Remember that time I was a wedding planner?

We are in the middle of a very busy wedding season. So I thought I'd tell you about the time I became Jennifer Lopez a wedding planner.

Our friends had their wedding at a park pavilion that had never been the venue for a wedding before. I have the firm belief that you can have a fantastic wedding no matter the setting, so it seemed like the perfect challenge.

This story starts with this picture...

That is the ginormous maple tree in our front yard being taken down. It was sick and too close to our house/cars for comfort.

What does this have to do with a wedding? I'm so glad you asked! The first major decision made was to serve pie instead of cake.

The problem was making 12 pies look like a coherent and decorative centerpiece instead of just having 12 pies set out on a table.

ENTER THE TREE!

I gave my lovely husband a diagram for him to chain saw pillars for the pies to stand on. Add flowers in the color scheme and we came up with this.

I also had him cut smaller branches to give some varying height to the table decor. Good thing he is handy with a chainsaw.

Here was the overall look. Cream linens on picnic tables with shiny gold and red runners. I used more red on the tables with gold runners, and more gold and cream on the red runners.

There were 4 different centerpieces. I was working within a tight budget and had to use everything I was given...some red votives, a bunch of varied glassware, and red ribbon.

The 4 centerpieces were pillar candles (from Ikea) on gold chargers I already owned, tied with a red ribbon

4 red votives in square glass

What I called the "messy flowers", which were larger bloom flowers arranged in a spherical shape

And what I called the "square flowers", which were 9 mini-carnations arranged in a tightly packed square. I don't have a close-up picture of it, but it looked like this from the top...

The ceremony flowers were my favorite part, because I got to make boutonnieres for the first time and they are so much fun to play around with.

The groomsman wore these...

 This is the only picture I took that you can see the groom's boutonniere

The bridesmaids carried these

The bride's bouquet was red daisies, red carnations, and red roses wrapped in gold ribbon. 

She added a picture of her father.

 Up close of the bride's bouquet

The picnic pavilion had bare bulbs hanging from the rafters, which just wasn't going to cut it for me. We got a bunch of white paper lanterns at Ikea, and I hung them in clusters to make it more visually pleasing than just hanging one over the light. I splurged on the large red tiered square I came across at World Market, because it was too perfect to pass up and it added just the right pop to the center of the pavilion.

Here is a night time picture that really captured the ambiance

The wedding was held at Turkey Run Pavilions, which has now hilariously updated their site and added weddings to their list of events they hold. Check out the website...

"Yes, we do Weddings! Looking for something a little different than a hotel or church? Our facilities are ideal for beautiful outdoor weddings. With professional planners to help you plan your big day and the ability to hold the ceremony AND reception at the same location, there is no better option!"

Professional planners?! Apparently.

Next week, I'll fill you in on how we actually turned a picnic pavilion into a wedding venue in only one hour. It seems impossible looking back on it.