Did you see Part 1 of this beautifully eclectic wedding? Or how about their charming Scrabble proposal?
Crafty and creative folk, prepare to be seriously inspired by Part 2…
Janis and Mike's reception is filled to the brim with carefully thought out DIY details from the paper goods designed and hand crafted by Mike to the film canister favours (a nod to the couple's love of photography), to the brass animal seating chart and the adorable bunting cake toppers which Janis created. They also constructed a unique photobooth backdrop made of hundreds of book pages, up-cycled a couple of dessert dressers then filled them homemade cakes and had a sparkler send off!
Here's how Janis described their reception:
Our reception was crafty, magical, and beautiful. It was like a huge, wonderful dinner party with all our very best friends and family. We ate delicious food, laughed so hard during speeches, and danced up a storm during the crazy dance party. I remember sitting at our little table for two right after we finished dinner and thinking, “I need to remember all of this. Every little detail. This is exactly what we wanted!” It was just so dream-like.
The Seating Chart:
We collected over 25 different brass animals from thrift stores and garage sales. It was quite the treasure hunt all summer. But we did it! We had an owl, a swan, a duck, a horse, a lion, and a snail to name just a few. Each table had a brass animal on it. To find out where you sat, you looked for your name (listed alphabetically) on the seating chart. As you can see, each name card also has a hand-drawn (by Mike) animal on it. You then had to go and find the brass animal that matched the drawing on your place card.
Mike tied each of the namecards to a old wire gate that came from my grandparents farm in Iowa. My grandma was just bewildered that we wanted to use her old “farm junk” at our wedding. We actually ended up using quite a few items from the farm! Mike also hooked up some cool lights to that chart so that it was perfectly illuminated!
The Dessert Dresser:
My friends and I love baking, so I knew that I absolutely didn't want to pay someone else to do it. My friends graciously helped me bake up a storm the Wednesday before the wedding. My sister-in-law also made three beautiful cakes and dozens of cupcakes. We stored all desserts in fridges and freezers at our place. In between the ceremony and reception, my friends drove to our place and grabbed all the desserts and set them up.
We hauled in three pieces of furniture for the dessert “table”. My mom helped paint the two dressers white. My mom also collected over a hundred vintage plates and forks. It was mighty tricky estimating how many desserts we needed, but I think it turned out well! Almost everything was polished off! Always a good sign :)
Film Cannister Wedding Favours:
For our favours, we gave each person a film canister filled with skittles (purple package – our fave!). We wrote each guest at our wedding a little note and would it up in the cassette.
There were just so many amazing details and photos, I couldn't fit them all into two blog posts so I suggest you high tail it over to Janis' wonderfully inspiring blog My Suitcase Heart to find out more. Janis writes so eloquently and with so much love about their wedding here ~ she also shares snippets of her everyday life and travels through her beautiful photography.
Also, if you're looking for a creative and talented wedding photographer, you should check out Mike's website ~ Michael Thomas Photography.
I can't thank Janis and Mike enough for sharing their special day, it's been an absolute pleasure featuring your wedding. Many thanks also to Josh Dookhie for these incredible photos ~ check out his blog to see more!
So, dear readers please do leave Janis and Mike a comment if you're feeling inspired.
Who else is blown away by their seating chart?! And film canister favours? Wow!
Bride’s Ring: Satomi Kawakita
