decoration duty...

My son and DIL got married in January, but they've waited until August to have the "reception".  It's almost here!  They are having the wedding party and also Peyton's 1st birthday party on the same day.  The parties are being held at my DIL's parents house in Harrison Township.  It will be an outdoor party, like Jerome and I had for our wedding reception.  The big difference is that they have a pool!...but not much room for anything else in their backyard, so the neighbor is allowing them to set up a tent in their yard ~ I guess the neighbor has done this for past events as well (nice neighbor!).

I was lucky enough to score decoration duty.  I was given the colors; white and lavender and with that information I was able to do some quick internet searches to find a theme.  I sent .jpgs of the ideas to my DIL's mother (Kathy) and was given the thumbs up.  Here are some of the ideas:

Table runner in light purple...

Another way to use the mason jar idea; with photos

Some paper hearts on sticks...

These are the handles for the mason jars...

Hanging mason jars with candles...

Mason jar with daisies...

One of the ideas is using mason jars (newer, clear ones) in a combination for a centerpiece; a tall jar with flowers; daisies in white and light purple, a medium jar with the kids photos from their wedding day (with a candle in the jar as well to illuminate the photos) and a small jar with some coarse beach sand (white) and a lavender tealight candle.  To round off the centerpiece, I am spray painting some pine cones in shades of purple and white and I have made some colorful paper hearts using scrap booking paper and a heart paper punch, some floral wire and some jewel stickers.  I may also have Jerome cut a log into thin slices to use as a stand for the mason jars...I haven't passed that one by him yet - I wonder what he'll say.

Note the nicely cut runner!

I purchased several yards of this nice airy fabric in a light purple.  It has some beads and glitter attached to the fabric for some added interest and sparkle.  This will be used for table runners.  I was going to cut the runners myself and then hem them, but after the first attempt at trying to cut a straight-ish edge, Jerome told me that it looked like a "beaver creek special" and offered to take them to work and put the fabric in the machine that cuts the fabric for the airbags.  I was concerned only because the fabric is very thin and fragile, but he returned home with pieces that looked fantastic!  I won't even have to hem them, they turned out that well!  We will put a pointy end on them so that they look more finished and make a little sewn tuck, but that's about it.

I've also made some handles for a few more mason jars.  These will be used as nicely lighted, hanging decorations around the yard.

I have them hanging from yard art...

Kathy and I were talking about also incorporating some plain white Christmas lights inside the tent and other places in the yard and I've also thought of using white and purple balloons in a pearlized finish.

I've ordered some M&Ms in purple, light purple and white ~ personalized with their first names.  I think that is going to be all we need for decorations.  I've got a lot of extra scrap booking paper and may consider punching out a bunch more small hearts to use as confetti on the cake table or somewhere...I'll see what  Kathy thinks.

Finally, Jerome just finished the wedding DVD and slideshow that will be playing in the house and projected somewhere outside as well.  He's edited down the wedding to three important snippets with some nice music and effects; short and sweet and will keep everyone's interest.  At the end he made a slideshow using both the professional photos and also some good ones that were taken by the guests ~ this also has music, one of my recent favorite songs; Falling in Love at a Coffee Shop.