Ok, now the entry table

I was really proud of the table at the front door of our reception. Here it is (with escort cards) captured by Laura Billingham.



The centerpiece of the entry table was actually rather unexpected. The crafter we arranged to have build all the rustic wooden centerpiece boxes was an incredible find--she is super-talented, and all of our wooden items were made out of repurposed wood (old decking, old lathe, etc.). She doesn't have a website that I know of, but I can get her contact info for anyone who is interested--she is located in suburban Philadelphia.

Anyway, we had her make a whitewashed wooden "wedding" sign for the parking lot, and while we were at it, we also asked her to put one of our favorite lines of poetry on a whitewashed board as well (e.e. cummings). This is what it ended up looking like, modeled by our best girl, Mollie:
(And not part of the entry table, but here is the equally fun "wedding" sign...not in action, on a Target box at my house. I think Candie ended up charging us about $10 for each of these signs!)

I told our florist, Mark, that I wanted to use the piece as a centerpiece for the entry table, and I trusted him with the rest. I had no idea what it was going to look like, but all I can say is, "wow." I love, love, loved this. It was beautiful.


The other less incredible by still crucial components of the table were: our DIY photo mat "guest book," our DIY card box, and framed photos of our families.

I know the photo mat is not necessarily an original idea, but I happen to think it is a really good one, and I am looking forward to displaying our mat with a wedding photo on our wall! It was really inexpensive and simple. Using Joann's 40% off coupons, I purchased an art easel for $8 and the custom-cut ivory mat itself for about $12. (I think the mat is a 16x20 with a 4x6 cut-out.) Per many recommendations, I lined the edge of the mat with 3/4 inch chocolate brown ribbon. This is so people don't sign all the way to the edge of the mat, causing their messages to get obscured when you place the mat in a frame. Two archival pens (about $4 total) completed the guest book. The whole thing cost about $25--very nice.
And here it is still sitting on the easel in our house, waiting for its next job. We actually still need to get our parents to sign it--they are currently trying to think of profound things to write.

The card box was easy and actually pretty fun to make. I ordered an 8x8 brown kraft box off of Ebay (it actually came nested with a 6x6 as well). I simply traced an appropriately-sized "card slot" on the lid of the box and cut it out with an exacto knife. A sharp blade was crucial, and I did use a fingernail file to smooth the edges. Next, I took 1.5 inch chocolate double-faced satin ribbon and wrapped it around the box from one edge of the slot all the way around to the other, securing each ribbon end on the inside of the lip of the slot using glue dots. I did not wrap the lid and the box separately, as I did not really want anyone to be able to open the box on the DL. Finally, I tied a big basic bow on the top and printed a label for the front. Voila, card box! Total cost, approx $15. The box was about the perfect size for a wedding of around 90 guests.

Finally, the family photos were a project I could have completed well in advance but chose not to because I am giant procrastinator. Months before the wedding, I purchased some packs for 3.5x5.5 plain wooden frames from Ikea, along with mini easels and whitewash stain (also from Ikea). I paid about $10 for everything. So despite having these supplies for months, my poor father was staining frames the night before the wedding, and I was at Kinkos resizing pictures (please refer to procrastination on programs and escort cards for further Kinkos details...). We whitewashed the frames using the Ikea stain and then filled them up with pics of our parents and grandparents. To help identify the photos, I numbered them and printed a key on a leftover table tent (see menu cards). In the end, I think these really made a great impact--people were looking at them all night. Due to aforementioned procrastination, I have no in progress-pics, but here they are at the reception.

I was really, really happy with the way the table turned out. And other than the floral arrangement, everything was reasonably priced, and I was able to create a lot of it myself--an all around win for the home team. (Actually, I think that just about does it for details of my DIY projects--the remaining items to blog about don't really entail me doing much of anything!)