Deckin' the Halls

WOW -- December already!  With Thanksgiving being so late this year it definitely cut into "deckin' the halls!"  I will admit.. I put our big Christmas tree up pre-Thanksgiving as well as the WVU themed dining room tree.  I did this for several reasons.. mostly because my family was at our house for Thanksgiving and I wanted them to get to see our trees.  This past week, I spent time decorating the other areas of the house.  My absolute favorite decorations this year has to be in the dining room!  We finally got the rest of the furniture for the dining room (sideboard and china cabinet) in October and having the additional area on top of the sideboard to decorate has made for the perfect spot!  Plus, I used some of our wedding decor and it's an instant rush of happy memories when I see it in there.   

Let's rewind.. 

When I was schemin' what the wedding ceremony would look like, I spent a lot of time thinking about the aisle.  I liked the idea of rose petals, candles and lanterns.  I looked at hundreds of lanterns in various price points/styles.  I didn't want anything too ornate or too small and alas, I finally found the perfect lanterns at Hobby Lobby!  Two stores and two special orders later, I had enough lanterns to line the aisle for the ceremony.  I reused the lanterns as additional decor for the reception as well.  Plus, I knew the lanterns would be beautiful to decorate with in coming years.  

Here's the lanterns in action at the wedding:

(The candles are also from Hobby Lobby and are beautiful! They matched the pattern on our cake.)  I alternated tall and shorter lanterns down both sides of the aisle and put pink rose petals in between. 

After the ceremony, we had some of the lanterns moved up to the MASSIVE mantle

Other lanterns found a reception spot behind the main wedding cake

So now, fast forward to my Christmas decorating.... 

The lanterns and candles are from the wedding as well as the crystal candle holder near the feather tree.  The white reindeer are a find from my mom from a few years ago but I've seen a lot of similar ones in the stores this year.  The feather wreath around the smaller lantern is from Michaels and was purchased with the anticipation of being used at the wedding but at the last minute didn't get used.  The white feather tree is actually from my college days at WVU!  I bought this at Macy's in Pittsburgh and still absolutely love it.  I worry everyday that Mason is going to get hold of it.  I decided to forgo the normal hot pink ornaments I put on it and "adult-ed" it up with some silver and slightly gold smaller balls instead.  

Did anyone else recycle items from their wedding into their home decorating?!