How to Decorate a Cultural Hall: Part 2

The next most common question I have gotten about our wedding reception is where we got the big pictures of us that are on the walls. They are our engagement pictures printed on canvas and then thumbtacked to the wall. They were done by one of my best friend's parents. They have a comapny called Professional Image in Dallas, Texas. They did something similar for their daughter Josie's wedding and also some of our other Texas friends. It was pretty much a spur of the moment decision to have them done and Josie's parents had to stay up all night to do them!
I couldn't have been more in love with the results. It looked amazing. This look has since been replicated by some of my friends that decided to go the cultural hall route, and that's a-okay with me.

(P.S. the only thing they didn't tell me was what to do with the pictures post-wedding. We still have them sitting in our guest room. They are too big and creepy to be used for anything else...)

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How to Decorate a Cultural Hall: Part 1

I feel like I'm not really qualified to write this post because I had almot nothing to do with how fabulous our reception looked. But I'm going to try and answer some of your questions. Bear with me.

Question 1:

Beautiful reception! I love the full false ceiling that you did. Did you do the ceiling or have someone do it?? I am very interested in doing this for my reception.. Please let me know!!!

Answer: We had someone do it for us. A little company based out of Texas but they are no longer in business. I do know some of their trade secrets though.

First, we had to make sure that we were allowed to drill holes into the walls of the cultural hall. We just asked the bishop and he said yes!

Then we got some of these eye hooks and painted them to match the wall color. You need enough hooks to put them every five feet.

Then they used super strong fishing wire to hang the"fabric" and twinkle lights. The "fabric" was not fabric at all but it was plastic table coverings that come on a roll like this one!

You need to hang the lights and the plastic sheeting long enough to touch the floor on each side. You have to do that so you can hide the extension cords on the floor. 

Next you have to make sure that nobody accidentally hits the button to lower the basketball goal and make everything come crashing down... (that almost happened)

Question 2:

I am planning a reception for my daughter in October. Can you tell me how you did the "Mr and Mrs" backdrop behind the table? From the pictures it appears to be hung, but I can't tell from what it hangs. Also, what is used for the rod? Also, is that wall behind that backdrop the regular cultural hall wall, or did you cover it with burlap? Your reception is really wonderful. Congratulations on making the cultural hall look really great!

Answer: The curtain rod with the Mr. And Mrs. banner is hung with the same eye hooks and fishing wire as the false ceilling and attached to the the wall up high.

The walls in our church building already matched the burlap theme so we just went with it.

tis the season

So I've definitely been on a bit of a blogging hiatus for the past million years. I promise to be better, starting now. Think of it as my almost New Years resolution. Those count, right?

I love this season so much. I love the crunch of a fresh snowfall under my feet, the smell of cinnamon and spice candles, and cuddling up my tootsies in a blanket shared with my husband. It's simply the best. This year is the first Christmas for David and I to be just the two of us in our little apartment. It's going to be marvelous. This is our time to decide what traditions and memories we want to continue in our own little family with our own little babies. The time for gingerbread houses, caroling, cheesey good movies, parties and more. I can't wait to see what our traditions will be over the years.

I am very interested in what other people like to do in thier families as well. I know that we all have different "favorite traditions" and I would love to know what some of yours are.

sometimes we make crafts...

A few weekends ago we decided to stay in and make some crafts. We NEVER do this. It was pretty fantastic actually. David and I walked to the craft store and had no idea what we were doing there. Seriously, we were so lost and amazed all at the same time. We spent a good hour in the store while we were trying to figure out what to make. We saw that there was a sale on giant letters, so we got some of those... We, and by we I mean I, decided it would be cute to wrap them in yarn. {but I did let David pick out the colors.} It was so easy! All you need is a hot glue gun and you're golden.

Then I got this fancy idea to make a sunburst mirror. All we had to do for that was buy a little round mirror and go out in nature to find some sticks. SUPER EASY.

We hot glued the sticks to a small piece of plywood and put another piece of wood in the middle to hold the mirror on. Then just start gluing all of the sticks around to cover the plywood back. Be careful not to burn your sweet husband's fingers while he holds your sticks for you...

{We ended up having a lot of extra sticks, so I decided to stash them in mason jars. why not?}

whelp. we're in Idaho again.

While I was following David through Montana.

Picture taken before cute things were hung on the wall.

Welcome to our little love nest! Sit down, stay a while. I'll make some brownies or some other baked treat. Actually, we really love cooking and baking together in our apartment. With every meal we have attempted to cook we've prayed that it wouldn't set off the smoke detectors. Besides that, we really love it here. It feels so good to be together in our little home.

the reception