Blank Slate: {Ambiance}

I've shared my research on the basics of how to make a blank tent feel like your own, so now it's time to move on to how we're going to soften-up the room and make it our own. You can do this with some ceiling treatments, of course- but in our case, the Thimble fam has all but threatened to strap me into my makeup chair if I try to DIY my own draping or paper lanterns.

Fortunately, our florists had an amazing solution that focuses on the tent walls- which is less labor-intensive and won't bust the budget to commission them to make it happen:

{sources: top, bottom right, mid, left} 

We're talkin' branches and votives along the tent walls. And when Suesan Klein of Murphy and Klein Florals suggested it at our first open house at our venue, I knew I could make this tent work, and I knew who I wanted to hire to do our florals.

Joyce Murphy, or [Suesan's] Aunt Joyce, grew up on a flower farm and has carried on the family business in Ottsville, PA in a 150 year-old restored barn. She is going to use branches from the forest around their property to tie on the supports around the tent and hang LED lighted votives to create a soft glow. Any flowers they don't grow on their property, they find locally. And if they can't, or if it's an exotic flower, they pull their traditional florist resources and fly them in. It's been really fun to watch them branch out (hehe) and market themselves through social media on facebook and their new blog since we booked them a year ago.

Ok, enough gushing. I just love using a family business to carry out a family tree theme and keep things local.

On the tables, we'll have brown linens, mixed china, canning jars, pumpkins, and burlap and gingham runners. But I'll save the eye candy inspiration and DIY reality posts for later.

Are using creative lighting or florals to soften a stark space?