Mom's Reception

I've been absent from blogging for a few days while trying to help my mom get ready for her reception. If you saw the last blog, we did a small wedding on the beach in San Diego, but then held a separate reception back here in Oregon for the friends and family who were unable to join us. I took over full planning on the wedding, but gave my mom a lot more room and responsibility to plan the reception (basically I didn't have the time to focus on that as well and just functioned as a secondary role vs a primary one). I was a little worried that things wouldn't turn out fabulous, but my mom pulled it off (with a lot of help from us, her family) and things ended up looking really great.

She carried the pink and green theme through the reception as well, with pink and green tulle, tablecloths, napkins, flowers, outfits and much much more. And pretty much everything (minus the rentals i.e. plates, chafing dishes, etc.) was done extremely cost-conscious and by ourselves or our family, in order to save money. My mom and new aunts prepared the appetizers, side dishes and the desserts for everyone. My future father-in-law, step father, and new step-grandpa cooked the prime rib and salmon. Me and my stepbrother Bran did all of the grunt work (setting up everything, doing most of the decor, and basically running a million errands), and my sister Ashley was the bartender. The singer was a family friend and was pretty cheap (and amazing, I'll probably do a post on her later) and the cakes/cupcakes came from another family friend. For flowers, we again bought them from the grocery store and I cut them and arranged them in wine bottles from my aunt's winery which she brought with her that day. Oh and the venue is my mom's backyard, which will also be the site of my own reception next year!

I'm including a lot of photos here for you to view and get ideas from. I took them on my little point and shoot, so sorry if they're not pro-quality. If you have any questions on how we did anything or where we got something or how to do your own reception or wedding on a budget, you can always email me at triedandtrueweddings@gmail.com. Enjoy.

~A