Reception Decor Thoughts and Logistics

My vision is starting to come together, so I thought I'd jot down my new loves and thoughts. There are a LOT of unknowns, but we're getting there.






Tables and Chairs

• 7 10-person tables for the Carriage House--3 on each side, 1 in front of the side exit door
  
• 1 smaller round table for the cake, to be displayed in the middle of the room
• Four taller bistro tables for perimeter of "dance hall" portion of Carriage House. I was thinking folks could set a drink down, if they wanted. Two could go on one side, two on the other. These will require decoration and linens.
  
• Another idea: If not bistro tables, then rocking chairs around the perimeter would be a blast. Cracker Barrel has some AWESOME chairs.
  
• 1 guest book table--for the "dance hall" portion of the house. The typewriter, photos, etc. will go here. We may not need to rent one necessarily, especially if we could use one of the existing wood side tables already in the House. Need to scope this out, next time we're there.
• Chairs? In love with parchment colored chairs, run down, paint chipped. I have no idea where to find these. This is probably unrealistic, so I'd consider brown/wooden slated chairs. Need to check out Pretty Settings website.
  

Cleaning Out the Carriage House (need to confirm this with Katherine)

• Remove all green shades in both dining and dance rooms. Or, if not possible, ensure that all of them are pulled up.
• Remove central rug in the dining area. It's a floor rug--pale blue and ratty. It's gotta go!
  
• Remove photos and paintings hanging on left wall of the dance hall.
• Remove brochure stand and table (if possible) in dance hall.
• Remove all boxes and brown folding table standing behind wooden bar in dance hall
• Remove TV in far right corner of dance hall.
• Things that can stay: mirror on right wall, some paintings (will need to review this again), bar on right-hand side.
• Not to worry about: green trim around perimeter of both rooms, green trim around base of four posts in dining area, green carpet in dining area where tables will go, green carpet in front entrance of dance hall.

Table Decor, Accessories

• Glass jam jar in the center of all tables. Perhaps two? Twine bow around each.
• Jars filled with white hydrangea, white peonies, light green mum/daisy heads, white alstromeria, green berries, green herb plant.
• Like the idea of napkins loosely gathered with a fresh flower or dead, fallen leaf.
• Tea candle votives with brown fall leaves cemented inside, against the glass, for each table--see Martha Stewart picture.
  
• Love the idea of little pies/tarts in small pie boxes as favors for guests, wrapped in box or brown paper bag material, tied with twine or matching ribbon.
  
• Love the idea of having a rusty, antique address number to designate the number of the table--bronze, black, still undecided.
• Love the idea of having a miniature menu on each plate.
  
• Unknowns: type of plates, glasses, silverware, color of linens and tablecloths.

Dining Area Decor

• Dead tree branches, forked, secured to each of the four beams. Covered in warm lights. Still working out those details
• Four rustic lanterns hanging from each hook of the four beams.
• Rustic, wooden sign saying "Wedding Supper" to secure over the gold plated "Meeting Room" sign on the door between dining area and dance hall.
• Unknowns: what else should go in here?

Dance Hall Decor

• Twine, clothesline fastened over the guest book table, complete with clothespins holding Polaroid pictures of Chris and me. Vintage Polaroid camera available for guests to take pictures, too, and clothespin to the twine.
• Guest book table placement? Unknown.
• Guest book table will hold typerwriter, paper, for guests to sign.
• Musicians will stand/be on the inside of the white carriage rail
• Flower chains for carriage rail?
• Flower chains and lights between hanging ceiling lanterns? Need to think on this more.
  
• Hanging ceiling lanterns lit up? Can we do this?
• Ask Katherine about keeping front entrance doors open for cool breeze?

Cake, Cake Table

• Cake look and feel unknown. Want a three-tier cake, though. With some kind of ribbon wrapped around the base of each tier. I love that look. And prefer round to square. Beyond that, I have no idea at this point. I want it to coordinate with the greens and whites though.
• I love the idea of the cake plate being supported by old antique door knobs. I have a Martha Stewart Picture
• The cake table should have candle votives.
  

Miscellaneous

• Small lanterns and electric tea candles for each guest, to hold as a send-off outdoors, after the reception. This would make for such a lovely photo after the reception, especially since we can't use sparklers.
• Paper bag luminaries with electric tea lights to light the path from Carriage House to cocktail area. It will be dark after the cocktail area at 7 p.m. I'd like a path to illuminate between the two.
• Personalized Chris & Ally cigars for guests after dinner.
  

Vintage Jars!

In the name of creative brainstorming, I went ahead and purchased four vintage glass jars from Etsy (a website I completely adore and found per courtesy of Somer) for the purposes of testing out different materials and color ideas. These four Mason jars were a great deal, so I thought I'd go ahead and buy them!

Few strands to brainstorm about: clear jars, twine, green and white flowers, and how these all work together in the Carriage House.

Let me know your thoughts!

Peonies, My New Obsession

It's true. I'm in love. With peonies.

They are such beautiful flowers. Romantic, soft, full--what more could a girl want? What's more, the white peonies would work beautifully with the Carriage House decor, and lighten it up beautifully. This is a strong consideration.

What's funny is that I remember a certain super stealth mission a year and a half ago, whereby I, along with two other ladies who shall remain nameless, snatched peonies from local hillsides in Cumberland, Maryland for a certain someone's wedding whom shall also remain nameless. (ahem... Danielle).

And I am reminded of why one would snatch these in the wee hours: they are simply beautiful.

Now, the question is, what other colors, if any, to pair them with?

Alice needs to brainstorm... They would, now that I'm thinking of it, looking so charming and rustic tied together with a bit of twine (as shown in the picture above) and placed in clear glass jars. Love it. More to follow...

Pictures of Carriage House, Interior

Here are a few images Danielle and I snapped at the Carriage House. As you can see, it needs a lot of loving care and creative thought, but it really will be quite charming when we get through with it! Right now, there are leftover tables, carpets, chairs, etc. from an educational event that was taking place on the grounds the day we visited. Katherine has also assured me that we are more than welcome to clear the space of all objects, furniture, etc., take down pictures on the walls, cover carpet, and remove the green shades from windows. The only thing we must be careful to do is not nail anything into the 250 year old wood of the house--that, and all decor must pass through approval of Oatlands staff to ensure the preservation of the estate.

Color Scheme, Reception Decor

With my recent trip out to Oatlands, I’ve had a change of heart, I think, about the colors for the Carriage House reception. Originally, before I'd found Oatlands, I had fallen in love with blue and black and white, having found such a whimsical pleasure in the combination.

However, when I went out to Oatlands during Danielle’s visit last week, and had an opportunity to study the Carriage House more closely, I began to wonder about the aesthetic potential of incorporating blue and black into the wooden interior, as well as into the green baseboard trim that runs around its perimeter and the green floor-to-ceiling shutters on
display.

The difficulty with blue is that it is so fluctuating in color, and in the world of flowers, this becomes even more challenging, particularly as hydrangea is fickle in its hues and shades, ranging from white with blue centers, to a deep blue that is almost purple.

Also, blue and green can be tricky, as they seem to only work together when the underlying hue is a match. The underlying hue of hydrangea can be green, but it can also be purple, depending, whereas the Carriage House green has a teal undertone with an almost brown hue. This does not a match make—at least, not easily.

The solution, of course, is to head out to the House with a series of dried or silk flowers, fabric, and a scraps of ideas, to see how the décor might work with the natural farm-like beauty of the room.

Aside from that, one other option is to reconsider the color scheme altogether, working with the original charm of the Carriage House itself. Some options would be to do the following:

Flowers:

• White flowers to pull together the green and brown—peonies, Queen Anne’s lace?
• Green foliage, almost a sage color—dried hydrangea, hibiscus, pale green roses?
• A combination of the above?

Linen/Carpet

• White linens with black carpet?
• Black and white lines with white carpet?

I think with a more neutral color pallet, we’ll be fighting less against the natural beauty of the Carriage House while still allowing the black typewriter keys and literary aspects of the reception to come to life.

Initial decor options that I've been mulling over for the dining area:

• Flower vines wrapped around the four central posts
• Four lanterns (perhaps copper, bronze colored, not sure about black) that would hang off each hook on the the four central posts, lit with electric tea lights, but preferably candlelight, depending on Oatlands fire policy for enclosed flame.
• Possibly an exquisite carpet runner with a whimsical, vine like design for the central aisle, in between posts and tables, leading to cake display table.
  
• Carpet on each green carpeted area--color TBD.
• Remove all green shades on windows and leave bare--per permission of Katherine at Oatlands.
• Three tables per side, a total of six. Perhaps seven, guest list depending.

Initial decor ideas on main room, dance hall:

• Band placed inside white carriage rail
• Rug/carpet in place of opening front green carpet
• Fill the two large hanging ceiling lanterns ith flame/candle/electric tea lights, top each one with live flowers (same flowers we wrapped around four posts in adjacent room).
  
• Hang a chain of flowers between the two lanterns.
  
• If possible, hang an additional flower chain horizontally, in between two lanterns, across entire expanse of room.
• Place two pots of overflowing flowers on either side of white carriage rail
• Bartending station to the right--making use of bar already present.
• Guest book signing with typewriter, perhaps to side of bar, adjacent wall to dining room.
• Placement of table with assigned seating TBD.
  

More on this later, and more to come, though whatever we decide here will inform Jen's matron of honor dress potentially, as well as the bridal bouquet, Jen's bouquet, and the men's flowers during the ceremony.