I knew from very early on in the wedding planning process that the candy buffet was the way I wanted to go for our favors.  I scoured online for photographs and ideas and saved them all in a wedding file.

My wedding colors are pink and green.  This would be the perfect candy buffet set up for us.

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BIG ACCOMPLISHMENT!

After about 10 different proposals, 5 tastings, and a lot of agonizing, we’ve decided on a caterer!  This was hands-down the biggest expense of the wedding, but I’m VERY pleased to say we’ve chosen a fabulous caterer based out of Northern VA called Fusions – Check out their website.

The company is run by a couple who both used to work for larger catering companies and restaurants in D.C. The husband is the Chef who brings years of professional experience to the table (yum) and the wife runs the business side of things. She used to be a wedding consultant at a large caterer in the D.C. area, so defiantly knows what she is talking about.

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Crisis #1…I can’t make up my mind on our colors!  With all the beautiful colors to choose from when planning a beach wedding it really makes it hard to decide. I could go with sky, water or earth on this one!

My first inclination was to go with the colors of the sunset since our wedding will take place at that beautiful time.  I was imagining amazing hues of canary, peach, coral and tangerine much like this image from Martha Stewart.

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One of the first things that you need to check off your list is deciding on your wedding date and the ceremony/reception site. I found our wedding venue through Google searches and the ceremony/reception site that we will enjoy next year will be the great Maplewood Greens.

This site has a golf course, a restaurant and a ballroom. We love this place! The food is great and the atmosphere represents both our personalities. Towie Bear and I knew from the beginning that we wanted a summer wedding. That’s why we decided on Maplewood Greens because our guests will admire one of the greatest things that the Evergreen state has to offer and that is its verdure.

The following are some pictures of our wedding site. Please note that these images were taken last winter, therefore, Maplewood Greens still had their Christmas decorations displayed.

Guest Table

Lovely Area for Pictures

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So lately I’ve been trying to decide on what would be a good, inexpensive way to decorate the tables at my Cuban-themed wedding. I’m kind of at a loss when it comes to what I should do to stick with the “Cuban” part of things, so I decided to just choose things that Freesia Dude and I like.

I was browsing the lovely Amore Bride etsy shop and found these wine centerpieces:

I thought that would be a cute and functional way to decorate, but I’m also scared that it’s not big enough to be a center piece. What do you think? I’ll have to tell you my final decision on centerpieces when it comes to me!!

As you faithful followers know, I am constantly searching to find something unique for my wedding. When I say “unique” I understand that while it may be exclusive to my wedding, it will be new, unique and exciting to my guests. They don’t search wedding forum sites and read blog posts like us brides do, so they may not know about the candy buffet, the photo booth or my latest obsession…the ice bar/sculpture.

Bar from Snazzy Jazzy

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If you remember, I considered not having a first dance at our reception because Calla Lily Dude doesn’t like to dance. But, I am happy to report, that I got my first dance… and it was beautiful!!!

I was planning on having James Brown’s “I Feel Good” as our song, but while watching TV I fell in love with the song in an AT&T commercial. I Googled “ATT commercial song” to find out what it was. So, Landon Pigg’s “Falling in Love in a Coffee Shop” was our song.

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I’m not quite sure why, but I’ve known since we started planning that I didn’t want to use floral centerpieces. Don’t get me wrong – I’ve seen some beautiful floral centerpieces. However, the price tags are always a little too much for me, especially since Iris Dude and I are paying for most of the wedding ourselves.

I spent a lot of time searching online for “non-floral centerpieces”, and found some great inspiration. This one was my favorite:

Photo courtesy of icorners.com

I wasn’t particularly fond of the actual centerpiece in that picture. What I really liked was how they look from far away. In the top center of that picture, you can see, in the background, what they look like from a distance, with the clusters of lights. I’m not sure what it is about the lights, but I knew I wanted something like that at our wedding.

After a few weeks of searching, I found the perfect one, thanks to Target.com!

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I’m so happy to share some details from our reception! You will recognize things we have been talking about for the last year on this blog. The flowers were all done by a local flower shop, Colonial Flowers. All of the paper goods were done by yours truly of course. (I never want use a paper cutter again, EVER)

We used black table linens and black chair covers to create a dramatic setting to show off the beautiful white and green flowers.

My MOH’s bouquet:

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There are so many ways to personalize your wedding. One idea that I love, lately, is a coffee/espresso bar. While at a large Italian wedding, they had an espresso cart, but I think that a lovely way to give a late night send off or and early morning treat to your guests is an all you can drink coffee bar!

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