Elevate Your Wedding with Unforgettable Reception Decor
Join us on this episode of the Colorado Wedding podcast as host Josh delves into the world of wedding decor with special guest Taylor Strope, owner of Mountainside Events. With over 12 years of experience in the wedding hospitality industry, Taylor shares her expert insights on creating stunning wedding decor that reflects your unique style. Discover tips on floral arrangements, signage, lighting, table decor, dessert displays, guest books, wedding favors, and how to make your dance floor the centerpiece of the celebration. Tune in for valuable advice and inspiration to make your Colorado wedding unforgettable.
Check out her blog on reception decor tips here!
Transcript:
Josh (Podcast Host): Using a guestbook, potentially incorporating it into your photos, even something like a DIY style with a Polaroid camera. Yeah. And they can put pictures and you have pictures of all your guests that they shake, you know, and that they like. And they put that in the book and write something or, you know, having a cool piece of art or signage that you're hanging in your house.
Taylor (Guest): I've seen like skis as a great one too, you know, a pair of skis. And it has all, I guess, like, you know, warm wishes and. Yeah, that's very cool. No, it's, yeah, it is very Colorado. Yeah. So, you know, and having that be able to, you know, be a cool centerpiece in your home, like you can look at it every day.
Podcast Intro: Welcome to the Colorado Wedding podcast. The ultimate place to plan your Colorado wedding from luxury weddings to intimate elopements, we'll guide you through planning your wedding in the beautiful state of Colorado. Where your hosts, Josh and Brian, and we're here to give you insider tips and advice from all kinds of Colorado wedding experts. Join us and discover the best ways to reduce wedding stress and design your unique wedding day.
Josh (Podcast Host): Hello and welcome to the Colorado Wedding podcast. We are the ultimate place to go to plan your Colorado wedding. And today we are here with Taylor Schroeck. She is the owner of Mountainside Events. She's seen a ton of Colorado weddings. She's born and raised here in Colorado, and she has been in the wedding hospitality industry for 12 years.
Taylor (Guest): So I'm Taylor Strope. I am the owner of Mountainside Events, and we're a wedding and event planning company here in Fort Collins, Colorado. And yeah, we've been in business for over seven years as a company. I've been planning weddings even dates back longer than that and definitely love what I do, and, you know, love being able to help couples. We do everything from month-of coordination to partial and full-service planning. So we're very involved in wedding day details and we've seen a lot of weddings and events and happy to give our advice and expertise and what we've seen work out well.
Josh (Podcast Host): Great. Yeah. Well, thanks for being here and thanks for all the advice and expertise that you're able to give. Sure, give the following here in Colorado. So let's jump in. So we're going to be talking about reception as well. Let's jump into some of those.
Taylor (Guest): Yeah. So, you know, obviously incorporating florals into the reception creates a more cohesive space. Yeah. So you have the ceremony, but you can also have, you know, florals on the centerpieces or, you know, potentially like your accent. You will see like a welcome to you all. Maybe something on the dessert tables, something on your cake, you know, and just kind of incorporating that into the overall theme of the day and to those florals.
Josh (Podcast Host): Yeah, and how does that differ? I mean, how do you think about florals for the ceremony as well or for the reception?
Taylor (Guest): Yeah. So, you know, obviously incorporating florals into the reception creates a more cohesive space. Yeah. So you have the ceremony, but you can also have, you know, florals on the centerpieces or, you know, potentially like your accent. You will see like a welcome to you all. Maybe something on the dessert tables, something on your cake, you know, and just kind of incorporating that into the overall theme of the day and to those florals.
Josh (Podcast Host): Yeah, and how about signage at the reception? What kind of signs? I mean, maybe seating charts, seating, things like that. What do you recommend for couples there?
Taylor (Guest): Yeah, so Seating Choices is a great one. We would also maybe have other signage around the venue space like any of those accent tables. You know, if you have a gifts and cards table, maybe having some sort of sign that lets people know like, you know, where to put your card in the box. Or if you have a photo booth, it's like letting people know what to do. Even like for signs too. Maybe if you have a specialty cocktail, you want to do some sort of fun, you know, cocktail sign or something like that. Yeah, there's some great ones I've seen. I really, you know, some couples I want to incorporate, say, their pets, you know, like their dogs. They want to name their tables after their dogs. And so, you know, having a cute sign that even has a picture they do, you know, something like that. Yeah. Here's what this signature drink is. You know, that can always also be fun.
Josh (Podcast Host): That is awesome. Um, well, also, how about lighting and just setting the mood in the reception hall? Yeah. How do you coach your couples with that?
Taylor (Guest): Yeah. Lighting is really important because, I mean, as you know, as a photographer, a videographer, the lighting could really set the space. It can be everything from, you know, just simple candles and things that are on the tables to also like other enhanced lighting around the space. Some venues do provide the lighting, and some don't. And so if you're trying to go a little bit more the extra mile, potentially adding like uplights around the space or DJ lights, something you just provide lights for the dance floor. And if you want to encourage people to be outside, potentially some bistro lighting or something like that to create, you know, an outdoor feel. Or even if you wanted to go even further and do some cool like gobos lighting with their names projected on a wall or even the side of a mountain, which I've seen a couple of times, that this is pretty neat. So, yeah, you know, so you can do a lot with lights, and you know, that's a great way. It's a really elevate the overall space and, and really wow your guests. Yeah, that can really create any sort of atmosphere. You can totally manipulate the setting there with just you highlight it's absolutely. Yeah. If it's too harsh, you can just be like, what are we doing here? But it's totally at a certain mood. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Awesome. Well, in addition to that, signed signage, I mean, dinner and drink menus. How do you go about designing those? Are those on each table or...
Taylor (Guest): Yeah. So, I mean, I kind of talked about like drink signage, if you were to have that at the bar. Yeah, let's say. Yeah. You want your guests to know what they're about to eat, dinner cards or, or even some sort of menu card that's at each place setting. It can create a really awesome table layout when guests get there and they see this really pretty table setting and then they see a menu card showing, you know, what exactly is in the meal here and doing a little bit more into a description of what those items are too. It's a great thing also to make sure their guests are well aware of like what they're eating and drinking, especially in regards to dietary restrictions too. Yeah, So that way they know like, oh, you know, the salad has pine nuts in it and, you know, so if they're allergic then they know they shouldn't be eating that, which ideally or communicating that far in advance. So we already know that that person has some sort of allergy or something. But it's just good to know and make sure that, like everybody knows exactly what is in the food and what they're eating. Totally. Yeah. For in addition to that, with tables, what other decorations and items do you recommend having on the dinner tables?
Josh (Podcast Host): Yeah. So I mentioned florals, but you know, you can absolutely go a different route too. It doesn't have to be that. You know, you could potentially do some candles or some vases or, you know, maybe incorporate pine cones or, you know, fun things like that. Or it could just be like simple greenery. You know, we always are encouraging repurposing if we can. I try and be as mindful to be less wasteful. And so if we can reuse, there's so much waste. Yeah, exactly. So it's like, for example, they do, we put the bridesmaids' bouquets as the floral table centerpiece. And I think that can be something that, you know, you got your flowers. They're not on you for the rest of the night, so it can act as a great centerpiece. Oh, yeah. Oh, cool. Yeah. So, you know, other other things to go about, you know, your other tablescape. We have a ton of decor that we have in our inventory that, you know, we can definitely make pretty, really pretty tablescape shopping. That's awesome. Yeah.
Josh (Podcast Host): Well, how about with a dessert table? What sort of decor do you see on those? It just looks awesome and sets wedding themes.
Taylor (Guest): Yeah. So obviously some sort of platters or trays for whatever it is or you have, you know, if you have a cake, a cake stand is great. Yeah. If you have other desserts. So to you, then, you know, having tiered displays for I always like to mix. I like, you know, mix textures and colors and things like that. So, you know, say, you know, we have a couple of like different single cake stands or a single dessert stands. And then we have a tiered one as well. And so, you know, having a mix of that can really create a really beautiful dessert table. Yeah. You know, or if you're going to do a cake cutting, you're going to definitely need a cake knife and a server. So it's something that tends to be forgotten. Oh, I've seen that first knives. Yeah. And it's like, are you ready to cut the cake? And they're like, how? So, so yeah, obviously, you know, that's pretty important too. But yeah, yeah, totally. Well, how about with the guest book? Um, you know, when the guests are signing in with some nice. How do you. What do, what do you tell your couples when they're thinking about that.
Taylor (Guest): Yeah. So you could go the traditional guest book route where they just, you know, sign or say something, you know, well-wishes or advice or something like that. But I always like to get a little bit more creative with it. Yeah, I bet. Yeah. So, you know, using a guestbook as potentially incorporating it into, like, your fun DIY style with a Polaroid camera. Yeah. And they can put, you know, pictures and you have pictures of all your guests that they shake, you know, and that they like and they put that in the book and write something. Or, you know, having a cool piece of art or signage that you're hanging in your house. I've seen like skis as a great one too, you know, a pair of skis. And it has all, I guess, like, you know, warm wishes and yeah, that's very cool. No, it's, yeah, it is very Colorado. Yeah. So, you know, and having that be able to, you know, be a cool centerpiece in your home, like you can look at it every day. Yeah. That's I've even seen more of my friends' weddings have people wrote letters to them for different years out and they arrange it kind of cool. You will turn them off on your anniversary. That's nice. So yeah, I like that. Yeah. Cool. Cool. Couple more here. So with wedding favors, what have you seen? You know, couples give to their attendees that's just been has worked out well.
Josh (Podcast Host): Yeah. So with favors, I definitely suggest that it's something that you could see your couples using or having, you know, all the time. It's not something that it's going to be cheap or something that they're going to just toss because that's going to create a lot of waste. Yeah. You know, some of our favorite favors that we've seen are like custom mugs or wine tumblers. You know, this can also act as a place card too. You know. So yeah, they get there, they see that their name is on their mug and that's like also can be their seat. So that's a great way to kind of have a dual-purpose. Yeah. For maybe potentially like, yeah, encourage wine openers is a fun one, you know, that somebody has and they keep in their home and you know, some wine opener or something like that. Yeah. One of my favorites so was a custom brewed beer that a couple made and they Oh, that's really cool. They, yeah, they made this beer and then have made their own custom label for it and that was the favorite that they gave to all their guests that. So yeah, you know, because it's like they're either and that was special. And then all the estimation of the year that they made. Yeah, that's amazing. Oh, is a cool one. Yeah. Well from last point here with decorating the dance floor, I mean that's, that's one of the most important spots. I know the DJs can bring lights and a table and stuff. I mean, what was your role in creating that dance floor and what do you see that works the best?
Taylor (Guest): Yeah, I mean, definitely, good lighting is fine. Even if you were to potentially, like, have some other, you know, furniture, props things like outside of the dance floor to use so people could go have a place to sit on, wine, and then come back in the parts of the dance is great. We don't really see some very cool dance floors like there's some companies out there that have like really neat specialty dance floors. AS Yeah. Also, if you're really trying to wow your guests, that's going to be like also one of those centerpiece, you know when they walk in and they see this like really awesome beautifully lit dance floor. Yeah yeah it's amazing. Yeah. Well, thanks so much for just unpacking all that information. That was a ton. Yeah. Or if you got more questions. So thanks so much for your expertise and and being with us today. If you could, before we close up, if you could give just our guests some information where to find you. And I'm sure they have tons of questions here. We'd love for them to find you on your website and Instagram, social media, and just the best how to best get in touch with you.
Taylor (Guest): Yes. So you can find us on our mountainsideevents.com. We also have a few of our blog posts that we have on our website that have these lists. Yeah. Well, so if somebody is needing to reference this, it's all laid out in our description. Absolutely. Yeah. No, definitely because it is helpful just in like, here's all the different things that you're going to need. Yeah. In different areas that you can, you can decorate. You know, we always offer to our couples to use any decor that we have that they can rent because we've had it so much over the years, you know, and accumulated a lot of decor. Yes. Oh, that's awesome. Yeah. Fine. Yeah. Mountain sediments dot com. We're on Facebook, Instagram. I'm definitely go give us a follow up, you know, and see what we're doing there. Always focus on stories of all the fun events that we've been doing too. Something that is awesome. Yeah. Well, thank you for being with us today and yeah, fierce for it. Thanks so much. Yeah, absolutely. Thank you. Thanks for having me. Yeah, well, thank you guys for tuning in at the Colorado Wedding podcast. We'll see you next time. Thanks for listening to this episode of the Colorado Wedding podcast. We hope you found our tips insightful for planning your Colorado wedding. For all the free wedding planning tools, checklists, and guides, go to Colorado wedding guides dot com. Don't forget to rate us on Apple and Spotify, and be sure to follow us on Instagram at CEO Wedding Podcast. We appreciate you and hope you have the best wedding possible. See you next time.