Wedding Recap: Cocktail Hour

While we were at the church finishing photos, we asked guests to make their way over to the reception venue.

We fell in love with Heaven Events Center the first time we ever went there. It’s located off a few turns off of a main road in Orlando, but not many people seem to know it’s there.

*All photos used in this and all wedding related posts are from Elegant Imagery.

Cocktail Hour

While at a birthday party at this venue, Scott and both agreed it would be perfect for a fun and anything but traditional wedding reception.

That it was.

As soon as you walk in, the giant mosaic waterfall staircase immediately grabs your attention.

Although no one needed to go up the stairs, it was a nice piece to look at while entering the reception area. We had a video slide show playing in the front lobby, and a series of canvas engagement photos lining the entrance.

After seeing a Groupon from Canvas On Demand, we snatched as many as we could, totaling six. Since we didn’t need that many large canvases of us in our house, we gave each set of parents whichever one they liked as a thank you, leaving us with three.

July is known to be notoriously hot in Florida, so we nixed the idea of having cocktail hour outside. While taking pictures together at the church and then outside the venue, Scott and I invited guests to enjoy the space and found ways for them to pass the time.

Welcome!

Come on in and grab a seat. Wait… where are you sitting?

Take a look at the Guest Seating Chart Game and figure it out.

Find your name under a movie quote, think really hard about where that quote came from, (use the cheat sheet if you can’t think of it) and look for the table with your movie on it! Got it?

Enjoy the sounds of electric violinist Jared Burnett, playing aside our main DJ Les Kopasz from Soundwave Entertainment.

Our DJ supplied the beats while Jared played a contemporary version of violin music. The tracks in cocktail hour started slow, but they were jamming out by the time dinner finished.

Before you make your way to your seat, can we interest you in a cold beverage?

We had a few specialty drinks, with customized (as personal as it gets) food labels, but I’ll get more into food and drinks in next week’s Catering & Cake recap.

I’ll never forget the feeling of seeing our reception space for the first time. It was gorgeous, and felt like we were in a room made just for us.

Our HBSH monogram seed to pop up everywhere.

Behind our sweetheart table…

in front of the two lit up bars…

and on the dance floor.

Both the pink lighting and gobo on the dancefloor were form

Scott was also set in decorating the room with illuminated H’s.

We saw bright white and sparkly lit letters in the window display of a Forever 21 around the Holidays last year. That inspiration along with a props specialist from Wizard Productions help Scott make the letters come to life.

I mentioned before that we fully trusted our florist in creating beautiful, unique, stunning centerpieces. I knew we would love his work, but had no idea he would put so much detail into each piece.

We used baby and engagement photos to label our tables and I loved the personality it added to the pink, lime green and crystal accents.

We served light appetizers as well as a huge fruit display placed in the center of the dance floor.

Nice work on the monogrammed watermelon, Chef Lo!

While taking pictures, I couldn’t help but think about how everything was going at cocktail hour. Scott and I talked about how we thought guests reacted to the seating chart, wondering how many people had to use the cheat.

I guess you’ve got to work hard for your dinner around here! Grab a drink, enjoy the environment and take a photo or two with Photomingle.