I love all your ideas. Those cakes are beautiful! I particularly love the second one (I love paperbark birches).

are you both super super confident about performing? I only ask because that part would stress me out and weddings are stressful enough. But I love the idea!

Yeah, that may be an issue. I was a camp program director for many years, so it would be just a walk in the regular ol' park for me. SO . . . oddly it was his idea, but I am thinking maybe not so much now that it may be a reality. He's also very conservative in his demeanor. So I would just do something like "This Little Light of Mine" and invite everyone to sing along. He might be appalled by that. We'll see. If we don't do the songs, friends or family will I think.

Those cakes are charming and perfect! You could get the figures in sugar or marzipan, but china ones guests could bring home would be fun.

I love an outdoor venue in a nature setting. The thing is, will it be easy for your guests who have trouble traveling to get to the venue? Will the terrain be tricky to maneuver on? Especially if it rained the day before?

Amy Dickenson ("Ask Amy") had the "Gene Pool Choir" sing at her wedding and other events. I love that name for family as the singers (put it in lower case, get it? Of course you do, scientist that you are lol!)

Yeah, I checked on accessibility. Being public venues that accommodate lots of people on a regular basis, they are accessible for the oldsters. That's the beauty of a camp, best of both worlds!!

I love singing along personally so I’d be all over it!

I know this is going to sound cheesy but for the undecided location of one of the weddings...how about the Moose Lodge? Do you have family that is a member? I bet someone is, they do a lot of great things in communities. Some of these lodges are nice, have stages, people who cook cheap but good food. Also, I don't think alcohol is allowed in the reception areas but there are full service bars in all of them in another room. It's a low cost option.

One of my best friends got married at the local Moose lodge! Stay tuned!

This looks so fun! And personal. I agree about favors, esp champagne flutes when it appears there won't be alcohol served and I surmise that many of your guests/family members don't drink.

The little gnomes are pretty cute; if you can't give up the idea of favors, perhaps you can find a source of tiny gnomes they could tuck into a houseplant or under a plant in the garden.

I’ve been to a couple of weddings lately where the bride and groom had a small cake for them to cut and the guests were served cupcakes (very yummy ones with buttercream frosting (chocolate or lemon-blueberry) and the other served petit fours from a local bakery (they are legendary and a personal favorite of the bride). I love both your cakes.

I would also forego the favors. Really not necessary for older guests anyway IMO.

‘This Little Light of Mine’ is great! I can’t recall all of the verses, but hey, I thought it was Baptist in origin! Lol, we sang it every Sunday and at youth choir and VBS. I like your plans, and hope it will all come together.

I don't have any wedding advice- just sending good wishes for everything to turn out how you hope.

Your plans all sound lovely. I would probably "favor" the gnomes over the flutes myself and could do without the trinket all together.

You’re outdoorsy, you could do a wildflower seed packet or something? https://www.etsy.com/ca/listing/589091951/let-love-grow-custom-seed-wedding-favors?ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=seed%20wedding%20favors&ref=sr_gallery-1-14&more_colors=1

I would not have gone for favors either, but it was SO's idea. He has had such little input on the wedding (mostly due to him just taking the path of least resistance and going along) so I wanted to honor his idea. AND, we are trying to go "no plastic" so I was going to have to get glass champagne flutes anyway . . . I figure I will get them and folks can either take them or I will take what is left over, won't be that many. Another thought I just had was beeswax votive candles, in keeping with the "light" theme. I could put a sticker on the bottom with our names and folks could take them home. I actually have a friend who is a beekeeper and makes and sells the candles and has done programs on beekeeping with some of my other friends in attendance. So we have a long standing relationship that would be nurtured by the votives. I can take the votive candles home too, and use what is left over. Could do both candle and flute, not that much. I looked into it and the flutes are only about 1.50 each. I love champagne and I want to at least pretend at my wedding. Also can use a lot of votive candle holders I have at home as table decorations. If some get lost along the way, no great loss.

Just locked in the East Coast date, Sept. 29!! One of my good, good friends will be marrying us. My matron and man of honor/best man are coming for a visit tomorrow and we are going to eat, drink and plot!!

I went to a wedding recently that had a small cake for the bride and groom, and a cupcake tree. A "map" alongside had pictures of all the cupcakes identifying which was what. So fun! And delicious!

At another wedding, the guests received small tree-lings (like they give the kids at school, little evergreens about 5" tall) to plant. (Of course, our tree didn't survive...neither did their marriage...so maybe not such a good idea.)

Actually, I think your beeswax candles would be perfect. Tied with good twine, with a little tag with a line from the song (which we also sing in the Lutheran church, we used it along with our stewardship campaign one year!)

Oooh saplings or wildflower seeds are another great idea as we will be having a tree planting as part of our East Coast ceremony. Could also be optional. But as an event planning colleague once told me, "People like swag." But I will make it optional because some people don't. Can always find home for leftover saplings or seeds since the places we are getting married have guests constantly so they can just put whatever is left over on a table and later guests can have them. Or kid visitors could plant them on site. I planted dozens of trees in my days there as program director. Kind of ties in with another one of my themes, "Tree of Life" which is both a spiritual metaphor and a quilt pattern and one of my favorite songs, which is about both. I might add that to the wedding song lineup, in honor of my grandmother, who was a quilter and weaver, among many other things. Going to have a table set up with her and mom's photo and some other photos of deceased family members who will be there in spirit.

Congratulations, on your upcoming wedding. Many years ago I received a tiny evergreen sapling as a favor at a wedding and my cousins who lived in apartments gave me theirs. I now have large beautiful trees on the back of my property, providing homes for many birds, squirrels etc... The tree idea is wonderful and the Arbor Day Society used to sell them very inexpensively.