Purple & Green Wedding {My Sister's Wedding}

Hey party people!
For over a year, I’ve been looking forward to a very special wedding!
My sister’s wedding.
She went with a purple & green wedding color scheme with a rustic touch.

 
My sister & I are only 19 months apart. We’re best friends. This was a big event.
It went great! The weather turned out perfect. We got everything done in time (thanks to the incredible bridesmaids, Meg’s friends & our family members).
There were only two problems.
One…

…happened with Meg’s bouquet.

She picked it up the day before the wedding & we put it in the fridge to keep it crisp.

Well, the fridge must’ve been too cold because one of the hydrangea’s froze, then thawed & turned into a brown slimy mess!

Oh yeah…we found this out around 12noon the day of the wedding. The florist was a good 30 minutes away!

Thankfully, Julie Burger’s (one of the bridesmaids) husband was there & volunteered to wisk the bouquet away to the florist so they could replace it. Problem solved.

The other issue was my fault…kind of. I’ll tell you about it in a second but let’s get through some of the pictures, first.

The AMAZING cake made by Lisa Stills. It had a rasberry filling and was decorated with purple ribbon & two love birds on the top.

I WISH I had gotten a picture of the grooms cake! It was incredible.

Lisa created a double-layered cookie cake with the Vikings logo on it. I think it was gone in minutes, literally.

Meg created a “Wish Tree” that guests could write their well-wishes on & hang them on the limbs.

The wedding venue (Oakhurst Farms) had an extra lantern that we were able to use to hold the wishing tree tags.

For wedding favors, Meg & David ordered personalized koozies.

It was very useful because they had ice cold bottles of coke, waters, and other soft drinks at the reception.

Outside the reception hall, Meg & David set up a game of cornhole.

Meg’s sweet friend Amber drew the sign. Didn’t she do a great job? She was one of several friends that were soo helpful during the entire wedding!

This wasn’t just any cornhole game.

This was a cornhole game my dad (Eddie Rew) made! My dad is pretty much a genius! He’s an elementary school PE teacher, a line dance professional, a camp director, a huge Braves fan, Auburn-tiger, and above all the best dad in the world.

Now…we must add cornhole creator to that list.

Oh…and he made the photo-backdrop frame.

If my dad does anything…he does it well! So when Meg asked him if he could make a cornhole game…he did it up right.

See David (my sister’s husband now) loves the Vikings. LOVES the Vikings.

He loves them so much that Marc (one of his groomsmen) blew a Vikings horn when Meg & David kissed, during the ceremony!

So, my dad humbled himself and created a Vikings cornhole board…

…and an Auburn cornhole board.

My dad went to Auburn & taught us kids to say, “War Eagle” from the time we were wee tots.

For the first time ever, there was an Auburn & Vikings cornhole game.

My dad even made a scoreboard!

The scoreboard was on one side and the basket (to hold the bean bags) was on the other side. Dad also hooked up speakers to play the Auburn fight song & added drink holders.

See…I told you. Genuis. That’s my dad.

He also created the PVC photo booth frame for the photo booth.

If you want to make your own, find instructions here.

Meg tore fabric in different shades of purple, along with strips of lace to hang from the photo booth frame. My cousin’s fiance, Tony, helped set this up…along with some other things we needed muscles for.

And once again, Amber blew us away with this beautiful Photo Booth Sign!

If you’ve been following Parties for Pennies from the beginning of time, you may recognize this suitcase.

I used it for my dessert table at my backyard wedding reception.

This was a really special table. Meg called this the Everlasting Love table. It held pictures from two generations of marriages.

Meg & David are on the far left, then my mom in her wedding dress (not sure why they didn’t have one of my mom & dad…maybe it is because I have it on our wall at home…uh oh, I hope I wasn’t supposed to bring it…oops), my mema & Meg and on the other side is David’s family.

I believe that the picture on the far right is David’s grandparents & the one next to it is David’s parents.

It was such a sweet tribute to their families & great marriages.

This is inside the reception hall.

I did all the centerpieces and runners.

I did a whole bunch of mock centerpieces for Meg to choose from. She chose 4 of them & wanted to alternate them between the tables. (See all of the options here)

The reception hall was beautiful. They had an upstairs that overlooks the first floor that offered additional tables as well as the brides room and other sitting rooms.

This was one of her choices.

It’s basically a CD crate that I stained. I used small glasses (some from our kitchen cabinets) and stuck in faux purple hydrangea flowers.

Look for coupons or sales for these CD crates & you can create this centerpiece for around $20 (that is including the hydrangeas).

All the tables had strips of burlap & a lace overlap as runners.

Purple hydrangea flower balls, on candlesticks, were another centerpiece Meg wanted.

I got most of the candlesticks at thrift stores.

To find out how to make your own flower balls, here’s my easy tutorial.

This was the centerpiece that caused all the drama.

When I first did this centerpiece as an example, I used long white flowers. A few days before the wedding & all the long white flowers were completely gone from stores so I compromised with smaller white stems.

I was a little worried at how they’d look with the smaller white flowers. When we got to Oakhurst, they had tons of these gorgeous tall white bearded iris’.

I said in passing, to Meg, “Too bad I couldn’t use some of the white iris’ in the centerpieces.” She says, “Well, the owner mentioned something about us being able to use some of the flowers on the property.”

I, of course, didn’t want to pick anything unless she had given me permission and she had left an hour before that to run errands. She said she’d be right back so we waited. It got to be another hour and a half & she still wasn’t back and it was getting close to time to get ready. The grounds keeper had been there, helping with everything & he was being so awesome.

I asked him if he thought the owner would have a problem with me picking some of the white iris’ that were behind trees (no one could see them unless you were a cow in the pasture across the lake) for the centerpieces. He said, “No, not at all. In fact, those will be dead by next Saturday so it’s actually better that you pick them.” I assured him that you wouldn’t even be able to tell I had picked any.

Well…45 minutes later the owner arrived & she WAS NOT happy with me..AT. ALL. I apologized to her & told her that the grounds keeper said it was fine & that I was careful to only pick 1 or 2 from each bush so no one could even tell…but she was not buying it. Let’s just say she called me “honey” several times when she was reprimanding me. She made me feel more horrible.

Thankfully, though, that was the only drama of the wedding & I’d rather it be directed at me than Meg.

There was only centerpiece that I forgot to get a picture of and it’s this one.

I hate that I didn’t get a picture of it because the bridesmaids, my aunt Sherleen, and cousin Becca were rockstars at cutting all the limes up! And big thanks to my dad that went & got a whole other crate of limes for us the day of the wedding!

Saving money means looking for ways to reuse items.

This “Q” came from Meg’s Champagne-themed wedding shower I threw her. It was spray-painted silver and so we just covered it in moss & hung it from some purple ribbon.

It was a perfect touch over the fireplace.

Another small touch we added that really made things pop was faux wisteria vines under the wedding pavilion.

I found some for 50% off at Garden Ridge & bought 6 strands. We used a staple gun to attach them to either post & it added the perfect pop of purple to the wedding ceremony.

Now for the really important pictures…

David saw Meg before the ceremony. He stood out on this little dock waiting for her. It was supposed to be a really sweet private moment. Little did they know the entire wedding party was pressed against the windows & doors of the reception hall watching! (I should’ve got a picture of that)

I love this picture of Meg’s wedding dress!

Here’s my mom, dad & Meg!

She was such a gorgeous bride! Everything turned out so beautifully…her dress, her birdcage veil, her hair, her makeup…everything.

Me & my gorgeous sister!

The time I cried the most was when she first turned around in her dress, when we were getting ready.

This was my little sister who now stood before me a beautiful bride!

I created a fake wedding for her when she was 5 years old. She married our friend James! (Sorry David…if you’re just finding this out)

We played out in the woods together, played dress up in Mom’s wedding dress, played barbie dolls together, wrote down the names of our future kids, played MASH, and dreamed about this day together.

There was no greater honor than to stand by my best friend & sister on her wedding day. It was honestly one of the most glorious days.

And Meg married into an amazing family.

David’s family is kind, caring, fun, and loyal.

I just adored spending more time with them.

Meg & I both are really blessed with amazing in-laws!

And talk about fun…

David’s groomsmen & friends are hilarious. Most of them have been friends since they were kids!

Then there are Meg’s bridesmaids.

Such the motley crew.

I told Meg that I thought she had the best group of bridesmaids I’ve ever seen.

They were sooo helpful! They were so giving & generous of their time and resources. They were so caring towards Meg and really made her day special.

This demonstrates something about Meg that I admire so much. She is so relational. She really invests in friendships and people. I tend to be a doer and the way she lives always reminds me to keep my priorities in line.

Side note: This picture was featured on Huffington Post Wedding’s slideshow last week!

Thanks to my uncle, we got some really fun pictures of the bridesmaids but I don’t want you to have to go through too many cups of coffee to read this post.

This is my Uncle Jimmy & my Aunt Sherleen!

This wedding could not have happened without them! Uncle Jimmy took my camera & was able to snap so many great photos that I couldn’t get. My aunt Sherleen made an INCREDIBLE spread of food for the bridesmaids & helpers the day of the wedding. I mean…it was an AWESOME spread!

They really are awesome & I’m so thankful for them.

And let me tell you…they cannot be touched on the dance floor!

My cousin Becca & her fiance also came early & helped with the food & setup.

Becca & Tony

These are the trouble makers. ;p

L-R: Will (my cousin), Ned (brother), Clayton (brother), Mike (handsome husband), and Daniel (cousin)

These were the hunky ushers that did a fabulous job!

And these were the adorable flower girls (Bryn, Avery and Gabriella)

Avery came down the aisle in style with this cute wagon!

Amber & some other girls helped decorate the wagon with burlap, lace, and purple ribbon.

Instead of flower petals, the flower girls had cute streamers made from purple ribbon & lace.

I now give you Mr & Mrs Quick!

All that was left…was to party…

And we sure did!

I only got the last part of this dance but it was hilarious!

My brother Ned is on the left & my dad is on the right. They were so into it!

My whole family is incredible on the dance floor. My friends have asked if they could rent them out for their wedding!

Even the DJ was laughing watching the fam on the dance floor & he says, “Meg told me, but I didn’t believe her!”

They are awesome! Can’t wait until my brother’s weddings so we can get the crew back out there!

David’s ring is a meteorite ring (isn’t that cool) & Meg’s ring is from Cumberland Diamond Exchange in Atlanta (where we got my ring too).

It turned out to be the most wonderful wedding.

Thanks to everyone that made the day so special for Meg & David…

friends, family, bridal party, guests, and vendors.

Venue: Oakhurst Farms

Florist: Bloomwoods Florist (They are located in Columbus, Ga & were amazing to work with!)

Cakes: Lisa Still with Sweet Blessings Bakery  (Click on the link to see a picture of the Vikings Cookie Cake she made)

DJ: Jerry Parker with Bright Star Entertainment (Highly Recommend…he really did a great job!)

Photography: Leisure Foto (Not any of the photos here. These were the professional photographers that did a great job) *List of vendors & links coming soon*

And a big thanks to my husband who was so patient & understanding through all the preparations for this event. Proud to call him my groom!

I’ve got a fun party project video tutorial for you this Friday!

Until then…

Party On!

p.s. This is YOUR official invite to the party… join in on the Parties for Pennies Facebook page, Twitter, and Pinterest! 

LINKING UP TO:

Bird’s Party Blog