The Wedding Decorator Strikes Again!

There was a wedding in the family yesterday.

My sweetheart niece, Lauren, married

her boyfriend, now husband, Ricardo.

They were married in the Unitarian Church in Mequon that used to be an octagon barn.  It is a warm and rustic building with a high ceiling in the chapel.

I was enlisted to help with the decorating.  Their colors were black, white, and sangria (a burgundy rose).  These door decorations looked like angels to my husband.

I thought it was time to recycle.  I had these perfectly lovely bunches of flowers from Lars (my son) and Spring's wedding.

Pull off the heads of the purple roses and replace with the heads of pink orchids -- add a deep rose colored bow, touch up the ribbons with an iron and voila! 

New arrangements!

Perfect for the tops of these "standards" that Larry made for me using some big cans, dowels and a bit of concrete.

 

The standards guided the guests into the chapel.

The octagon chapel was a beautiful space with it's high, vaulted ceiling and wood paneling everywhere.  It didn't need much decorating, but I thought a few touches might be in order.

Since I spotted a pulley system hanging from the ceiling above the alter, I started to get ideas.  I wanted something simple and elegant and remembered I had three new Chinese paper lanterns in my inventory.

I decided to hang tulle netting from each lantern and tie the tails in a knot with some orchids.  This seemed Asian to me. 

I remember a photo from Larry's mission days in Japan showing some kites with tails similar to this.  It just seemed the right design for the occasion, the room, and the family.  This grouping of lanterns was hung from a wooden triangle and strung up via the pulley.  The trio was anchored with two swags tied back to the wall.

I did a "standard issue" curtain

to frame up the cake table.

But what did I do with this - a fat book of black and white print scrapbooking papers...?

There were two big windows looking into the kitchen and since there was a lot of chaos in there, I decided to cover the window panes with paper.  Each one had a "doily" with a picture of something representing love and marriage from love birds to a vintage cake topper.  One of the readings from the wedding ceremony spoke of love and used the word "always" many times.

I wish I could take credit for these little window pane decorations, but I got my inspiration from banners made by Mika, Cherry Hill Cottage blogger Tina Smith's daughter.  See an example of her creative banners here.

The wedding was beautiful and the reception immediately after was a fun party, but this blogger was a dead tired aunt.  As usual, I'd put in a late night on preparations.   I went home and fell asleep around 6:30 p.m. only to wake up at 9:30 and give in to requests from my son and husband to watch Aliens on DVR with them... just your typical day, I guess.

Best wishes to Lauren and Ricardo for a long and happy marriage.