From Miss to Mrs: Prepping the Plantation

While the girls and I were getting ready, preparations for the day ahead were taking place all over the venue. In the photo below you can see the courtyard being set up for our cocktail hour.
I had originally planned on us setting up the reception room while we were getting ready. But since were unexpectedly getting ready in the bridal cottage, which was on the complete other side of the plantation, that made set-up difficult. Luckily my godmother, aunt, and grandmother came to the rescue and made sure the centerpieces, candy buffet, and everything else happened.

I had planned on printing out photos of the centerpiece set-up so everyone knew how it was supposed to look. Except that didn't happen. Instead I was able to do was pull up this blog post on my phone which showed my mock-up. Definitely a perk of blogging about the whole wedding planning process.

Speaking of things I didn't do, I also didn't draw a map as to what table went where. I went to do it mid-morning, but realized I didn't have the cards, and I couldn't remember which people were assigned to which table. Luckily my family came to the rescue here, and mapped out the tables based on the names they recognized. As it worked out, the tables were assigned almost exactly how I had mentally arranged them.
Now, if you remember in my last post, I was told by our coordinator that the grass was too wet in front of the house to have our ceremony in front of the house as hoped. This was always a possibility, which is why our rehearsal had taken place in one of the gardens instead. But Bridesmaid Chicago and my SIL weren't letting them happen. Instead they tracked down our coordinator and the groundskeeper and talked them into a ceremony on the front lawn.
Concessions were made to make this happen. Instead of having our chuppah in between the first set of oak trees we were going to have it closer to the house. By doing so, we also needed to have fewer, yet longer rows of seats. This way less grass would be walked on. And in some ways I liked this a lot better than our initial plan. I think by having so few rows, and having everyone sit so close to us, made the whole ceremony feel much more intimate.
Who did most of the set-up your wedding morning? And would you have been the type to stand up for the right to have the ceremony where you had wanted, or would you have let your bridesmaids make that argument for you?

All photos in this post courtesy of friends and family.
Miss a Recap Post?
From Miss to Mrs: The Calm Before the Storm
From Miss to Mrs: There's a Hurricane Coming?
From Miss to Mrs: Here Comes Isaac
From Miss to Mrs: Weathering the Cane
From Miss to Mrs: After the Storm
From Miss to Mrs: Trials and Tribulations
From Miss to Mrs: The Last Errands
From Miss to Mrs: A Night on the Town
From Miss to Mrs: The Hangover
From Miss to Mrs: Rehearsing in the Heat
From Miss to Mrs: The Last Single Supper
From Miss to Mrs: Gifting the Girls
From Miss to Mrs: The Last Single Night
From Miss to Mrs: Oh What a Beautiful Morning
From Miss to Mrs: Getting Prettified