Manolo for the Brides

A lot of brides- and grooms-to-be are spared having to think about tabletop decor because their chosen reception sites handle that detail from start to finish. Other future newlyweds — and I include myself in this — don’t choose an all inclusive site and thus have to create their own tablescapes. It’s not as easy as it looks, and it turns out it’s a big deal to a lot of people. To wit: All of the inspirational pics in this post came from Kappa Kappa Gamma’s tablescape competitions.

I tend to think that fuller tables look nicer. At my own wedding, I made the mistake of disregarding scale when thinking about centerpieces and such. If it hadn’t been a backyard, outdoor affair without proper china and silverware, everything would have looked a lot more ridiculous than it did. As it was, the wind blew everything over anyway, sparing me any embarrassment.

The tablescape above was created by BBJ Linen, a rental company. There are a lot of super sweet ’scapes on their site, so if you’re currently in the market for inspiration I’d recommend checking it out.

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I know, I know, NtB just wrote a great article on centerpieces, and here I go copying her again. Well, not quite. I think this is more continuing on a theme. After all, she talked about using tea tins as containers…well, this is about using actual edibles as part of your centerpiece.

After all, there’s no law that says you have to limit yourself to flowers and candles on your table. There are dozens of edible things that are as pretty as they are delicious. For instance, I find myself wishing I’d thought of this for my outdoor, summer wedding:

Not only is it bright and festive, but the fresh scent of lemons (or oranges, or limes, or grapefruits) is delightful in the air. Oh, and this is easy, too. If you’re interested in trying it, the instructions can be found here.

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Martha Stewart — or one of her many clones — popularized tea tin centerpieces ages and ages ago, and people jumped on the idea. By people, of course, I mean bloggers and writers, because the only place I’ve seen ‘em is on blogs and in the pages of magazines

I’m not sure I get why. These centerpieces are so easy — loose, unpolished arrangements tend to look better — and you can coordinate without being too matchy-matchy by buying teas that come in tins that compliment your wedding colors. I’ve seen mismatched Mason jar vases and glittery pop bottle vases at actual weddings, but never tins.

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Faux can be fabulous, provided one has chosen either a high-quality imitator or something that doesn’t take itself too seriously. Artful artificial blooms can look stunning and, in some cases, do things Mother Nature cannot. You’ll never hear me criticize anyone who chooses moisenite, cz, or cut glass over real diamonds. Poly blends can stand in for silks wonderfully, depending on the frock. I could go on, but I think you get my point.

But faux ice? Fake carved frozen water that in some cases cost a great deal more than a traditional ice sculpture? I understand that the company behind it is marketing its product mainly to caterers and party venues who go through ice like I go through handbags, but it does suggest that friends of the general public “will be amazed at the exquisite UnReal Ice centerpieces [they] provide for each and every party.”

This reminds me of those neon ice balls you could buy in 80s-era supermarkets so that your drink wouldn’t get watered down by your cooling mechanism. I wonder if these operate on the same principle… There are some more photos behind the cut as well as a snapshot of an ice sculpture made of actual water for comparison.

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There’s a rather hypnotic tool over at brides.com to help you determine your wedding/reception color palatte. It’s called the Color Studio. You click your mouse on the color wheel, it spins around, and then spits out a fairly random combination of colors for your consideration.

I don’t know about you guys, but an easily amused person like me could play with this for hours.

Oh, and my favorite combination I landed on was Magenta, Purple, and Orange. Mmmm, tasty colors, but not for the faint of heart. Don’t worry, though, if your taste runs subtler than mine. You could also (and I did once) land on Silver, Blush, and Pearl.

I officially finished the first draft of my book last night–it was technically already done as of this past Sunday, but then I was reading it over, which meant there was a lot of, “Oh my gosh, what was I thinking using that word” and “This sentence has just got to go.” It has been a looooong two months, but there have been some nice little surprises to lessen the load.

Last week, I was lucky enough to receive some samples from Placetile Designs, which brightened my day considerably as my mail usually consists of nothing but mortgage insurance adverts and coupon booklets. I received some of these:

And one of these:

Company founder Kristin Bowen came up with the wonderfully clever idea of using erasable ceramic tiles as place cards and favors at her own wedding in 1999, and her guests loved them. The concept evolved to include all sorts of neat things, like wine cork place card tiles, menu tiles, napkin ring tiles, table number tiles, tiles for identifying foodstuffs, and a bunch of other lovely stuff you can write on with dry erase markers. So far, the wine stoppers are at the top of my potential book release party favors list.

For bigger, complicated receptions where there will be lots of attendees who don’t know one another, place cards (or at the very least, table numbers) are a must. I’ve always personally preferred place cards that double as favors or are integrated into favors because I like when everything in a tablescape has a definitive purpose. I’m envisioning a table with a erasable table number tile and wine stoppers or tags printed with guests names. If the bride and groom send the table number tile home with a guest, it automatically becomes a to-do list tile. Such is the beauty of being able to erase and rewrite.

On the off chance that the stuff from Placetile Designs is a little out of your price range, I’m going to let you in on a little secret. You can decorate your own erasable tile place cards and table numbers using the instructions here. Be aware, however, that you need to find tile that works like a dry erase board because some tile will hold onto the marker permanently. Check to be sure that what goes on can indeed come off before you buy bulk tiles, then go nuts with the paints!

One of mt favorite party stuff shops–The Front Door–will be closing as of December 18th. *sniff* Capitalism is a fickle mistress. Anyhow, there were all sorts of little decorating and etiquette tidbits on the site, and I wanted to share one of the loveliest.

One of the things that really bummed out a friend of mine when she was planning her wedding was that she would see photographs of really spectacular tables and have no way to replicate them because she wasn’t sure what anything was. Problem solved if you like this particular table. Head over the the site (in the next 18 days) to find out about the menu cards, place cards, napkin rings, fabrics, accessories, and centerpieces used to create this look.

Pretty much everything shown is DIY friendly and easy, to boot. You could source a lot of the materials on the cheap from a discount outfit like Save-on-Crafts…one of the best go-to craft supply sites online, IMHO, though I would love to hear your craft site suggestions.* Now if only more sites that claim to offer ideas for brides- and grooms-to-be would break down tables (and other items) into their component parts, we could all have fun pretending to be Martha Stewart.

* For realz, people. I am about to embark on a serious adventure in sewing, so I’d love to hear about the fabric, materials, and tools sites that you can’t live without!

Does anyone reeeeaaaaaally need a custom hand-painted aisle runner? No. But they’re still kind of cool.

Truth be told, I was not aware that this sort of thing existed when I tied the knot. I thought all the aisle runners out there were plain ol’ white plastic! It’s too bad, because I definitely would have bought a pretty cloth one from Artistic Aisles, all monogrammed and painted with flowers.

Then again, at $300 bucks for a 75-foot-long runner in a “designer color,” maybe it’s better that I didn’t stumble onto these until after I was officially hitched. Have you bought a runner? How much did it, er, run you?

For some odd reason, I love it when ugly and expensive collide. When I saw the link for ‘wedding dome’ in my bookmarks, I got a little excited. I bookmark so much stuff that I forget what half of it is, and I thought I might have found a company that rents collapsible geodesic domes instead of tents. Oh, how wrong I was.

Wedding dome referred to French wedding domes. A few hundred years back, the domes were used to present the wedding rings to French brides- and grooms-to-be and to store the garter (or some other piece of nuptial paraphernalia) after the wedding.

The dome you see before you is obviously an antique, and it seems the tradition of the wedding dome has not lived on into the present day. Pity, that. Ha ha, just kidding. Ormolu (i.e. gilt bronze) coupled with mirrors, velvet, and birdies under glass is just not my bag, baby.

If you want to make your own wedding dome and you’re crafty by nature, I can’t see it being that difficult. My Antique Mall has put together a short symbolism guide that can help you choose components.

Oak Leaves = Longevity of Union
Sheaves of Wheat = The gift of Life
Rectangular Mirrors = Years of Engagement
Diamond Shaped Mirrors = Fertility
Large Central Mirror = Reflection of the Soul
Clusters of Grapes = Prosperity
Roses or Daisies = Love
Cherries = Protection from Bad Fortune
Ivy = Attachment to each other
Chestnut Tree Leaves = Links to Others

But if you’d prefer to get married in a geodesic dome and you’re handy by nature, this site will help you build one.