Picnic Pavilion to Wedding Venue

We had one hour to turn over the pavilion from a company picnic to a wedding venue and it was tough. Luckily I had lots of help. Here are my tips.

1.) Know the Site Well

Visit the venue as many times as it takes for you to be completely familiar with it. I went 3 times before the wedding day. When we ran into logistical issues, like needing an extra table or getting a huge metal trash can out of sight I knew where unused tables were stashed and good hiding places.

2.) Organize Your Help and Delegate

Know who is helping you and what they are capable of. Figure out who you can trust with more artistic things like flower arranging and who needs to just light the candles. Don't give people more than one thing at a time to do. I found we got a lot more done if people just came back to get their next task after they completed the first one instead of asking one person to do 3 things. This gives you the ability to re-prioritize and keep moving. Be direct with your requests.

3.) Set Up An Example

We had 20 tables to decorate. I set up one and then asked someone to replicate them. It was a big time saver to take 3 minutes of my time to make a visual example in order to take the entire task off my plate.

4.) Pre Light Candles 

Have you lit an brand new candle before? It takes longer than one that has been previously lit. That wax coating has to burn off the wick before the flame actually catches. The day before the wedding, I lit every candle that we were going to use. In a situation where every minute counted, saving a few made a huge difference in not feeling rushed. This is a good tip for anything that can actually be done ahead of time. Sure, cutting a piece of string doesn't take that long, but cutting 30 while standing on a ladder is going to waste valuable time.


5.) Transport The Finished Product

Bring things to the site as completed as possible. It takes more space and you have to be more careful in transit, but it saves a lot of time. We had all of the flowers arranged, all ribbons tied, and all centerpieces ready to go.

6.) Plan And Prioritize

Know your game plan backwards and forwards. I had charts, diagrams, and explanations for every task that needed to be completed. Start with the most important part first. We had one pavilion for the ceremony and one for the reception. This meant that we got to keep working on the reception pavilion during the ceremony for last minute touches. Let things drop off your list if you are running out of time. I wanted to tie back the big plastic weather curtains with decorative ties, but I ran out of time and that was OK. Start with the things that will give you the most visual impact and work down from there.

7.) Stay Calm And Flexible

People are going to need you to do things you weren't planning on. I had to pin boutonnieres and find flowers for the bride's hair. This is why delegating is so important...it frees you up to complete unexpected tasks.

Check out all the pictures from this wedding here!

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.