The Tent

We rented a tent for the event, just in case it rained, which it did at 2 p.m. See the side which is open? We left that up because of the tulle for the entrance. I guess when I decorated that on Saturday morning, it prevented the sides from coming down. At 2 during the downpour, rain and wind came in the opening. The results? Vases tipped over, about half of the 170 napkins were on the ground. Hubby and his 2 brothers ran out to get the side down. Hubby said, I just broke that tulle so I could get the side down. I said fine, thank you very much. Lucky for us 3 college girls were arriving to help with the meal. They took care of cleaning it up and did a tremendous job. In fact, many of these pictures are ones I asked them to take. I wanted some pictures of the inside of the tent when it was fully decorated and the girls took around 20 photos.


The gravel in front of the tent is our driveway for large trucks and cattle equipment (we are in the cattle business), the cars drove right up the the arbor. At this point, the guests would get out and three young men would there to valet park. It turned out to be a great plan, still a bit of drizzle at 5 p.m. when guest were arriving. The sun did come out and at the time of the meal, it was a bit warm, humid and close in the tent, fortunately, this lasted only 30 minutes. Friends brought by an industrial fan, this was located on one end, pulling air through the tent.

Belinda, the lighter green foilage is the summer phlox. You weren't too off on predicting their bloom date. Not quite the day after but they were starting to bloom yesterday (23rd).




From the garden side, this from my back deck. The long tents in front were 10 x 20 each. The tent on the left, held a drink station (tea, lemonade and water) on the far end. A bar was set up on the end closest to the garden. We found a business, which would come to the event and handle the bar business. The long tent on the left was the buffet. At the beginning of the reception, it held a few appetizers for guests. Paige did not want Jesse to see her before the wedding, so those pictures were taken after the ceremony.





Inside the tent, you can see the dance floor in the forefront. It was a well used dance floor, hubby joked with the businessman from the rental company and told him the dance floor would be sunk into the ground 6 inches from all the dancing.

Another view, the head table is on the right

A bit blurry picture, but here is the head table. The bridesmaids bouquets were put in vases and used for decorations on this table.

Main entrance into the tent.

A night picture. Rope lighting was strung around the perimeter of the tent. Also, uplights were used to light the top of the tent and the rental company uses a color to coordinate with the wedding colors. So blue was sent up to this area. It was so pretty. Not many guests inside the tent, many people were walking around looking at the flowers or had their chairs just on the outskirts of the tent. I think it was a bit cooler and easier to visit away from the music.




I left off from the last post, what Erin contributed to the wedding. She was our official runner and purchaser. I would call her and say I need a couple of large plastic bowls for the wedding, she would go get them and bring them home. She was a fantastic help and saved me many trips to the next largest town, this is where she lives and attends college.

Someone asked about the dinner, well here is that information:

The dinner, I did most of the cooking of this and we planned for 167, approximately 150 attended. The menu: roast beef, ham, red potatoes (cut into 1" chunks, seasoned with butter, parsley and garlic salt), green beans, rolls and a salad (romaine lettuce, spinach with strawberries, bacon, croutons, almond slivers and a bit of poppy seed dressing). The meal was delicious. Thanks to many friends, on Friday night we cut 100 pounds of potatoes into the 1" chunks.

A friend, who owns a restaurant, came over to supervise the finishing touches and help to get it in the buffet servers.

We did have quite a few leftovers, so on Sunday, many friends and family came over for leftovers, swimming and visiting. It was such a relaxed event, especially for me. I told the guests the leftover wedding cake was a Father's Day cake for the day! The cake was finished up that afternoon, yea, no leftovers for me to eat all week.