So, yesterday Somer and I headed out to Michael's to do a bit of exploring, buying, and general brainstorming about materials and concepts for the Carriage House.
The most successful part of the evening was when Somer fashioned an adorable floral pom pom from tissue paper, which we thought would look just splendid hanging from the "dance hall" portion of the House. They're so
simple to make and easy to pull off--it would be so festive to have them hanging from the ceiling in ivory and white and perhaps even a twinge of some other color. However, we'll have to make sure (the next time we visit Oatlands, which will be late March when they reopen) that the House has ample rafters and beams from which to suspend them.
Two other ideas we toyed with were favors & favor boxes and eyelet sleeve votives.
For the favors, I'm exploring the idea of handing out tarts of all different fall flavors--apple, blackberry, cranberry, pumpkin, pecan. The tarts would then be boxed in brown bag paper, or perhaps just brown boxes, wrapped with twine and perhaps layered with dead twigs, eyelet, lace or some other lovely fabric. A tag on each favor box would register the name of the type of tart inside. Another option, would be to serve only apple tarts, calling upon Leesburg's own Mom's Apple Pie Bakery to do the baking--which would be lovely and quaint, with Oatlands right around the corner! However, this would restrict us to an apple-type motif, rather than a general fall theme. I'm not keen on restricting things to just this, but we'll see. I'll have to let things churn a bit more.
As for votives for the reception tables, we have two options: one is to use eyelet or lace trim around glass votives or all shapes and sizes; the other is to use fallen leaves. Both are lovely--perhaps a mix? This is where things get tough--where we need to streamline, keep things consistent and simple. I know this is a wedding and not a novel, but when writing a novel I've learned that the most powerful concoction is one where tight, streamlined and consistent images run throughout, playing on and off another. The concept of the wedding is similar--pick a few threads and a few colors, and develop them three-dimensionally. Some may disagree with me on this aesthetic, but it's never steered me wrong in terms of decor or in writing!
Overall, the themes that seem to be shaping are as follows:
- Dead tree branches, twigs, wood
- Eyelet fabric, scraps
- Ivory, brown, white colors
- Twine and clothesline
- Autumn flavors--variety of pie flavors for the favors, and touches in our reception dinner (cranberries, pumpkin breads, cornbread)
These five motifs come together to suggest rustic, a touch of vintage, whimsy, and autumn themed-wedding, that is focused on being "homey," warm and cozy with a whirl of imagination.
However, to make this theme more dimensional and to give it "texture," I'm wondering about how and whether to incorporate the following:
- Another accent color--pink, green, yellow?
- Leaves?
- Apples?
- Wheat--on table, wreaths?
- Corn husk vases
- White pumpkins
More thoughts to come!! And thank you, Somer, for all of your craft-making magic!
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So, yes. Bridesmaid dresses. In brief, I'm not really a fan of what's out there. Pastels. Odd satin arrangements. Strange bows in strange places. No sleeves and necklines that are in serious need of straps to hold them above-bosom. The look of "hey, this is totally unwearable, but I'm wearing this frock to match the bride's color scheme."
The first dress we found--and that is currently on its way via air mail--is J. Crew's "Cecelia" gown in expresso. It's just lovely. Sleeved. Fitted. Flowing. Natural. If the dress looks as good in real life as it does online, I think we have a winner!
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