Rocket Science Weddings and Events

I am so excited to be working with Michelle and Brant for their upcoming wedding at Mill City Museum. It is a very unique space, with a very strict no flame rule. Michelle, a freelance graphic designer and etsy shop owner, has put in hours and hours and hours creating amazing paper flower bouquets and centerpieces (I featured her bouquet on Twin Cities Live). Here is a look of the main part of the centerpiece, a cylinder! I can't wait share the rest of the details from their day next week.

A sneak peek of their AMAZING stationery Michelle designed. This is their ceremony program. I. LOVE. IT.

Today this post is in honor of my groom, Tracy, who was the inspiration for this cylinder. At their floral consultation we were talking about doing something undulating and organic for their centerpiece, Tracy suggested something seaweed-like. In my notes I circled "seaweed" and wrote "CYLINDER THURSDAY" next to it.

Unfortunately it is not real seaweed today, although some other form of "seascape" will probably make an appearance at a later date. Today it is vinyl seaweed decals. Of course, I got the decals off etsy. For those of you who don't know, vinyl decals are like fancy, semi-permanent stickers you decorate with. They are a great alternative to painting because you can easily remove them if you don't like them, and they give a much more crisp and clean look. I don't know of any painters who can paint so exactly.

Here is a jellyfish decal in my daughter's room.

So anyway, back to the cylinder. You can get decals made of anything! I think doing a custom monogram/logo would be a wonderful idea for a wedding. Of course you can have anything customized on etsy, but here are a few samples I found.

This one comes in many colors and was only $4! I love the simplicity of it, more can be found here.

Get a little more fancy and add multiple colors and your wedding date.

I bet you are wanting to see my cylinder huh? Almost time... first, here is how I made it.

1. Ordered decal off etsy. Waiting anxiously by the mailbox for it to arrive.

2. Followed the instructions that came with the decal about getting the adhesive on, etc.

3. Trimmed decal to fit cylinder. I think I picked a challenging idea, if you were to do a monogram or some other type of "free floating" decal, it would be a lot easier. I had to line up the decal at the base and rub the seaweed stems on one at a time. It took about 10 minutes to get it on. After I got it on I trimmed the seaweed at the top that hung over the edge of the cylinder.

4. Fill with water and top with a candle!

Some "bubbly" votive holders complete the look! Until next week.

I want to congratulate Zoe & Devin, past clients of mine, on the birth of their baby girl. Last week's Cylinder Thursday post was dedicated to them, but I forgot to mention that. Last week I also mentioned how much I want to do baby showers. Well, I attended a great one at Oak Ridge Country Club not too long ago for Vanessa, the uber talented graphic designer for Amy Zaroff Events + Design.

Vanessa and her husband don't want to find out what they are having, so I thought the team at Amy Zaroff did a great job of creating a gender neutral baby shower without looking generic. Or Winnie the Pooh. I apologize in advance for my crappy iPhone pictures.

Cute keepsake for baby, loving wishes from all the attendees. And of course the pencil was included for us to write our wishes with!

Our placemat was a quiz on all things baby.

The delicious dessert, a banana pudding and cake pop, done by Cocoa and Fig.

So I am just waiting for the day I get to do a baby shower. I have SO MANY ideas, and they are such joyous occasions. A past bride mentioned last night that I should also do baby gender reveal parties. Sign me up! No pressure on my past clients to start having children...

What is nice about these ideas, they work for either gender. And the bath toys make great gifts for the mom-to-be. I found all of these toys at Target.

These are foam letters, numbers and sea animals that stick to the tub.

These are sea squirters. My daughter loves them, and along with Nemo, these toys were instrumental in her learning sea animals.

Not all of them float as perfectly as Mr. Stingray, but you could do a combination of cylinders with some floating... mix and match the bath toys!

I thought about saving the rubber ducks for a separate post, because I want to do a rubber ducky themed shower. But I included it here anyway. If I ever get to do my rubber ducky shower, I am sure I will utilize some cylinders and will post pictures then.

Can you believe it?! I walk in to the casino at the resort last Thursday, and there were glass cylinders on the bar! I think they put them out in my honor. I love the combination of the sand and shells, so beachy! (If I had brought my computer I would've posted them on the blog from the hotel.)

I was planning to do a few "beach" themed cylinders, and will probably do some in the future. But for now, enjoy these cylinders, Costa Rica style!