tara & cj – part 2: reception details

i have so many details i want to gush about from tara and cj’s reception, i thought i’d break the posts up a bit. especially for those of you reading in rss feeds – trying to keep the photo load lag down a bithey, click here, come in. stay a while.

i arrived at the lakeside historical cleveland courthouse before heading to the ceremony. jacqui of cmykakes had already dropped of the cake. here is what it looked like before blooms by plantscaping added the flowers -

before i left the first trip at the courthouse, i double checked to be sure tara and cj’s beautiful waterford crystal toasting flutes set at their place…

…and the gold hand-written envelopes enclosed the escort cards were set.

when i came back after the ceremony, i brought along  the guest book to put on the gift table with the hat box card box, also diy-ed by tara.

there were four different kinds of centerpieces:

first, a few tall hydrangea centerpieces sat atop pilsner vases.

several candelabra centerpieces – with flameless candles (as no open flames are permitted at the lakeside courthouse.)

third, shorter hydrangea centerpieces, shown here flanked by the photo-sharing cards tara had printed by vistaprint.

and finally a few fishbowl centerpieces with roses and ivy.

the whole place was a sight to see – this was the first view guests got as they entered the cleveland historical courthouse

the view of the headtable (all linens provided by l’nique.)

and the view during the cocktail hour held in the balcony.

the cocktail hour hors d’oeuvres - by taste of excellence - were displayed in several long tables all the way around the upstairs balcony. although, by the time i got up there with my camera, guests had it a bit picked over.

back downstairs, a cookie table was set up for guest grazing all evening.  tara, her and cj’s mothers and grandmothers and a few other family members all contributed their family-favorite cookies and sweets that were set up complete with small tags that described whose recipes the treats were and any traditions associated with them. wax bags were also available for guests to take some snacks home with them. the table was a big hit – and so many sweets were made, the table never went bare as the taste of excellence servers constantly refilled the gold chargers and jars.

coming up next
tara & cj – part 3: reception events

previous posts
tara & cj – vendor preview
tara & cj – part 1: ceremony