Part four of a seven part series of the ins and outs of planning and executing a decor heavy DIY wedding
Heather and David hosted a brilliant DIY wedding at Performance works in August 2018 and boy, did they throw one hell of a party! They hosted a bar complete with a very unique set-up, lit up the dance floor with an amazing chandelier, had a 4 course meal served family style, and towers of desserts.
Not all wedding receptions are created equal; they need to reflect the couple, but they usually follow a similar rhythm with flairs of personality thrown in. And this wedding flaired! Aside from the decor (like I said, we’re going to be diving deep into the decor in part 5!) personality was infused in so many little ways. They included some ways you’d expect, like through food and a slideshow (I was told one of my childhood photos was in that slideshow, from a birthday party that Heather and I spent together when we were 8 or 9! Not an important note, but this excited me so much!). But one way they threw personality in was through music! They picked out songs to reflect each person giving a speech and had it played right before their speech started (totally unbenounced to the speech giver) which caused some sweet emotions! Like the bride chose Lady Marmalade for her older sister and maid of honour, and for their own speech – 2001 A Space Odyssey Theme. It was an extremely sweet touch.
They also had friends of the groom (and even David, the groom, himself, if my memory serves) do sets as some of them are DJs and they kept the party pumping. And all night long, the beer was flowing from 6 taps the couple had filled with personally selected beers. Now, I’m not sure if you’ve ever seen a tap that you would usually rent for bars at venues who don’t have bars built in; but they are U-G-L-Y. They’re called Jockey Boxes and I grabbed an image from handy Google to show you just how bad they are (and this is a nicer looking one!), and when you’re going to have two of them to serve all your beer, you have twice the ugly. But because their bar 100% fell into the “important things” category, in true DIY fashion, the couple came up with a simple, beautiful solution! They made this awesome cover out of a box and some art supplies! How perfect!?
Now we don’t usually get too involved in the party side of things because this is our downtime. We are on our feet all day and while we still pop up to do a few walk arounds and make sure vendors are happy, the couple is happy, and nothing is going sideways, we take a few hours to sit down and get ready for the tear down, and while we did get some sitting time, we also realized that we had been missing out on a crazy neich; matchmakers!! One of the bridesmaids expressed to us that she had her eye on a guest. With a little weaseling from Winnie, we got those two dancing and they scheduled their first date that night. The bridesmaid promised that if that relationship worked out that she would give us a call! We’re going to need to get an update on them!!
Another thing I’m usually doing in this “down” time is going up the bride’s skirt. No no no, not like that, you pervert! I have yet to find a wedding dress who’s bustle won’t break, so I’m usually pinning the bride’s skirt up, or sewing her in. This wedding was no exception.
By the time the lights had to be turned on so we could start our complicated strike (all that hanging decor!!) no one wanted to stop and had people begging us to keep the party going. Now that’s how you know that it’s a good party; when people are having so much fun that they can’t fathom leaving!
As it was our time to end that night, it’s my time to end part 4 of this series. Next up we go deep into the decor and all the wonderful DIY and time investment put into this wedding! See you there!
All photos below captured by Amy Teixeria Photography
Our other awesome vendors included:
Florals: Our Little Flower Company
Big Chandelier rental: Art of the Party
Lounge area rental: Cahoots Creative
Chair Rentals: A & B Partytime Rental
Check out the other posts in this series!