This is my last Year In Review post, promise. I just had to share some of my wonderful memories and amazing photos (thank you Lizzie Chen for posting these on facebook!) from my wedding celebration in October. Planning the party was a lot of work, and a whole lot of fun! I channeled all of the stress I avoided with my tiny wedding into this gigantic party! There were so many special details to the party planning. Things I made, and things family made. This is just a glimpse.
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| signs to point the way * |
The party took place at Parker's parents house in south west Austin. Their house is tucked back in a large neighborhood, so Parker and I were concerned that our guests might miss a turn or two and get lost. We decided to make wooden signs to direct the way. The signs were made of discarded pallets a friend found behind the swimming pool supply store he manages. Parker cut the wood with his circular saw and screwed it together to make the sign. We then spray painted the red heart onto each sign using a stencil, outlined the heart with white acrylic paint, and added our initials to the center with the white paint. Parker drew the arrows on the signs with pencil and I painted them with turquoise acrylic paint. It was a personal way to direct our guests in the right direction, and it got everyone ready for the cute explosion waiting for them at the party!
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There were a lot of different decorations, and projects for the party, but the desert table was my baby! Since I pride myself on my vegan baking, I decided that I wanted to make all of the deserts for the party on my own. I made around 100 cupcakes, chocolate mustaches (Parker helped a lot with these), and double batches of 3 different kinds of cookies! It was a huge challenge to make so many goodies, but I divided up the work over several days so I was able to sleep the night before the party. My desert menu consisted of:
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Cupcakes:
almond mocha with creamy coffee frosting
chocolate with buttercream frosting and a raspberry
chocolate mint with chocolate buttercream frosting
chocolate filled with peanut butter frosting and topped with chocolate ganache
Cookies:
Mexican wedding cookies
Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Mocha
Citrus Glitters
Kristen, one of Parker's sisters, helped a lot with the decorating of the desert table. It was her idea to display cupcakes along the mantle, and a lot of the other decorations on the mantle were things from her room. I blame her for the table's cuteness!
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| Chocolate Mustached Lizzie Chen* |
Parker's parents have a large downstairs and a big back porch perfect for entertaining. Parker's mom Becky was a huge help with the decorating! Becky made the back yard look amazing with vintage tablecloth covered card tables, and a beverage table that was as cute as a button! A lot of the outdoor decorations were rained out early in the party, but Parker managed to put together an incredible canopy of clear Christmas lights that ran from the second story of the house to a fan of points behind the swimming pool. When the sun set, the lights looked beautiful reflecting off of the water in the pool! So, even though mother nature ruined the outdoor seating, Parker's light display still made a great impact.
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| Mexican Sodas! * |
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| Me and some of my favorite ladies in front of the lights * |
One of the most time consuming projects was the wedding favor. Parker and I canned 50 jars of pickled jalapenos for our guests. As far as canning goes, pickled jalapenos ain't no thang, but canning 50 of anything is time consuming! To decorate the jars, I covered the lids with either red or blue polka dot fabric or vintage lace. I tied each jar with a ribbon and attached a little craft paper tag. Each gift probably cost around $1 but they looked expensive. I would can all of those jalapenos again in a heartbeat!
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| pickled jalapeno wedding favor * |
Well, that's it for 2011. It was a rough year, but an exciting one. I have high hopes for 2012!
*All Photos c/o Lizzie Chen
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