I am one of those people who is always looking forward to the next party or celebration. I just love making the most out of any holiday or event. I absolutely loved helping two of my daughters plan their weddings and I honestly can't wait to do it again someday for the next one! I live for this stuff! What's fun is that each wedding is as unique as the people getting married. This past July Elizabeth and Jon got married at the Cork Factory Hotel in Lancaster, PA. Elizabeth had a vision and knew exactly what she wanted. In case you missed the last post, you can find a little recap here. It was truly a beautiful day. One of our favorite things from that day was the paper flower wall that stood as a back drop during the ceremony and reception. We made it ourselves. It was a labor of love and we were thrilled with the result. We thought it would be fun to share the progress of such a big project with you.
It all started when we had the wonderful opportunity to attend the Martha Stewart Bridal Market Party in New York City last October. It was a real Who's Who in the event planning world. It was a fantastic night and as you can imagine there were amazing things to see and do. One of the things that caught our eye was the photo booth. The wall behind it was covered with white flowers. It was beautiful.
At the time, Elizabeth was engaged and the minute she saw the wall she said " I want this at my wedding!" So naturally, since I'm her mom and a person who loves a creative challenge, my answer to her was " Then you shall have it!" We stood in awe of the wall taking pictures and examining the flowers. The whole thing was made from paper. It was so cool. No big deal...right? Well, sort of...
Soon after we returned from New York City we began the process of making this wall happen. We had 9 months, which was plenty of time, but we couldn't find a how-to anywhere. Not on Martha Stewart's website and not even on Pinterest! So we decided to just figure it out. We started by making tons of paper flowers. We made patterns and cut them out of everything from single sheets of copy paper to rolls of craft paper. The varied weights in paper gave the flowers a few different looks.
Elizabeth made a job out of designing and cutting paper flowers.
We had flowers everywhere so we carefully attached them to a bare wall in our basement to keep them from getting wrinkled or torn.
While we were creating the flowers, Jon and his dad constructed a 12' high by 8' wide wall that would wrap around the fireplace in the ballroom at the Cork Factory. We tested the fit before the big day to make sure it worked. The Cork Factory staff was fantastic to work with and were happy to accommodate us with this project. We just love them!
Once the wall was constructed we attached the flowers to it. We used a combination of glue and staples.
In order to make it portable Jon and his dad used five separate boards to create the wall. Three across the front and one on each side. They would all be attached together at the venue.
Once most of the flowers were attached we stood each section of the wall up to see how it looked (it helped that Jon's dad's basement had high ceilings!). We added more flowers to completely fill the wall.
The wall was transported to the venue the day of the wedding in a covered truck. A HUGE thank you to Jon's dad Glenn for making that happen!
When the wall was set up in the ballroom we touched it up with a few more flowers and a little bit of glue. We lined the base of the wall with glass vessels filled with water and floating candles. It softened the look and gave the wall a romantic glow.
Mission accomplished!
This paper flower wall was truly a labor of love. Elizabeth had a vision and with some hard work and the collaboration of some amazing people it became a reality. And it was perfect!
Have a beautiful day!
Leslie xo