WARNING: This post will be loaded with lots of pictures.
If money were not an issue, how would you want your reception decors to look like?
Now at 10 months before our planned wedding date, M and I still haven't finalized where our reception will be. All we know is that we want it on the 30th day of August next year, which is also the third and final year of us being boyfriend/girlfriend. Right now I can only tell you that we want to get married at the
Evangelical Church inside the Fort Bonifacio Army Camp. For the reception, we're considering the nearby
Army Officers' Clubhouse which is about 5 minutes away from our church. Or may be the lovely
Atrium of the Enderun Colleges which has garnered quite a number of good reviews for food, venue and service. If these don't work out, plan B is to do both the ceremony and reception at
Light of Love Events Place in Quezon City. The ceremony will be held at the
Integrity or
Love function room, then have the reception at the
Atrium. Ah, the options! And because we haven't finalized the venues yet, I still do not know what to do for my big day as of now. But thanks to some pictures of our past Junior-Senior promenades, I have some bit of inspirations as the decorations we used for those events were purely DIY projects of the decoration committee.
Here are some snippets:
2008 Juniors' Night @ The Valle Verde Country Clubhouse
The Valle Verde Country Clubhouse is a bit of an old structure. But it's really beautiful and elegant. It's surprisingly affordable too. When we had our Juniors'Night there in 2008, we paid for set meals at around Php 200 per head. That rate already includes a generous serving of 3 courses including pasta, rice, dessert, bottomless iced tea and coffee. They have an in-house caterer so everything was smooth and easy.
For our school's first prom, the decor committee hung drapes in the ceiling, and used sinamay as flower pots and invitations.
It was a bit dark when I took this pic as we my cam is a bit lowtech. But the lighting effect on the drapes was nice. The lights and sounds supplier did well too, especially during the dancing part.
Blue and yellow gold touches for the cocktail set-ups
Sinamay decors for the names of the guests, invitations and flower pots.
We just asked the caterers of VVCC to use blue cloths for the tables.
DIY table numbers, invitations and flower pots for guest / students' tables
Nice lights
Another angle
For the backdrop of the stage, the decor committe bought balloons and had them placed on the floor. They also cut out a silvery material bought from National Bookstore for the lettering of Juniors' Night. The yellow logo was a cut-out based on their design, while the flowers were styled by one of the decor committee members.
Lobby area of VVCC
2009 JS Prom @ The Glass Garden
The Glass Garden is a popular events venue in Santolan, Pasig. It really lives up to its name. From top to bottom it is enclosed in glass. But you get the garden feel too, minus the worries about rain. The strengths of this venue are: beauty of the place, ample parking, super cool airconditioning, and nice staff. What I just didn't like is the price. It charges a hefty Php 80,000 for 5 hours of use. Additional Php 5,000 will charged to your account for every hour extended.
Because we had such a humongous venue, the decor committee had to work double time to beautify the place. Here's how it turned out:
White / silvery drapes for the ceiling
White Japanese lanterns bought at Divisoria....
The gold circles were DIY. The teachers cut out big circles, then covered them in gold glitters.
All flower arrangements were DIY. The teachers sprayed blue food colors and paints on white mums, that's why we had blue flowers for that night. Amazing!
DIY flower styling and drapes on the tables
See the blue-green flowers on the stairs? They were just sprayed on. Blue fabric on stairs were DIY too.
Beautiful!
I just can't get enough of the ceiling decors!
Nice ceiling decors! I love them!
Close up shot of the flowers that were styled and colored/sprayed with blue and green food colors by the teachers.
2010 JS Prom @ The Pasig Sports Arena
In 2010, we held our JS Prom at the basketball court right beside our City Hall. Yes, you read it right: a big. big basketball court. We just covered the basketball rings with bronze and gold fabrics, then laid out carpets on the floors. With simple but carefully-planned designs, it was like being transported to the function hall of a hotel. Thanks to our decor team, the event was memorable because the students and even teachers were taking photos of the venue. I myself couldn't resist taking shots! Here they are:
Stage as styled by the teachers. The balls on the floor were made by sinamay. Gold and white / cream fabrics from Divisoria. Tarpaulin for the backdrop.
Bronze and light gold fabrics on the walls.....who would even think this was a basketball court?
Sinamay balls for the ceiling decors. Remember them from last year?
A different shot of one of the walls of the place....
Lighting effect on the sinamay balls....
Stage
Loose twigs from Divisoria
2011 JS Prom @ Silver City
Silver City is a few steps away from Tiendesitas. It's actually a strip of a building (is it a mall?), and is located at the corner of Julia Vargas and C5. It's a huge, huge place, but because there are curtains all over, you have no view of what's outside. It costs Php 80,000 to rent it for 5 hours, but it's also negotiable. What we did to cut costs is to source out everything else. For the 2011 prom, we had a Hollywood theme. The stairs leading to the Silver City hall were decked with stars bearing the teachers' names! The decor team did a great job copying what the original ones looked like in California. Too bad, I didn't get to take a photo of that one. But here are some snippets:
Mock table set-up by the caterer
Black and gold color scheme for a movie star / Hollywood-themed party
Film reels and stars, including letterings, were DIY from paper, cardboards and other materials from Divisoria and National Bookstore
Actual set up
White Japanese lanterns at the ceiling....
Tarpaulin backdrop
Table set up again
Close up shot
Students' table set-up
A view from my table
The lobby --- which served as a nook for the 'photobooth'
Hay.
I wonder how my own reception party venue will look like :-)
