Toby + Amy: Whooo Knew, Part 2

....The Reception

To incorporate the owl concept we played with the paper elements. Homemade lollipops by the bride's mom were tied with customized tags that read "Owl love you forever" by Courtney Scowby Designs.

one sat at each place setting.

I loved how fun Amy's accessories were. They brought a bright pop of color and her shoes...ahh..the shoes!

The lush and fabulous centerpieces made by Whimsy Florals were made up of celosia, roses, tulips, billy balls, mini calla lillies and kangaroo paw. They were wrapped in a light wood veneer that gave them a unique and upadated rustic look. By alternating these arrangements with the bricks of yellow mums that ceramic owls sat on we gave the event a little more interest. I am always a fan of mixing it up and making the tables a little different.

Okay...the CAKE. Remember, how I mentioned in the last post that one difficult thing kept happening ater the next this week? In all my years of planning...this is the 1st cake that I have almost lost. When the cake arrived, darling and nearly collapsed...we all moved quickly. Toby escorted Amy away, distracting her from all the happenings. 4 of us grabbed spatulas and lifted off the top 2 remaining tiers that were ready to slide off all together. We luckily had brought the spare cake stand and carefully positioned it on the pedastal. It was still in need of some TLC...and though I can't say enough good things about the Whimsy Floral team...I'm going to try to. They happened to have someone on their team that also had worked in a bakery shop. When there wasn't frosting....she actually went in the back and whipped some up and then re-piped the bottom tiers of the cake. AMAZING!! Talk about things coming together. It was a great team effort all-around.

This is really when your vendors are invaluable. There is always going to be hiccups at nearly every event...not always speedbumps like some of the ones we encountered this time around. However, some of the best teams of vendors should be able to take care of things without the guests so much as knowing about it. Big Sigh....I think the cake turned out Beautiful, as if it was meant to be that way all along.

I loved the girls in their yellow J.Crew dresses.

We hung lanterns and flower balls to add dimension and create more ambiance in the space.

Tea Towels that I found at Anthropologie added decor to the Cake Table and served as part of my gift to Amy and Toby

As a last minute idea I had, and by last minute, I mean two days prior ..... we had one of Amy's talented Bridesmaids create branches on two large canvases to mimick the branches on the tea towels I had gave her. We then placed these at the sign-in table and gave guests paint pens to sign their wishes to the couple. I loved how it turned out!

The end result was so fun and a work of art that they are able to hang in their home.

For the grand exit we filled a trunk of white feathers and handed them out to guests to toss at the couple as they left. It was a soft farewell and I loved the effect of the floating feathers.

Toby and Amy I wish you all the best that life can give you.

Many, many thanks to Jason McGrew Photography for these splendid images and for being so great to work with. For more of his work..be sure to head over to his blog.