You can view The Wedding Carnival}The Food Part One here.
More carnival food!
Of course a carnival has to have cotton candy so we had a cotton candy booth. We rented the cotton candy machine from Party Pros here in Portland and Jim built the cotton candy holders for me. Jim also built all of the booths. He built them around a table. The booth is collapsible so we can store them. We are also renting them out so if you are in the Portland area and thinking of having a carnival – let me know!
My dear friends Gary and Sara manned the cotton candy booth all night.
It’s a little bit of a messy job!
But a sweet job!
The other food booth was the popcorn booth.
I purchased the regular popcorn and the cheese corn already popped from Enchante in Milwaukie, Oregon. If you live in the area you must check it out – it is an amazing place. I made the caramel corn myself using my amazingly easy and delicious microwave caramel corn recipe.
I purchased different flavoring seasonings online that could be added to the plain popcorn from Kernel Seasons .
There were even directions so people knew what to do! I found the idea for the sign here.
I also borrowed a friend’s cute little vintage style popcorn cart. It was mainly for the ambiance and smell. It sure looked cute.
I found cute little vintage style popcorn bags from GroopDealz (one of those daily deal emails you get)
I couldn’t wait to use the vintage ice cream cart I bought earlier this spring off of Craig’s List and repainted.
In addition to the cute ice cream cart I had a great ice cream scooper – Taylor was a doll and scooped ice cream all night!!
We had four flavors to choose from – vanilla, chocolate, strawberry and mint chocolate chip. I purchased the ice cream in the big round containers from Cash & Carry. It was great ice cream.
I pulled my yellow sideboard that is in my dining room out into the yard for the night along with a couple of other pieces of furniture. The yellow side board made the perfect counter for the ice cream toppings.
We had chocolate syrup, caramel sauce, two kinds of sprinkles, mini chocolate chips, and mini M & M’s.
People had their choice of a bowl or a cone. I made a cute little cone holder out of an antique sewing machine drawer. I used a piece of lightweight cardboard that I cut holes out of it, just the right size to hold the cones.
The ice cream cart was a huge hit and I know of a few people (they will not be named) who just camped out by the ice cream most of the evening!!
One of my favorite things from the carnival was the doughnut cake! I saw the idea on Pinterest and knew it was the perfect thing for our carnival. I didn’t want to do traditional wedding cake but wanted something to symbolize that. The doughnut cake was the perfect answer.
I built it out of cake plates I already owned and doughnuts from Krispy Kreme. I think Krispy Kreme must have heard about the Wedding Carnival because they even had cotton candy doughnuts just for me!!
A special thanks to Emily who, at the last minute made the cute little Washi Tape flags for me when someone mentioned – these doughnuts need flags! She jumped right in, grabbed the tape and made them! They were a nice touch.
Of course sprinkle doughnuts were perfect for a carnival too.
And then the bride and groom did the traditional eating of the doughnut!
But the very best part of the doughnut cake was the cake topper. I love, love, love it. My friend and amazing party photographer Meg had made something similar for her brother’s wedding last year and so I asked her to create a custom cake topper for Clark and Jessica. She did a great job and even matched their eye and hair color!!
I placed the bride and groom onto the rolls of carnival tickets. I stamped the white roll with a stamp that said True Love. I also added the bunting tied to paper straws with gumballs glued on the top. Isn’t it just about the cutest little wedding cake topper you have ever seen!!?? I am totally in love.
All of this wonderfulness would not have been possible without the help of so many of my dear friends. They were even good sports and wore the red aprons and red and white stripe ties I had bought for the carnival workers. The ties are from StripedNeckTies.com and the aprons came from Bestaprons.com.
See that cute blonde on the left – I love it when people think she is my sister. I have such great friends.
My sweet friend Dyann along with so many others was such a huge help. She showed up first thing in the morning and stayed most of the day with her daughter Calista (named after my Cali) and then went home for a couple of hours and showed back up to work all night at the carnival. I have amazing friends!! On top of that she came over a few weeks ago and helped me clean my house!!!
I didn’t get a photo of my friend Patrice who organized and ran the kitchen – she was probably too busy working in the kitchen!!
Tomorrow we’ll be back with The Wedding Carnival}Decorations
The Wedding Carnival}The Food Part One
The Wedding Carnival}The Food Part Two
The Wedding Carnival}The Decorations
The Wedding Carnival}Carnival Games
The Wedding Carnival}Music, Dancing and a Flash Mob
The Wedding Carnival}The Bride and Groom
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Will you be my mom??? LOL Great reception…Love it!
I am still just in awe over ALL of it
I agree with Kymberlee, I am just in awe! I have never ever been to or seen a reception like that before! Seriously the coolest thing ever!!!!
Everything looks wonderful. You have such great ideas.
You and your family and friends are all so amazing! Can I hire you in, oh, 14 years or so to do my kids’ wedding festivities?? LOL! Your son and new daughter-in-law are so lucky to have you!
Holly – Hopefully by then all my kids will be married and I may be looking to help with a wedding!!
This reception is AMAZINg, I absolutely adore it. How nice of you to do!
ok, this is fantastically over the top wonderful-ness! wow!! absolutely fantastic…you’re guests must have been in awe! oh man, i’m conjuring up some great ideas and inspiration from this for my sons birthday in October. His birthday is Oct. 27….I mean, come on…how great of a birth date is that….fall, apples, gourds, pumpkins, hay rides, Halloween….all of which we have done for all of his birthday parties thus far. My hubby and I were just discussing renting a cotton candy machine for his birthday this year….I can either do a carnival theme, but maybe with a cutesy Halloween-y twist or fall festival twist…something like that. Wonderful post….Oh and congrats to your son and daughter in law! They are adorable together! Many happy years to them!
I love the idea of a carnival with a Fall/Halloween twist. So fun!! Thanks so much.
And no cotton candy, lemonade, or greasy food stains on the bride’s gown after wards?
No the dress survived just fine!
How did you design the popcorn sign on top of your stand? I really like your stands and would like to do them for my daughters graduation party this summer!
We just printed out the letters and spray glued them to the sign. Have fun!
Wow this is amazing. Does your husband have directions for how he built the stands? I wish I lived in Portland to rent them from you!
We don’t – I should have had him do a tutorial when he was building them!
My thoughts exactly! I wish i was closer to rent the stands!! Did you make the signs above the stands as well? Your wedding was FAB!
Natasha, We did make the signs too – it was such a fun wedding to plan!
Everything looks Fab! I’m planning a county fair party and your wedding has lots of inspiration!! Are your stands the height of a standard table? I’m thinking I am ambious enough to try it. Lol!
Basically yes, we purchased the smaller plastic fold down tables from Costco and built the booths around those – they just slip into the booth.
Great! I really loved everything. I felt like I wanted to go back to my childhood days again.
Hello! You’re so very creative! I am trying to recreate your cotton candy sign. Or at least purchase the printable. Would you mind sharing which etsy shop made the printable design? I thought you said Lora Lang Design, but I could be mistaken. Thank you!
Yes, that is who I used. Not sure if she still has it or not.
Hi Leigh:
I enjoyed reading your blog about the carnival wedding. My one question is, what is 240 sauce?
I appreciate your response, have a wonderful day.
Regards,
Bernadette
It was a sauce for the hot dogs that the caterer made. I honestly don’t know what was in it but I believe it was mayo based. Glad you enjoyed the post.