The Day Before

The day before the wedding was kind of crazy. In hindsight, we probably could have been better organized, gave ourselves more times, and asked for a little more help. However, I was so specific about every detail, that I probably wouldn't have accepted any more help than we had. Mr. Tal and I spent the morning finishing a few last minute details and loading them into the truck and heading over to the reception site. There we spent about 4 hours on set up. We weren't smart enough to take pictures of the hall before and after set up but I have some beautiful detail shots.

(All Photos by J Wagler Photography)

All this was a joint effort between Mr. Tal, myself, Momma and Daddy Sal and Momma Tal. To start, we had to set up all the tables, literally. We had to take all the chairs off the tables and any that we weren't using we had to stack in the back. We had to move them into the place and put on the table clothes and set up the chairs. Once all the tables were into place we had to actually set them up to look all pretty. We decided to set up the smaller tables first, like the guest book table, the place "card"(aka the wooden disks) table, and the cake and gift tables. Once those smaller tables were set up, we moved on to the guest tables (without the runners because they hadn't arrived yet, haha, long story), first up centerpieces.

We had no choice but to assemble our centerpieces at the site because the manzanita branches in the pots would have been too high to transport and more than likely the pots would have fell over en route. So in our own little assembly line, Mr. Tal and Momma Sal filled the pots with litter (yes, we used cat litter, it was the most economical choice), then the branches were stuck into some floral foam and more litter added on top, after that the spanish moss and little birds were added by myself and Momma Tal, then the finished product was taken to the tables by Daddy Sal. After all those were in place we had to go around and add the strings of beads (cut up garland with wire added), and paper lanterns with battery-operated tea lights. Voila! Centerpieces were up and looking fabulous, in my humble opinion. After centerpieces came the wooden silverware wraps at every place, along with the bagged cookie favors and our table letters. Once we were done our hall looked transformed, and that was without chair covers, which were being delievered later that afternoon.

We all went our seperate ways early that afternoon to get ready for our rehearsal.

Next up, our rehearsal or why my day-of coordinator is worth her weight in gold.

Tune in next time for more tales from a DIY bride.