The wedding that wasn't

If you remember from this blog post, Wes and I thought for a few months that we would be getting married at Meadow Brook. So, I started designing the wedding “look” with Meadow Brook in mind. Meadow Brook holds receptions in a big white tent and is generally a fancy place that can be dressed up or down. The big white tent is very very white, so, in my opinion, it needed some color in there. Call me crazy, but I just didn’t want my wedding to feel like we were in the middle of cloud. So, I ruled out having white linens. Sadly, this ruined my initial imagery of white long tables.

Long white tables

Love, love, love, love love, love (voice inflection goes up and down). However, that’s too much white in a white tent. So, I was thinking navy fabric on the standard round tables included in the wedding package. Round tables don't give the same family table feel that I love, but hey, I don't argue when things are free. And, navy table linens would have meant that the bridesmaid and mom dresses wouldn’t blend into the décor. We want those important people to stand out!

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I was also thinking lots of candles.

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Maybe silver chiavari chairs.

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A mix of purple flowers held in silver vases with orchids tucked here and there.

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Oh yes. At one point the wedding was designed around orchids! I was under the weird impression 4 months after getting engaged that a wedding needed an obvious theme. I thought long and hard about what sort of theme would fit into Meadow Brook and its fabulousness.

Birds? Cute, but not really us.

Maps? We have no money to travel, so certainly not us.

Then, my mom suggested orchids! Well, yes, of course! Wes and I love orchids! We grow them. We read a book together early in our relationship about Florida and orchid hunting, The Orchid Thief  by Susan Orlean. We bonded over this book because we found Susan’s search for life’s perfection moving and strangely close to home. Specifically, the book is about ghost orchids.

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This beauty is a protected species in the Everglades so obviously we couldn’t actually have them in our wedding, but certainly it could go on our paper materials!  So 4 months into our engagement, a purple/gray/navy orchid wedding was being planned. But, would that theme work? Well, no, as you can tell from the title of the post. A venue change to the much much better Waldenwoods changed a lot about how we wanted our wedding to “feel”. Yes, weddings have feelings. Fancy, glamorous, romantic, ordinary, warm, modern, stuffy, crazy, relaxed, fun. You know! Feelings! And two, I just couldn’t make the ghost orchid work on my own and I am determined to make the invitations myself.

Did anyone else change their wedding’s entire concept? Or is it just me because I’ve had SUCH A LONG ENGAGEMENT! Can we get married already!?!