Wedding Fair 2014

Shabby Chic wedding fair display

   Okay, so a couple of months ago my best friend, Liz Quan got offered a booth at the Utah wedding fair for her wedding stationary company. She wanted a unique way to display all the details she can do besides the amazing invitations such as the Menu's, table numbers, place settings, quotes, etc. She came to me and asked me to create a wedding display that looked like it came out of every girls dream wedding,looked expensive and showed off her products. This was right up my alley. 

   I started doing research on what the most popular weddings are. She wanted a theme that would attract the majority of the audience that would be at the fair. I searched several websites and found that every website mentioned a shabby chic/vintage wedding as being in the top 3 most popular weddings in 2013 and was continuing to be in the top weddings in 2014. I was all over this theme because I actually spend my time searching garage sales, ksl, and thrift stores to restore vintage items as a hobby. I am still learning more about the extent of this hobby everyday. 

   After picking out the theme I was all ready to work. The next step was getting with Liz and deciding a budget and deciding what I thought was going to be the top most important things to spend most of the budget on. I decided besides the wedding stationary, the following things were going to be the things I wanted to spend the most money and focus on for this thing to come together.......(in no particular order)

1.Table/chairs: In my opinion, nothing would throw off this wedding display more than if I were to just get my table and chairs from the church, wrap the chairs in tulle and call it good, which is a very typical thing I have seen in weddings in Utah. 

So, I started my search for the perfect old table and chairs that would give the vibe I wanted. After a couple of days of searching I found the perfect solid wood table and chairs on ksl. I had my wonderful husband and brother go pick them up and my husband spent the next couple of days doing some major sanding. 

2. Fine China: China was going to be the most expensive part of my table setting. The tough thing was going to be finding vintage china and staying in our budget. 

3. Photography: Almost nothing brings in the couples personalities more than the fun photos they take together. Obviously this wasn't a real wedding I was planning so I was on the search for my "fake" wedding couple to bring in photos that were going to tie together my shabby chic theme. I had a couple of beautiful couples photos in mind. 

4. Flowers: For obvious reasons, nothing brings beauty into a wedding like the natural beauty of flowers. 

5. Cakes: I am not a fan of that smooth fondant and for the theme we chose I did not want just one giant cake, I wanted a couple of smaller cakes to bring in the shabby chic feel. How was I going to get a cake and still stay in our budget?

So once I decided what my focuses were going to be, I had to pick out a color pallet. For me this was the easiest part! What were going to be colors that other girls were going to be picking for their shabby chic wedding this year? Easy. I knew I wanted mint, some sort of peachy color, a pink and some tans and browns. I found this color pallet, sent it to Liz, she loved it!  

        Alright, now that I had my color pallet and my amazing husband was done sanding my table and chair, it was time to pick out a paint color. I knew in my experience with decor hunting that my toughest color to find things in was going to be mint(surprising since it is soooo popular). So I decided paint was going to be the easiest way to add mint into our display. But as many people know, getting your paint color right the first time can be a challenge. 

The research began once again. After doing some searching I knew I wanted a chalk paint but how was I going to afford Annie Sloan's, one of a kind paint?

More research. 

I found the shade of paint I wanted at Lowe's, now I was going to use it and some ingredients and make my own chalk paint! 

The painting began. You would think with how much I am painting things that I actually enjoy painting but I actually think it is the most tedious job on the planet but it is always well worth it once I see the outcome. 

in the mean time while my paint was drying I was making these .........

after everything was painted and dried it was time to distress. I knew Liz wasn't a huge fan of distressed furniture but I took a risk and did some major distressing because I thought it was most appropriate for the theme. 

Also, remember how I said that I hate tulle wrapped around the chairs that people so typically do? Well, I felt the chairs needed a little something added so I made a distressed heart banner for each chair. I was very happy with how it all turned out. 

The research continued.......

What was I going to do about the china? China is expensive! 

After many inspirational Pinterest photos Liz and I decided we liked the look of mismatched China

After more research............

we found a vintage shop that sold mismatched china!!!!!!! We had to up our budget a little to make it work but we knew it was worth it!! 

Now that my two biggest worries were all take care of (painting tables and chairs & the china) it was time to add in the other details. I had no question in my mind about whose engagements and bridals I wanted to use. 

I have a hobby of stalking blogs and facebook. I have stalked this girls blog for a long time now. Her name is Michelle Cope. Her and Ryan are one of the most beautiful couples on the planet and her wedding was to die for. Here is her blog: www.thecopenhaven@blogspot.com 

I immediately messaged her and asked her permission to use some of her beautiful photos. 

things were coming together. 

next step...cakes. I don't know why I didn't think of it before. 

www.lovebeecakes.blogspot.com

Annie Pugmire was a dear friend of mine for many years. She was one of my bridesmaids and actually did my cakes for my wedding. She also did the cakes for Michelle Cope's wedding(the girl in the beautiful photographs). I contacted her and she immediately was kind enough to agree to make the cakes. I was thrilled. 

I did more research. 

I found some cakes I loved, emailed her the cakes and colors I wanted, and she helped me narrow it down to three cakes. 

All five of my main focuses were covered accept flowers. Usually flowers are an expensive part of the budget but I had another thing in mind. I wanted mason jars, some filled with water, some painted, with simple roses. Maybe one shabby chic vase with a bunch. and some teacups with a couple of simple roses. Nobody does vintage china like Royal Albert. I was excited when I found these teacups in our color scheme. 

Liz's wedding stationary added an amazing touch to the table. I was constantly updated in her process of making her stationary so I could make sure the feel of the table was giving her stationary justice. 

Final touches: I have another role model besides my beautiful mom and that is David Tutera. I envy his work and watch is show in amazement. Long ago I fell in love with this fabric line.....

I immediately knew it was the fabric I wanted for the table runner. Liz's talented mom made the table runner for me. 

I wanted a vintage way to display Liz's quotes on the table without using picture frames or place card holders. I got my handy husband to go to home depot and we managed to put together these.....

I loved gathering up the vintage finds that I have found over the years and allowing them to see some daylight! Nothing says, "shabby chic" more than typewriters, suitcases, window panes, owls, birdcages, etc.

Bottles: I feel like bottles are a must in a theme like this. You would be surprised what you can do with an old martinelli bottle. I had an idea and I knew if anyone could make it happen it was Liz. I bought some burlap paper and asked Liz to design a digital image to go with the theme and have it printed on the burlap, cut down and wrapped around the martinelli bottle that I painted in chalk paint. I was so happy with how they turned out!!! 

Embellishing. The thing that makes shabby chic sooo beautiful are the little details. I gathered up some fabric, ribbon, flowers, pearls, diamonds,etc and made fabric flowers and mini banners and embellished the bottles, the birdcages, the clipboard stands and pretty much anything I could. The details are what make a wedding unique. 

Set up day came and I was ready to roll. The amount of people it took to put something as small is this together was crazy! We had a lot of helping hands doing heavy lifting but it all paid off. Most of the setting up got done the night before the event. The morning of the event Liz and I went out and bought 3 different colored fresh flowers and at the last minute I added the flowers to the teacups, jars and made a small bouquet for a vase. We were ready to roll! I was happy with how everything turned out! 

I went in having no expectations. Hey, I was just happy to get a mint table and chairs out of it for my dining room. But within minutes of the fair starting I was overwelmed by outcome of how drawn people were to my decor. Throughout the fair I was constantly surprised and flattered by the reactions of people and things I heard. "This is exactly what I want!", "Can I take this table and times it by 10 for my wedding", these are the exact colors I want for my wedding", "we can't afford it, it looks too expensive", "this is my dream wedding, right here", "can you come decorate my house", Best booth by far", "who is in charge of the decor", etc. Nearly anyone who walked by had to take a picture on their phone. I am hoping it will end up on Pinterest in the next couple of weeks :). Anyway, thanks to many people I had a wonderful experience! 

Credits

fair photos: Erica Kopp

engagements &bridals: 

Wedding Stationary:

Cakes:

Decor&coordinating: