Jennifer's Wedding Experience

Decorations

• Puffs: the basic form when working with tulle. A puff is a gathering of tulle into a puffy ball - as full or floppy as you like - secured with rubber bands.

• Pew bows: I made mine out of pink lame and tulle. The tulle was pink, navy with silver stars, and white with silver dots. They weren't bows; they were puffs. The navy and white tulle came in a roll that was only 8 inches wide, so I cut my pink tulle (44 inches wide) and pink lame into 8 inch strips. The lame had to be hemmed. I'm wouldn't do pew bows again. I didn't like the look. My wedding was outdoors, and the pew bows looked silly on the folding chairs.

• Gazebo decorations: We got married in a gazebo which happened to measure about the same as this doorway in my house. Again I used the tulle with a little lame in the puffs. The gazebo had hooks in it, so it was an easy task to secure the puff rubberband to a hook and hook the tulle directly on in the middle of the top. I secured the tulle about halfway down with ribbon which was left long to tie around the post of the gazebo.

• Alter decorations: The gazebo had nothing in it, so I borrowed a card table to set in the back of the gazebo. We used this to put candles on, a vase for 2 roses, and to rest my bouquet during the ceremony. The candles were for a unity candle ceremony, and my brother greated Robert and gave him a rose to welcome him to the family; Robert's sister gave me a rose to welcome me to the family. The roses went in the vase. An outdoor unity candle ceremony doesn't always work, especially if you forget to bring the lighter.

  I used plastic tablecloths instead of fabric ones. It's a lot less expensive than renting or buying. Since I covered the tablecloth with lame & tulle, I don't think you can really see the tablecloth.

  The tablecloth went down first, then the lame. I left the lame full width and cut it square which fit the table top very well. The lame had to be hemmed. In order to secure the lame in the wind, I used safety pins to make the corners fit the table tightly. It was easy to slide the lame on and off the top of the table, and if it needed to be readjusted for any reason, the safety pins were easy to move.

  Over the lame went the tulle; fortunately, the tulle was wide enough to cover the table. I pinned the tulle to the lame in the back of the table to hold it while I worked on the front of the table. I gathered up the tulle into big puffs and secured them with rubberbands. It took a little of experimentation to get the puffs and the drape the way I wanted. When I was finished with the front, I went to the back and made very small puffs because that was the best way to pull the tulle tight across the top of the table.

  The last touch was to add some silk ivy to the table. I tucked the ends into the tulle puffs, and I had to use some wire to connect some short pieces in the middle.

• Other tables: I used the same idea on the guestbook/placecard table and the cake table. Only I used gold lame instead of pink in some places. I recommend experimenting with the lame and tulle while you are at the fabric store. I really liked the combinations of the brightly colored lame with tulle on top. Pink and pink or pink and gold may not be your colors, but lame and tulle come in a lot of different colors.

  The guestbook/placecard table also had baskets of chocolate candies on them. The baskets had handmade bows in pink and blue on them. I put the toss-bouquet on the cake table. I had real flowers on top of my cake. This was the only place that I used real flowers except for the bouquets and corsages. In addition, I bought a silvery cake server and knife at Ross for $7 total and tied bows around them.

• Eating tables: For centerpieces, I used mason jars covered in tulle, some pink, some blue, some fushia, and some navy, tied with ribbon to keep the tulle on, and filled with silk flowers. I decided to go this way because I happened to have silk flowers in my living room that were the right colors (pink and blue). The mason jars were free, and the tulle inexpensive. In addition, each table had a basket of chocolate decorated with handmade ribbon bows.

Reception

We hope that you don't think
that we will kiss if you should clink!
If you'd like to see a kiss,
all you have to do is this:
raise your voice - we hope it's strong!
and sing to us a sweet love song.

We hope you don't think
We will kiss if you clink!
To see a kiss,
You must do this:
Raise your voice in song,
A sweet, sweet love song,
And a kiss you will get,
That you will never forget.

The bubbles will be wrapped in navy, royal blue, fuschia, or pink tulle, so they will double as decorations.