Weddingbee boards

Wow! I NEVER thought I'd be here, but God has blessed me with a wonderfully sweet man. This will be a second marriage for both me and FH.

We are planning a small intimate wedding for approx. 25-30 family members. Our plan is to have the ceremony and the reception at the same location. The ceremony will begin at 2:30 or 3:00 in the afternoon with a cake and punch reception to follow. This will allow our older family members to travel during daylight hours and in the warmest part of the day.

We are still narrowing down our location. We plan to be married in front of a lit up fireplace. While music is playing,we want our guests to warm up by the fire before things get started. We want to serve guests an assortment of hot beverages (tea,coffee,cocoa,and cider) before the ceremony begins to help take the chill off from the cold winter weather. Finding a rustic venue to accomplish all this would certainly meet our expectations.

Our theme is wintry with snowflakes,icy,sparkly crystal, pines (evergreens) and pinecones. Our colors are white, dark purple, dark pine green, and silver accents.

My dress is a simple ivory, knee length with a dark purple sash. I will wear a short veil with either a tiara or a headband for the wedding. (I'm still searching for the perfect "sparkly" for my head.) I plan to buy or have a friend make me an ivory cape with a faux fur trimmed hood.

We've already purchased my bracelet and earrings. I also plan to wear the diamond heart necklace FH gave me for my birthday. I just love sparkly jewelry! FH will wear his black suit, white dress shirt, with a solid dark purple necktie and cool dark purple socks.

We are on quite a tight budget and paying for EVERYTHING ourselves. Most places we talk to seem uninterested when we explain we are having such a small number of guests and planning only a cake and punch reception.

Oh nearly forgot to mention that I have Celiac disease and must have a gluten free cake and not the standard cater's cake made with regular flour. Our plan is to make a small gluten free cake and serve regular cake or cupcakes for our guests. Anyone else been in this situation? Suggestions?

I plan to DIY as much as possible because I enjoy it and it will save us money. The DIY invitations are white, with white eyelet punchout  border that look like small snowflakes. We are thinking of using purple ink. Has anyone else used purple ink instead of black ink? Opinions?

I would love to hear any suggestions or thoughts you may have re: location/venue and DIY decorating ideas.

@CorgiTales:I am two hours north of Columbus in Wayne County. That fireplace sounds lovely,but would be a bit far for some of our older relatives.

However,I will look at their website because we are searching for a place to stay the weekend after the wedding and planning a week long honeymoon in the spring.

Thanks!

@Beluga:Great ideas! Hadn't even thought about hot buttered rum and hot toddies! Cool presentation with the red hot poker! LOL!

We do love snuggling by a warm fire and getting cozy. Hmmm...Maybe we should provide slippers for our wedding favors???

BTW...sorry to make you jealous...Tee-Hee-Hee! Honestly I just hate to sweat! Besides,at my age hot flashes are setting in, so winter time is perfect for me. If I get overheated I can head outside into the snow!

Thanks for the drink ideas!