Weekend DIY Project

My MOH and I got together this weekend to brainstorm some a DIY votive candle project. I got a great deal on 144 votive candle holders and candles on e-bay but thought that I might want to embelish them in some way.

We pulled out the craft box and came up with three different designs:

• The first one is an M (it is kind of hard to see because it was done in yellow paint). It is the same M as will be in our monogram.


• The middle one is just ribbon and gemstones.


• The last one is a flourish design wrapped around the entire votive holder. It is the same flourish that is on the Save the Date cards and will be on the invitations.

My plan is to put five votive holders around my floral center pieces. All the designs would be done in a variety of colors: pink, purple, yellow, orange, green, and blue. Although I am considering doing all the painted ones in silver. Anyone have thoughts on that?

As I am finishing up the painting I will post pictures on how I did it for anyone that is interseted. It was a lot easier than it may look.

My venue

I knew for sometime before it actually happened that I was going to get engaged. Troy told me to go ahead and start planning the wedding but I refused to for several reasons 1) I was sure that if I went ahead and started planning before I got the ring, that I might not actually get the ring 2) I didn't want to do anything without my mom.

So how do you start planning a wedding keeping it low key? The venue. I spent countless hours researching area venues on the internet. I started a spreadsheet that listed the venue, website, location, phone number, e-mail, capacity, price (if it was actually listed on the website), the distance it was from my home, and any other notes. I know it seems kind of crazy but this ended up being a lifesaver.

After we became engaged we put together a quick guest list (yes it has grown some since then) to get an idea of how many people we planned on entertaining for the evening. In addition to the number of people attending there also had to be a place for a ceremony, either on-site or nearby. My list was quickly narrowed down to 5 places.

Within days of my engagement my mom, sister (MOH) and I took a road trip to view all the final choices for location. The Lawton Heritage Community Center (LHCC) was the second place on my list. I fell in love and nothing else seemed to compare.
The view from the outside does this place no justice. Here is the Hall Director's description:

"Nestled in the heart of grape country is Michiganʼs oldest Winery, renovated to become one of the areas most unique places for your wedding and reception. The Lawton Community Center is built entirely of cobblestone both inside and out, accented with a variety of wine colors and decorations. Entertain your guests between the wedding and reception with a tour of our museum, highlighting the history of wine country. Our museum offers an ideal setting to offer your guests hors dʼ oeuvres and wine tasting as the introduction to the evenings fabulous festivities."

The LHCC offers two ceremony options. First is outside in the front lawn (shown on the picture above). Troy and I were planning on having an outdoor ceremony but I wasn't too thrilled about this location. There is an Amtrack route that runs along the facility and the director said that I can almost bet on a train inturrupting my ceremony. She assured that it would only last about 15 seconds though, if I decided to go that route. The other option is the great room. A two story cobblestone room. My entrance will be from a set of french doors in the reception room that opens to the second story of the great room and down a flight of stairs. When the lady was describing the grand entrance I was almost in tears. That's when I knew this was the place.

They recently installed a huge overhead door that you can open up to look over a wooded area. An inside ceremony that looks like it is outside, awesome. No need to worry about the weather.

The reception and bar areas are beautiful too. Not much decoration, if any is needed. And set up, clean up and the Hall Director are all included in the rental fee. It was too perfect and I was completely sold.

All pictures from http://www.lawtoncommunitycenter.com/index.html

I need to go back again, take some better pictures and get measurements of some things for other vendors. But I am so excited to have selected LHCC as my venue.

PS - My mom and I attended a girl scout event there when I was a little girl. At which time my mom declared that one of her daughters would get married there someday. Funny how that worked out isn't it.