The best part of wedding planning!

The last post covered the floral part of the wedding design and I’ve posted about the wedding stationery and paper in two previous posts highlighting the work of Happy Menocal. And I couldn’t resist sharing a post about how we used Les Touches fabric from Brunschwig & Fils at the wedding.

Those design-related posts provided a pretty good sneak peek into the wedding, but here are a few more design elements I wanted to share.

I know I’ve said it already, but I can’t stress it enough, the venue provided such a stunning backdrop. I’ll be sharing more about that in an upcoming post as it deserves it’s own space, but just look!

Guests walking from the ceremony up to the cocktail hour location.

The cocktail hour had a large round wooden bar Hillary had seen Greenwood Events use before, and she reserved it at our first meeting. I don’t have a good photo of that, but I’m sure the photographer will.

The cornhole game with Happy Menocal’s design. ..

Let’s visit the tabletop design for the reception tent!

As I mentioned in the floral post, at our first design meeting, Darci had linens and a few other elements to show us, but was very open to trying whatever we wanted.

We first chose these plain white plates with wood chargers, and a traditional silver napkin ring. For some reason, so often, I am drawn to plain. I could tell Darci thought it was too plain, and so I went back to the wall to shop.

I ended up choosing these ceramic plates with specks and gold trim. They are not something I would normally be drawn to, but the earthy quality was appropriate for Montana and provided sort of an outdoor/organic vibe with the wood chargers. I loved the weightiness of them as well.

We knew we wanted the Arte Italica flatware. The bulky design is so handsome. Each piece of the 5-piece place setting has a slightly different pattern, which I love. They are made of Italian pewter and 18/10 stainless steel. I love the charming stamps and details, and I’m thinking of ordering it for our personal use. Let me know if you want it too, I can get it for you.

The glasses with the stag were a must. We knew we wanted those immediately.

We used them for signature cocktails during cocktail hour and then for water glasses at dinner.

We switched to the antler napkin ring, duh.

The white linen napkins were pretty traditional, but we monogrammed 40 of them for the head table with Happy Menocal’s wedding emblem, and that seemed really special. Great for photos, and Hillary and Keenan will have them forever!

The white dessert plates have a fern pattern on them. I thought those were so darling for the mini cakes. It’s barely visible, but the ferns were too perfect not to use. I may be the only person at the wedding who noticed, but here they are!

You can see the fern design better here with the pretty Arte Italica fork!

Here are more pics showing the dinnerware, flatware, and glassware. And the cloth - loved the peach design.

Here is Arden’s presentation of the things we chose.

Loved the chairs! We wanted something different than the pilgrim chairs, but not quite as fancy as the upholstered oval back chairs. These were the newest design, and we thought they were perfect ~ not too rustic or casual, but not formal.

The wood worked perfectly with the wood chargers!

The first design plan for the stage backdrop did not land. Darci and Arden know what they are doing and they are extremely talented, but sometimes you have to work through a couple rounds of designs to reach a mutual love. The first idea was great, but it reminded me of a cool coffee shop wall. I didn’t have any ideas to offer at that time, so we tabled it.

The next idea they offered was a home run. Darci found these Atelier Antlers by Suzanne Kasler at Ballard Designs, and they reminded us of the cute little antlers from Gorsuch.. My brain messaged me to add the ovals behind them, and that was that. Darci ended up using a few without ovals to complete the design. We chose light greens for the paint colors, and they were fantastic!

The band with the stage back drop!

The photographer shows a more minty shade of green.

Darci kept hers for future use, but Hillary got the ones I purchased, and they will find a special place hanging in their house! A fun reminder of the wedding weekend.

Here you can see the stage backdrop in the back, and the antler chandeliers!

Oh - the ceremony programs! I never even saw them at the ceremony! They are so wonderful. I thought they were so sweet and was thrilled to find this photo.

And this one!

And the cake! I believe I’m entering over-sharing territory, but. . .

Ditto for the escort table. . .

The acrylic trays really took the escort table up a notch in my opinion. Just love them. They are in the shop!

Here is the plan that was presented for the bar. This was all Arden and Darci. I would have no idea where to begin here, and they have done this a time or two, so easy peasy. I thought it was so impressive. Darci requested the Les Touches fabric for the inlays, and that was a yes. The bears, from Mrs. Alice, were so fun to scatter around, and were quite popular! They ended up on the dance floor by the end of the night.

Looking forward to better pics of the bar. I love how they styled it - magazine quality!

Ok - the antler chandeliers! I may have been most excited about this design element for the night. I thought they did their job and made a significant impact in the tent.

Loved Darci’s plan to hang 3 chandeliers over the head table down the center.

Such a statement!

But the pièce de résistance was the tiered chandelier over the dance floor.

I shared a screenshot I took from an Over the Moon wedding post, and Darci and Arden found it!

Loved the mock-ups Arden put together for the seating areas. So helpful to have the visuals. We ended up choosing the sand color Les Touches pillows instead of pink and green, and they were great.

The larger seating area had two pink sofas. 2 green rugs, and four chairs.

And the smaller area had one green sofa, a pink rug, and a pair of chairs. And more sand Les Touches pillows!

We also had a cigar lounge area outside the tent a little later - with the food trucks. That will all be shared in another post. But here’s the seating area mock-up.

The few design elements went a long way. Not everyone saw everything, but I felt that there were enough details for people to notice and appreciate something here and there. I am working on yet another post to share some more revelry from the wedding including the photo booth, the bands, the food trucks, and more!