Sunflower and Burlap Wedding Reception

Welcome to the wedding reception of AJ’s sister, Meredith and her new husband Charles….

Meredith had very definitive idea for the look of her wedding reception: decorate with sunflowers, cut wood and use some gorgeous blues on the tables. You’ve seen me post about Swank by Design, this fantastic shop in Hamilton, New York that I’m in love with, and Erika, the shop’s owner was the wedding planner for this event. She went above and beyond and made some fantastic stylistic decisions that really set apart this event.

I absolutely love the chiavari chairs that are typically used at this venue. When we were getting married it would have been an extra $7 person for those chairs. Isn’t it funny that the chairs we sit on are something I really notice? 🙂

I loved that Meredith had four giant farmhouse tables made into two square tables for the family. They looked different and special and broke up the blue cloths on each side of the room. The tables were made specially for another wedding a year ago and Meredith was able to rent them for the event.

If you follow me on Instagram you saw the sneak peek of these lights as the reception was being set up. Isn’t it so clever to turn a galvanized bucket into a light fixture? The size of the giant buckets was perfect for such a huge tent.

A family friend of my in-laws has a wood-working business and they cut all the wood on the tables and on the walkway leading up to the reception.

One of my favorite parts of the event was the use of this antique truck to hold the drinks. The water bottles were in galvanized buckets in the back of the truck and there was an antique cooler that held ice-creams during dessert time.

I loved the dessert bar not just for looks but because it had the most delicious seven layer bars…:)

I adore the bottle drying rack that Erika repurposed to hold mugs. I am now on the lookout for one of my own… I would love to put our white mugs on one, wouldn’t that just look so charming for winter?

Just when I thought there couldn’t be any more good ideas along came a Smores Station. After dinner the fire was started in three galvanized buckets and guests took their three foot skewers and roasted marshmallows. I’m not going to post the completely embarrassing photo that was taken of me with marshmallow literally running down my chin. 🙂

Meredith really wanted everyone to have mason jars for their drinks for the night so everyone labeled their cup…  my father-in-law (AJ’s stepdad) is a chef so he had some of his waitstaff helping tend the bar for the evening.

Because  this was just the wedding reception Meredith and Charles wanted to make sure to have photos of the actual day they got married so that guests could see them. Click HERE to see some of those photos.

Wasn’t that one of the most gorgeous receptions? It was simple and so fun to be at! Here’s the gang with AJ’s mom and step-dad.

What was your favorite part of the reception? Was it the antique car? The farmhouse tables? The dessert table?