A Syncopated Wedding Part IV: The Details

Hello!  Sorry for the delay in posting.  I've been busy not doing much of anything except relaxing and trying to soak up every last bit of summer.  I hope you've been doing the same.  I know we've moved into a new month, but I'm back to share the last details of our wedding two years ago.  First up is the cakes!  My favorite part.  I decided to go with 5 different flavored cakes.  They were made by a local woman who bakes them in her home.  They were even better than I thought they would be!

Our two-tiered cake was vanilla cake with a raspberry filling and buttercream icing.  My dad made the wooden stands.  The clay, bird cake toppers are from a seller on Etsy.

We had labels for each cake.  Our guests went through the line like a buffet.  We made sure to have enough cake so that guests could try all of the different flavors.

Weird faces.  We were eating cake!

The wedding party.  My sisters were my matrons of honor, and my niece was my flower girl.  Mark chose his brother to be his best man and his good friend as a groomsman.  Our ring bearer was my husband's nephew.  The men wore gray suits with pinstripes.  The ladies wore short, plum-colored dresses.

Our get-away car was a Pontiac Firebird.  It's owned by a friend of the family who graciously agreed to clean her up for our big day.  It was a sweet ride!

We decorated the tent with Japanese lanterns.  I ordered gold chargers from The Christmas Tree Shop.  That's where I found the best deal.  I think the chargers made the tables look just a little bit more formal.  Our favors were handmade soaps made in my hometown.  The boxes were tied with a raffia ribbon.  There was a "thank you" tag with our signature mum clip art coordinated with the wedding stationery.  

My sister made this banner to hang on the head table.  We added some wooden stands with candles, and orchids are strewn around the table for color.

We used an old ladder to hang the place cards.  Since we had a small wedding, I didn't think it was necessary to have a place card for each person.  We had one card for each table.

I think that just about covers it.  Thanks for tuning in for all of these details.  I hope you've enjoyed the look into our big day.

House Tour: Kitchen Reveal

I've been working on my mini kitchen update for quite some time.  I really wanted to create an entryway with a place to hang a coat and drop a bag.  I also mentioned that I wanted my kitchen to be a place that I want to be.  I want my kitchen to be a happy kitchen.  Here's what it looked like before.

I'm sure I've mentioned before that my husband and I don't own our house.  He is a pastor and our home is the church parsonage.  That means that any updates we make have to paid for by the church or by us.  The changes I've made to the kitchen didn't involve an major renovations.  They were purely cosmetic.  It's looking much happier these days!

Here's a list of the projects I did to complete my happy kitchen.
1.  Clean the cabinets.  In a previous post I mentioned that I might paint the cabinets.  I decided that was way too much work for the amount of cabinets we have.  I decided to try cleaning the cabinets and covering the scratches with Old English Oil Scratch Cover.  Since I only had the dark oil, I mixed it with a little bit of Murphy Oil Soap.  I couldn't believe how much better the cabinets looked.  I decided that it was good enough for me!
2. I spray painted all of the cabinet hardware black.  I thought about getting new hardware, but it would have come to about $200.  That seemed a little steep and a frivolous thing to ask the church to pay for.  I decided to spray paint a few to see how it went.  Much better!
3. Paint!  I chose a bold, coral color.  It's Sherwin Williams Jovial.
4.  Seagrass rug from Overstock
5.  Entryway

I totally copied this entryway idea from A Beautiful Mess.  It was the perfect solution for this space.  I got the crates for about $5 each from Michaels with a 50% off coupon.  I had the boards cut at Lowe's.  The hooks came from Lowe's.  I spray painted them black, because they didn't have black hooks in stock.  I got the clips from Office Max.

Flowers when you walk in the door?  I don't know about you, but that definitely makes me happy!

6.  I painted the door black.

7.  I made a valance for the window above the sink and a matching roman shade for the other window.  I used this tutorial.

8.  I created a seating area.  The bench came from Overstock.  We used to have a small table there.  I didn't think the area was large enough for a table and we really didn't need it since our dining room is just outside the kitchen.  I wanted a place to sit so that if I'm making dinner my husband can sit and chat and vice versa.  We still need to get a new phone.  It's difficult to find wall telephones these days!

9.  I made a few prints for the wall.  I purchased a set of watercolor tea clip art on Etsy and blew those up.  I created the text prints myself.  It was so easy and so cheap!

10.  I bought a new kitchen clock on Amazon.  See it down there?  I'm thinking I might try to find a cute dry erase board to hang beside the calendar.

11.  I bought a stainless steel trashcan from Target.

12.  I collected plates to hang on the wall.  This is one of my favorite things in the kitchen.  When the kitchen was painted I wasn't sure what to do with that strip of coral at the top of the kitchen.  Adding the plates was another inexpensive option.  I collected the plates from local thrift shops.

What do you think?  Have you made any updates to your kitchen lately to make it happy?  If you'd like to see more decorating with coral head over to Censational Girl.  She recently wrote a post on the topic.

Linking up at Suburbs Mama.

Field Trip: Marietta

All month long I've been posting details of our wedding two years ago.  At the beginning of the week my husband and I took a little trip to a bed and breakfast in Marietta and spent two nights..  We had a great time, and I'm excited to be able to share some of the details with you!

We stayed at the most adorable little bed and breakfast in Marietta, The Ascot House.  We chose this bed and breakfast, because we knew we wanted to go to the The Accomac Inn for dinner and the b & b was nearby.  All of the reviews online were wonderful.  When I read that it was owned by a delightful English lady who served an afternoon tea upon request, I was sold!

When we arrived we were shown to our room up the grand staircase.  We told Wendy, the owner, that we would like to have tea that day. It was no problem for her.  She served us so much food, we really didn't need dinner!

We went to a local pub to sit and relax that evening.  The next morning we were treated to a delicious breakfast.

We went to explore the gardens in the back of the b & b.  Wendy is a very busy lady!  She was hosting a wedding last weekend and was preparing for another wedding this weekend.  She usually has the small weddings in her garden.

We decided to spend the day exploring the area.  First we went to Roots Country Market and Auction.  We walked around, and had a look, but it was so hot.  I bought some fresh local peaches, and then we headed to our next stop.

Next we went to the town of Columbia to check out some antique shops.  We went to The Burning Bridge Antique Shop.  I found quite of few things I liked, but left empty-handed.  Check out some of the treasures I found.

We decided to go see a movie since it was so hot outside.  I won't bore you with that part.  I hated the movie and couldn't wait until it was over!  When we got back to the Ascot House we had just enough time for a little nap before dinner.

Dinner at the Accomac Inn was incredible.  Everyone was so nice, and the view was beautiful, but by far, the best reason to go there is the food.  We started with a cold peach and white wine soup.  Then we went straight to our main course.

I had a white fish on a roasted corn risotto with a mango and raspberry salsa.

For dessert I had strawberry orange and watermelon lime sorbet.  It was the perfect way to end my meal.  Our waitress even brought us a surprise.

When we left the restaurant the sun was setting on the river.  It was a perfect day!

The next day we had another delicious breakfast and we were on our way home.  It really was a wonderful retreat!  I hope you are having some great adventures this summer!