Calling Decodelighted!

[neatfreak]

Sooo, I have been looking back in the threads to find pics of barn weddings, and I absolutely LOVE yours. Very similar to what we want.

What I wanted to ask you was:

1. Did you do your own BBQ "catering"? And was it a pain in the neck? Would you do it again if you did?

2. How did you organize the timing of the ceremony-food-bonfire? We also want to do a late night bonfire, but weren''t sure if we should aim for an early afternoon ceremony or a later one.

3. Where did you get all those great glass bottle sodas?

My mother is already starting to organize things even though the engagement isn''t "official" yet and she wants to make a reservation for a local barn/estate that books up fast, so she wants me to figure this stuff out on the fly. Geesh. I am NOT good at making decisions!!!

Thanks for your help, your wedding looked fantastic. What state was it in if you don''t mind me asking?

 

[partyjewels]

well i'm not deco, but i know, her wedding was fabulous! totally what I've got in mind for whenever that happens But anywho, my reason for replying was about the glass bottle sodas. I'm not sure what she used, but you can use Jones Soda. They come in glass bottles, theres also fruit juices too, and you can get the labels personalized through the company if you buy a certain ammount. I'm not sure how much you're looking to spend, but I know whatever type of wedding I end up having, I'm hoping I can budget in some of their soda's and juices because i personally love them, and i just have all sorts of picture ides running through my head for them. so incase you want to check that out, here's their website: Jones Soda

For the personalized ones you go to Product - Personalized Jones, and then you'll be able to see all of the options they've got for it.

Good luck with all your planning!!

 

[neatfreak]

Ohhh! I completely forgot about Jones. That is a great idea. I also love their juices, but I forgot that they made more than that too.

I don''t know if the personalization will fit into the budget, but I sure hope it does! It''s a great idea, thank you!!!

 

[decodelighted]

Hey there! Sorry I missed this until now ...

1. We did a combo catering deal for the BBQ ... we shopped for the cocktail hour eats & coffee & tea & salad stuff etc with the site coordinators at Sam''s Club & they prepared all that stuff ... the main dishes & sides came in a $20/pp "Pig Roast" package by a local BBQ joint ... we bought all the glass bottled sodas & beer at a distributor & the site iced & displayed them ... the cupcakes & tower were from a bakery & transported to the site by family members, who also had to do the "display" on site. Much Cheaper that way! Also ... friends & family brought homebaked desserts to fill out a "dessert bar".

2. Our bonfire started about 7-7:30pm, after dark ... our ceremony was 4pm, cocktail hour 4:45-5:45 probably ... dinner line started about 6pm ... then people mingled & dancing etc.
I think the fire drew people sooner than we expected because it was a bit chilly. We all ended up hanging out there - especially once the sparklers came out!

3. Glass bottled soda came from a local distributor that the BBQ guys tipped us off to. We bought a variety of Stewarts Rootbeer, Boylans Gingerale & Cream & Black Cherry, Orange Crush, Grape Crush, Coke, Diet Coke etc. The Orange Crush & Grape Crush we actually found at Wal-Mart of all places??? We added them in ''cause they were cute bottles & whimsical.
I also bought a couple cases of Boylan''s Selzer water to use them as VASES for our gerber daisies on the tables. It was the cutest bottle I could find .. by the case I guess it was about $1 a "vase". I tried to drink the seltzer over a couple months before the wedding but I got so sick of it, we poured out most of ''em.

Oh, and it was in NY''s Hudson Valley! Hope that helps ... Lemmie know if you have any other questions!

 

[neatfreak]

Thank you!!! I *thought* it might be near there...I am getting married in the Berkshires in MA and the barns all seem to have a very similar look around NY/MA. Your wedding was just gorgeous from the pictures!

That's great that your location let you do all that yourself. That's a similar mix of DIY/catered that we're looking for too. We don't want to do everything, but also don't want to pay the ridiculous $70/pp that many places want to charge for bad food.

I am trying my best to find a barn that will let us provide the catering, but no such luck yet. I have a call in to one that implied that it would be ok, but we'll see. I hope that it will work out that way.

Those glass bottled sodas are great...I might just have to make a call to Stewart's myself.

The timing sounds perfect, I think we will shoot for something similar. We didn't want people to wait around for hours, but we also didn't want to try and jam everything together.

Thanks so much for answering my questions! I really appreciate it.