4th of July: Last minute craziness

Ok, I know all brides say that they are not going to let it happen to them - procrastination on the little things that will then take you all night before the wedding to finish. I did ALOT of work on this wedding beforehand, but I did leave a few details until Thursday night. Honestly, I just forgot about the fact that I needed two place cards for anyone sitting at one of the long banquet tables. They each had 16 seats, so I didn't want anyone scrambling for a seat. I had to print out a sheet of place cards for these tables, and have the boy cut them all out. This also meant finalizing the seating chart once and for all. The seating chart! I'm sure any bride has heard the angst from former brides over the seating chart. I did not believe that it could be that bad. It. was. worst thing I have ever had to do.

Last minute additions and cancellations did not help at all. I spent at least an hour Thursday night tweaking my seating chart, and putting everyone in the most perfect spot. I also had to print out the table names, and I printed up several room layouts to tape to the boxes of decorations and other wedding stuff that would be taken to the hall and set up by the caterer and my cousin. I wrote out meticulous instructions and taped them to each and every box that was being taken down and dropped off at the courthouse by the boys in the morning. I was up until 2 am.

Here's what quick advice I can offer. Start you seating chart early. I has started it at least a month before , but had to spend up to the Thursday before the wedding fixing it. I used Martha's website, and her free seating software was amazing for my purposes. I initially divided everyone up on my guest list on excel. I would cut and paste people that I thought should sit near each other, and then refined it on the Martha chart. Write out lots of instructions. When I walked into the room on Saturday, I didn't find anything that was out of place. Everything had been perfectly set up, and that made the late night worth it. This is a great chance to show off some of the things I ordered for the wedding from vistaprint, and my other paper projects.

My photocards


My reminder for people to go to the photobooth


Our drink menu- just a sample of the huge variety we had


I printed this on the other side of our photocards- I don't think anyone actually did it though :(


A picture of one of the table names I printed. They were all different types of wines- reds for one side of the room, whites for the other. I printed this on blank brochure paper I ordered for free form Vistaprint.


The sparklers- one of the many favors I offered. Last minute we bought a huge pack of these for $10 from Sam's Club. The cards on these were free business cards from Vistaprint. I didn't want to do traditional favors, but these were in a basket by the door, as well as cake slices. I am also sending prints in thank you cards from my mock photobooth.