When Aaron and Shay got married a few years ago they had a nice fairly formal reception in Salt Lake City. Shay and her family live near there and it was very very nice. She did all the things that brides do, cake and food testing and dress buying and checking out venues. It all turned out really nice. The 2nd reception here or as we called it the open house was much less formal. My son is a cowboy, he loves all things cowboy, he trains horses and loves all things horses. So since they had already had the beautiful formal reception we decided to make the one here all about the other member of the wedding party, the groom. We went all cowboy and all country all the way, it was such fun!

So again the venue was the gym of the church, the tables and chairs were available too. We wanted a cute backdrop for the couple but what goes cowboy? My sister had the fabulous idea of trees, specifically artificial Christmas trees. She had a few because of her various decorating needs in her classroom and we put the word out to everyone we knew and borrowed several trees. Some were dug out of garages and the stands were in terrible shape but we propped them up and patched them up and cleaned them up and by the time we were done no one was the wiser. Then dad went out behind my sisters house and took a pile of old boards that we think came from crates or pallets and made a split rail fence that we spread around the room. It looked soooo good! Add a simple bench for the couple to sit on and that area was done and looked great.

Shay had the idea for the shadow figures. Now once again we are on such a tight budget I worried over every cent spent, and the patterns alone were going to add up quickly. But when all heads were put together the solution became to have Aaron and Shay pose for the pictures. Then we projected the pictures onto a wall covered with butchers paper and made a life size outline. Then we bought the cheapest possible plywood and dad cut the figures out with his trusty jigsaw and we gave them a couple coats of flat black paint. They were amazingly cute and everyone could tell that they were Aaron and Shay so they were personal as well as cute. We did 3 of the shadow figures and spread them throughout the room and into the adjoining foyer where we had a video going and more seating. Lots of compliments on them. Now this was time consuming but well worth it, and if you have family and friends willing to help you can get it done with time to spare.

Now for the tables, I have to say that the internet and Oriental Trading were my 2 favorite things. It took a while to gather all the red checked table cloths, we found one here and one there. The tables were round and large so finding a cloth that would hang way over was just not happening. We had to learn not to sweat the small stuff and remember that this was a casual setting. I found the bandanas in bulk on the internet. They were great quality and a really great price. The little stuffed horses were oriental trading all the way. I bought a couple dozen and they were very cute. The hats were borrowed from friends and family and the lariat loops were from a couple of my sons old ropes. We added a bell to each table attached to a cute little poem about the bride and groom kissing every time the bell rings, grandpa had a great time with that!

The first reception had a very nice cake, we weren’t serving cake but I thought we could use a display with a cake to add to the wedding feel. Cousin Rebecca has such a talent with these things, however she didn’t have a lot of time. So we worked it out that I would bake and crumb coat the cake and have everything there that she would need to finish it off. When she arrived early for the reception she took about 20 minutes to decorate the little 3 layer cake perfectly! It was so pretty! To that cake we added a picture of the couple from the wedding day, a special bronze Shay’s parents had bought the couple, and a display made up of a stable that grandpa had made for Aaron when he was just little. It was super cute and added to the cowboy theme.

Now we need music. We are blessed in this valley to have a great deal of musical talent, one family in particular has played together for years. They play everything from Bluegrass to classical and do it well. I asked them to come and play great country and bluegrass music and they filled the room with music for 2 hours. So fabulous, such a great addition to the night.

Then we just added a table for gifts and a display of the quilts that had been made for the couple and the room was done.

Food had to be a combination of good old fashioned bbq and family dinner. There are lots of ways of doing this, you can cater, you can buy things already made or a combination of homemade and store bought, I’ve even seen it done somewhat potluck. However I had a lot more time than money and I’m a pretty good cook, so I did everything from scratch and homemade. We had pulled pork sandwiches on home made rolls. We started with large pork roasts from costco and a long slow cooking process, add bbq sauce and good to go. Then we had macaroni and potato salads. I had intended to buy these ready made but the budget wouldn’t go that far, so I chopped and prepped and stored each ingredient in the days before the reception and the afternoon of the reception my sister, me and my daughters hit the kitchen to stir and combine. We had baked beans too and to top off the dinner we had home made cobbler. The cobbler is a super simple recipe and so economical we could afford to serve generous portions. The recipe for the cobbler is in the recipe box under fruit cobbler.

All in all I think we were greatly pleased with how cute it all was and how well it turned out. It was a tough weekend for a reception, there was a lot of other things competing with us, but we had a fairly good turn out and left overs to eat later. And as with all the parties or family gatherings we have, it’s much more about the family, the love, the being surrounded by friends and people who love you than being the greatest or the  most expensive party ever.

Don’t get so caught up in perfect details or duplicating someone else’s party or even in trying to be completely unique. You’ll make yourself crazy and probably spend too much money. It’s amazing what you can do on a very tight budget if you’re willing to do the work and have the patience to work it out. Having family around to bounce ideas off of and help you problem solve is very helpful too. Instead try to focus more on how you want the evening to feel and you’ll find that your ideas will simplify. Remember the recipe for a great party…. family, friends, good food and a room full of love.