{photo diary} The Backyard Wedding Party

I'm not into the whole huge wedding say your vows in front of everyone thing. I enjoy going to weddings but I don't personally want to be the center of attention - thanks social anxiety. Luckily Christian wasn't big on the idea of a large wedding either so we opted for a small ceremony in the park where we go for our daily walks with just my parents and my grandparents in attendance. His immediate family decided to come for the party instead of the ceremony since they're a 20 hour drive away.

The following week we had a party for family and friends in my parents backyard.  I let my mom do most of the planning because she has great taste and I knew it would be easier that way. I had made a Pinterest board with a few things I liked and we went off of that. Christian's brother also hand carved an amazing Lord of the Rings sign for us as a wedding gift so we brought it to the party since it was on-theme (see photo above.)

We decided on a color palette and chose a bunch of hanging lanterns as well as string lights. After that I pretty much took a back seat and approved or vetoed her decisions. (aka always approved because she's great at planning and decorating.) The only thing we disagreed on was tables. I wanted rectangle instead of circles because it looks less formal that way.

Rather than cooking food ourselves we chose a caterer that had more than just the basic Italian food options, The Executive Chef. We had a great menu planned with appetizers and a dinner buffet. My mom took care of the desserts - she's an amazing baker - and we both made a ton of french macarons to give out as party favors.  My mom also created a really cute candy bar for the dessert table with purple treats! She thinks of everything. Unfortunately we were all so caught up in the day we forgot photos of the dinner buffet! GAH!

Update: The caterer posted photos of the buffet! YAY! And a few close-ups of the appetizers.

A family friend generously offered to make the cake for us so my Mom would have one less thing to do. We wanted a super simple cake (chocolate with white frosting) and decided to be cheeky and put our Wall-E and Eve figures on the top instead of a bride and groom. What can I say, we're weird.  I did indulge our guests with the traditional cutting of the cake. Note my excitement in the photos below, haha.

Photos by me, my Dad, a couple other relatives and Lydia!