Our Wedding Day at The Granary at Valley Pike | Chapter Seven – Cocktail Hour and Reception Details

October 29, 2023

Okay, now time for cocktail hour! The Granary at Valley Pike has the most beautiful patio for cocktail hour with a gorgeous fireplace too! Also, can we just talk about the golden hour photos taken during this time?! Perfect timing if I do say so myself. There’s a lot of details here that I just LOVED, so obviously I have to go through them!

First off, the coffee cart! This was a guest favorite for sure! I still have people bring it up to this day, a whole year later. My lovely, lovely friends from The Grounds Coffeehouse were mix up yummy iced coffees all throughout cocktail hour. Debbie, the owner, was so kind to even custom make sleeves for cups and have a feature “Bride’s Pumpkin Spice Latte” and “Groom’s Iced Mocha” that we got to pick. It was so fun seeing everybody double fisting a coffee in one hand and wine in the other. I can not explain to you how much my guests loved this! If you’re looking for something unique for your guests, consider booking The Grounds Coffeehouse coffee cart!!

You see that 8 foot seating chart? Yep, I made that! If there’s one thing that stressed me out the most, it was this! haha! I made all of the name cards on Canva, the board from Home Depot along with 2x4s and hinges for the back stand. I found these little round scrapbook stickers that elevated the name cards so it looked more 3D. It just looked weird with them being flat. The crest on top was painted by one of my bridesmaids who is so talented at watercolor. I love the crest so much and even have the original framed in my kitchen! It wasn’t perfect, but, I loved having this eye catching piece to bring our colors into the cocktail space!

The blue floral cocktail table covers were also just stunning!!! My lovely, amazing coordinators, Jordan and Addison, from Boundless Love Events, helped me find these rentals and picked them up for me! All the table linens are from Argent Rentals if you’re looking for something similar!

Our gorgeous cake is from The Icing Bakery. They took my inspiration photos and absolutely knocked it out of the park. We also had custom cookies made as a part of the dessert and guest favors. Sarah absolutely crushed it! I had a few different ideas and I love what she did. You probably won’t believe it, but they also tasted better than they look!!! Sooo yummy!!! Her Insta is @sarahbakescustomcookies

All of the candles in the reception space I bought from a Richmond Bride Sell/Trade page on Facebook!! So genius and so helpful too! Look for a similar page for your town, I’m sure there’s a group! Table numbers I bought as graphics from Etsy and had printed at Staples. Custom “Alfie’s Bar” and Alfie napkins from Etsy too! Since he couldn’t be there in real life, we had to incorporate him somehow!

Ready for reception time?! It’s next!

All photos taken by the incredible, Angelika Johns Photography