on the right track, I kept a tiny box with samples of the fabrics I found in my handbag, so whenever I saw an additional fabric or item (or even the flowers) it would be right on the spot. 2. REPETITION! if you have only one pillow of a certain fabric, only one pot of flowers with a certain glaze, it will create no impact. Repetition gives every designed decision weight and value. As much as I love eclectic style for homes, I think event design should have lots of repetitions to make it coherent.
To guide our guests all the way to the back yard, I hung a string all along the path and decorated it with black and white photos. The photos were sorted by date (with 5 years gaps- 1975, 1980, 1985…), showing my husband and I from our childhood and up to that (special :)) day. Some of the photos were originally in color, so I transformed them to B/W using Photoshop. Then, after printing them at a local shop, I glued all the pictures to a white heavy-weight card-stock to prevent them from curving and twisting while hung.
At the Entrance and at few other spots there were signs welcoming the guests. I made “Shira & Ari’s Wedding” and placed it at the front of the house, this “Welcome” sign, “Thanks for coming” and more. To cut the letters I printed the desired font in mirror writing and glued it to the back of patterned paper. Then, with a sharp craft knife I cut each and every letter out… It’s a shame that there is no selection of cutting dies with Hebrew fonts.
The Morning of the wedding I had my good friends Yael and Noam (for the muscle) hanging things up, decorating and doing all the last touch-ups in the garden, while I was very busy with hair and make-up. I must say, I would have never been able to pull it off without them!
The whole garden was decorated with paper lanterns of various sizes, hung from the trees with green satin ribbon.
I offered our guests to cool themselves with bamboo and white paper fans. I painted the basket white to match the rest of the decor, and made a little “take me” sign from chipboard covered with patterned paper, spelled out in Thickers by American Crafts.
I sewed these runners to give a better contrast to the decorative white frames. In display, I placed black and white photos from the weddings of our parents, grandparents and even some great-grandparents. It was so touching to go through all these photos and discover some that I haven’t seen before.
Instead of having only flower arrangements, I added some turquoise and deep-purple glazed pots, and bought plants that served the overall scheme. The pots added to the homey feeling of the event, the plants are cheaper than flowers and will last to bring joy for a long time. It was also a nice souvenir for my parents, who hosted the wedding at their garden.
I made all the flower arrangements, a few large bouquets and a few smaller ones, in bell shaped glass vases, for the dining tables. The wooden tables were covered only by striped runners, which I sewed from a lovely white and green fabric.
I also made my own bride’s bouquet, which I loved! I covered the gripping part with wide grey-ish purple satin ribbon.
This was my favorite part! I’ve made the purple screen both to give a decent contrast to the comic-book style text balloons, but also to create a specified area for this fun activity. The background screen is decorated with whimsical paper garlands (sewing paper in the machine is fun!). So, instead of having a regular guest book, we had our guest leaving us some funny messages! I’ve cut the balloons in two different sizes from plywood using a jigsaw, then painted them with special classroom blackboards paint. I placed the balloons in a basket, along with white, green and purple chalks, and purple wiping cloth (made out of cushions fabric leftovers). The small table was also covered with the same white and sage-green striped fabric.
We had the best time ever, it was so relaxed, beautiful and exciting, that it’s hard to describe. We were so thankful to have such an amazing day, so thankful for our family, friends, love and good luck.
I wish you all a wonderful week!
ShirA
the Little Green Box 