For the start of the story, see A simple wedding in several parts, A simple wedding part 2 and A simple wedding part 3.
THE RECEPTION DECORATIONS
For the reception we hired chairs, chair covers and sashes, table cloths and runners and a small cake table from Bundaberg Party Hire. The colour options were fairly limited, so I chose white and gold to match the beach theme. Everything else we needed was in the hall already. The hired gear was delivered on the Friday afternoon when we had the keys for the hall. My husband, my cousin and I set up all the tables and put the covers on the chairs, but when it came to them helping me to tie the sashes, it became clear that we needed more females to help, so we left that for my mum and aunties to finish (boys can’t tie neat bows! but are very good at tying things onto the back of the ute).
On the day of the wedding we spent the morning decorating the hall and as my family had nothing else to do, being on holiday at the beach, they all came to help. My parents-in-law had spent months picking up nice shells from the beach and had presented me with a huge bucket of washed shells. I spread these out over the tables and all around the hall. The only other thing on each of the four the tables were three candles from a cheap shop (with small shells on them) sitting on small tiles (to keep them off the tablecloths). The tiles were free from a tile shop. I had gone in there intending to buy about 20 small tiles, but they didn’t have any and suggested that I take some of the sample tiles from out the back, but they were all huge. Finally I decided on two sand coloured tiles and brought them home for my husband to kindly cut into 9 smaller tiles.
THE FOOD
We did have dreams of lovely fresh local produce, but it all became too difficult and we ended up booking in a company called Golden Roast, that came out and did a spit roast with veges, preceded by nibbles and followed by various deserts. This seemed to suit most people. We also paid a local family (mum and two teenagers) to come and serve the food and do the dishes. They did a wonderful job and kept the stress levels low for everyone.
THE DRINKS
The main worry here was that we wouldn’t buy enough! In the end we got 8 cartons of beer (various Cascade, Moteiths etc) and a box of red wine, a box of white wine and a box of sparkling wine. We were ok with choosing the beer, but had no idea when it came to the wine. Lucky for us we found a helpful shop attendant at Dan Murphies and he helped us to choose something nice but not too expensive. We had plenty left over, so we must have got about the right amount! I'm still using up the wine in cooking as we don't drink it much.
THE SPEECHES
Again, nothing complicated. My husband and I stood up and thanked everyone for coming. For some reason both my parents wanted to say something, so they had a chance to each make a nice speech welcoming my husband etc, then my father-in-law made a quick speech, and we moved on to desert. No need for an MC!
THE CAKE
My mother-in-law offered to make the cake and we thought that would be lovely (have you seen the price of wedding cakes these days? They cost more than my dress!). The best part was that she did a number of trials for us to sample before settling on the final recipe. We requested a chocolate cake and she started with a very complicated recipe and then ended up with a lovely simple one. We covered the cake with Guylian chocolate shells. I think it looked rather nice (and it tasted great!).
THE HONEYMOON
Well this is the sad part, because our guests had booked to stay at the beach for a few days after the wedding, we wanted to stay also to see the people that we hardly ever get to see, rather than take off on a honeymoon. So we still haven’t been on an official honeymoon, but we’ll get there eventually!
So that is a summary of our simple wedding. I hope it will give you some ideas for your own simple wedding or event.
THE RECEPTION DECORATIONS
For the reception we hired chairs, chair covers and sashes, table cloths and runners and a small cake table from Bundaberg Party Hire. The colour options were fairly limited, so I chose white and gold to match the beach theme. Everything else we needed was in the hall already. The hired gear was delivered on the Friday afternoon when we had the keys for the hall. My husband, my cousin and I set up all the tables and put the covers on the chairs, but when it came to them helping me to tie the sashes, it became clear that we needed more females to help, so we left that for my mum and aunties to finish (boys can’t tie neat bows! but are very good at tying things onto the back of the ute).
On the day of the wedding we spent the morning decorating the hall and as my family had nothing else to do, being on holiday at the beach, they all came to help. My parents-in-law had spent months picking up nice shells from the beach and had presented me with a huge bucket of washed shells. I spread these out over the tables and all around the hall. The only other thing on each of the four the tables were three candles from a cheap shop (with small shells on them) sitting on small tiles (to keep them off the tablecloths). The tiles were free from a tile shop. I had gone in there intending to buy about 20 small tiles, but they didn’t have any and suggested that I take some of the sample tiles from out the back, but they were all huge. Finally I decided on two sand coloured tiles and brought them home for my husband to kindly cut into 9 smaller tiles.
THE FOOD
We did have dreams of lovely fresh local produce, but it all became too difficult and we ended up booking in a company called Golden Roast, that came out and did a spit roast with veges, preceded by nibbles and followed by various deserts. This seemed to suit most people. We also paid a local family (mum and two teenagers) to come and serve the food and do the dishes. They did a wonderful job and kept the stress levels low for everyone.
THE DRINKS
The main worry here was that we wouldn’t buy enough! In the end we got 8 cartons of beer (various Cascade, Moteiths etc) and a box of red wine, a box of white wine and a box of sparkling wine. We were ok with choosing the beer, but had no idea when it came to the wine. Lucky for us we found a helpful shop attendant at Dan Murphies and he helped us to choose something nice but not too expensive. We had plenty left over, so we must have got about the right amount! I'm still using up the wine in cooking as we don't drink it much.
THE SPEECHES
Again, nothing complicated. My husband and I stood up and thanked everyone for coming. For some reason both my parents wanted to say something, so they had a chance to each make a nice speech welcoming my husband etc, then my father-in-law made a quick speech, and we moved on to desert. No need for an MC!
THE CAKE
My mother-in-law offered to make the cake and we thought that would be lovely (have you seen the price of wedding cakes these days? They cost more than my dress!). The best part was that she did a number of trials for us to sample before settling on the final recipe. We requested a chocolate cake and she started with a very complicated recipe and then ended up with a lovely simple one. We covered the cake with Guylian chocolate shells. I think it looked rather nice (and it tasted great!).
THE HONEYMOON
Well this is the sad part, because our guests had booked to stay at the beach for a few days after the wedding, we wanted to stay also to see the people that we hardly ever get to see, rather than take off on a honeymoon. So we still haven’t been on an official honeymoon, but we’ll get there eventually!
So that is a summary of our simple wedding. I hope it will give you some ideas for your own simple wedding or event.
A simple wedding in several parts - location, guest list and invitations, accommodation
A simple wedding part 2 - the dress and flowers
A simple wedding part 3 - the ceremony
Did you have a simple wedding? Any tips? Share your own simple wedding post here
A simple wedding part 2 - the dress and flowers
A simple wedding part 3 - the ceremony
Did you have a simple wedding? Any tips? Share your own simple wedding post here
Lovely! So sweet of your in-laws to collect shells for you and make the cake. Very clever using Guylian chocolates on it to go with the shell theme. It looks like you had a lovely wedding!
ReplyDeleteHoneymoons are fun, but it's nice you got to spend that time with friends and family. That was probably lots of fun too. I hope you do get to go on a nice holiday together sometime. Who would you get to watch your land?
Maybe a house swap would be in order sometime. You could feed our cat and water my garden, and we could look after your garden and thousands of animals. Sounds like a good trade for one of us!
Congratulations! Simple and beautiful.
ReplyDeleteEmma said "Honeymoons are fun" I wouldn't know still waiting for ours maybe for our Ruby Wedding Anniversary.... just love how simple and beautiful it was.
ReplyDeleteSounds like you had a great wedding and it was very low stress :-) I have really enjoyed reading about it. I love the table decorations. Congratulations!
ReplyDeleteShel
Hello,
ReplyDeleteI have a question about your blog. Please email me!
Thanks,
David