Harry Potter Decor Ideas


We like to keep things a little geeky here on Sixpence + Silver so today we have some decor ideas for the Harry Potter fans amongst you. Now, for a Harry Potter-themed birthday party or dinner party I'd advise going big and completely saturating your space with whatever you can find, but this can sometimes come off quite tacky for weddings or other big events so I've taken some nods from the Warner Bros. Studio Tour and the graphic design pop-up The House of MinaLima (both of which I visited last week!) to offer some ideas that will make people gasp only in the good way!

This idea comes straight from both the Harry Potter books and movies, but was executed just brilliantly in the House of MinaLima display. What could scream Harry Potter more than a fireplace streaming Hogwarts letters? Fireplaces are always good focal points for wedding decor but sometimes they aren't quite the large, striking, clean photo opportunities couples are expecting. This idea works on even the smallest or sootiest of fires and is easy enough to DIY! 

Another paper-based idea (and another one great for DIY) comes straight from the MinaLima window. I loved this display of the Ministry of Magic paper aeroplanes and it is surprisingly striking for something that is really quite simple! There's so many ways these could be incorporated into a wedding, from them hanging above the wedding cake like a mobile or to them having the couples vows written in and being 'flown' to the couple by the Best Man and Maid of Honour. They'd also make an interesting party invitation. The possibilities are endless!

While I don't know how many people want to plaster the word 'undesirable' around their wedding or party, after seeing the newspapers MinaLima worked on for the Harry Potter films they became one of my most favourite details. The way this one is framed lends itself perfectly to a guest-book frame. A personalized Daily Prophet front cover for your guests to sign around; what could be a more perfect keepsake?

This next idea comes straight from the Studio Tour itself - in fact, just from the lobby! Here there is a beautiful wave of the flying keys from the Philosopher's Stone that sparkles perfectly in the light. While this one would be a bit more technical, it is also DIY-able and again, has almost endless possibilities. A wave of keys rising from foliage across a mantelpiece; keys dangling from a pagoda; a semi-circle of keys around the cake; even a key perfectly nestled in bouquets.

The mini-dragon models at the Studio Tour were another favourite of mine. Albeit less subtle than the keys, they're also pretty versatile. They can nestle away around centerpieces as little surprises for your guests or even work as cake toppers! The only tricky part here is finding some model dragons that can live up to these beauties by the films' art department!

The Potions classroom at the Studio Tour is set up to look like it is in use and as such there's hundreds of little details to fall in love with. I personally loved these set-ups of vials and spellbooks and the way they capture the imagination. A bar area decorated like this for cocktail hour would be my idea of perfection and it is easy enough to recreate! If you're thinking of making a little splurge for one of the replica spellbooks, why not use it as a guestbook and ask guests to leave their own best 'potion recipes' for a happy marriage?

Last, but most definitely not least, is another piece of artwork by MinaLima. I love all of the little details that brought the world of Harry Potter to life, but I have to admit I have a certain soft spot for this Bertie Botts box design. All of the graphic pieces MinaLima created are beautiful and can be bought as high quality prints. Framed and with wooden numbers affixed to the frames, don't you think they'd make just beautiful table numbers?

Let us know if you'd think about incorporating any of these ideas into your wedding or event by connecting with us on Facebook, Pinterest or Instagram!

No Sunday Feature This Week


Hi all! There's no Sunday Feature this week on Sixpence + Silver as I'm currently entertaining Shannon and Make from the Glamorous Glittery Geek feature for their Honeymoon. We've already kept up the same vibes with a trip to the Harry Potter Warner Bros. Studio Tour and will be echoing Shannon's vintage-vibe Bachelorette at a few spots in London. Keep your eyes peeled for some posts about planning or hosting a Honeymoon!

COMING SOON
A quirky Charleston wedding featuring a TARDIS!

Glamourous Glittery Geek Wedding | Shannon + Mike




Originally, Shannon and Mike were planning to elope to Ireland and have a tiny, low-key wedding. As you can see from just glancing at this post, that didn't happen! Instead, with the help of Jonnaysa at Planned Perfection, they made their wedding in Pennsylvania a beautifully glittering celebration with perfect, personal and geeky touches. With a colour scheme of gold, black and mint and a design style of Art Deco with Harry Potter and Star Wars touches, Shannon and Mike's wedding turned out to be just gorgeous!



All of the stunning details were captured perfectly by photographer Barbara Shoop who was like a wedding ninja, appearing from nowhere to get the best shot before disappearing again to capture another moment across the room. The result are a collection of simply gorgeous pictures that capture just how vibrant and sparkling the wedding was! (You can see Barbara's own post about the wedding here)

The wedding was held at the Booking House in Manheim, PA, a former cigar factory that is now exclusively an events space. With lots of gorgeous exposed brick and wooden floors, it provided a blank canvas while still offering enough character of its own to be memorable. The Booking House's use of space is second to none. The whole wedding party was able to get ready there with the ceremony, cocktail hour and reception all held on-site with no waiting around in awkward areas and following beautifully. It truly is an absolutely perfect spot for a wedding.

Shannon wore a gorgeous dress by Mori Lee in carmel with an overlay of ivory lace that had the most stunning lace pattern I think I've ever seen! The look was finished with a scalloped-edge veil, glittering hair piece and earrings and a pair of black suede shoes from Anthropologie to match the bride's black manicure. The bridesmaids wore mixmatched black dresses with co-ordinating black and gold jewellery from Aldo while the groom, best man and ushers were in black tuxes with gold pocket squares and buttonholes featuring Star Wars lego pieces. The flower girls stole the show though in adorably-pouffy mint dresses and baby's breath crowns!


For the reception, the tables were laid with black tablecloths, mint napkins and gold chargers with the same flowers as the bouquets set atop stacks of books. Along with black and gold candles, Harry Potter and Star Wars items filled in any empty spaces and made interesting points of conversation for guests! For table numbers Shannon and her Mom spray-painted house numbers gold and tied them to books with the same mint tulle that decorated the ceremony and top table chairs. The top table itself literally glittered with a gold sequin tablecloth and glittering votives and candelabras nestled in a garland of minty foliage and flowers.

Paying homage to the bride and groom's love of reading, for favours guests were invited to select a book from the selection tucked away in a pretty armoire alongside a personalised bookmark that matched the couple's stationery. It was the perfect finishing detail to a perfect wedding!

THE BRIDE'S SAY
How did you and Mike meet?
Mike and I actually first met when I was in 10th grade and he was in 9th, and we were in the same Geometry class. However Mike's the only one who remembers that meeting. The first meeting that I (Shannon) remembers, was at a winter formal during my senior year of high school. We ended up both going to the dance, along with some mutual friends and chatted briefly during the night but nothing else really came from it. Fast forward to the spring, after prom, Mike and I went to a mutual friend's house for a bonfire and sleepover. He bought me applesauce at a diner at like one in the morning, and we stayed up the whole night talking while everyone else watched Glee and fell asleep. We didn't stop talking since, and about a week later, Mike asked me out on a date.

Tell us about the proposal!
Mike worked Christmas Eve night, into Christmas morning. I had just had a dream in which I was Hermione Granger (Harry Potter ftw!) and woke up as Mike was coming into our room. He said he wanted to give me my Christmas gift, and assumed it was because it was something frivolous. Seeing that we lived with my parents at the time, I assumed he didn't want my parents to lecture us on wasting money on something silly. He gave me a long, rectangular box, and inside was Hermione Granger's wand. I was so excited by the wand ,that I didn't notice the engagement ring that was around it. Mike pointed out the ring, I then asked what kind of ring it was, and then Mike informed me it was a 'will you marry me type ring'. Obviously I said yes.

Describe your wedding!
Geeky, glamorous with touches of art deco.


What was your best memory from the day?
As cliche as it sounds, I have too many to count! I was just happy to not feel nervous or anxious the whole day. I felt relaxed and just ready to enjoy the day and see the wedding i had been working on for almost two years, finally come together. I loved having an impromptu first dance with my maid of honour (that's me!), dancing with my friends and co-workers,  surprising my uncle with a very special uncle/niece dance, and just seeing everything look so pretty and my vision coming to life.

What were your favourite details from the wedding?
I loved all the geeky touches. The wands, miniature Star Wars ship models, and other nerdy artifacts were mixed in with the books and flowers we used for centerpieces. It was just the right touch; the perfect nod towards Mike and I's geeky sides.

Any tips for brides planning their wedding?
Don't be afraid to hold out for just the right things! I feel like so many bride's end up sacrificing quality or not ending up with exactly what they want because they just go out and buy or pick the first thing that comes along. My parents were nice enough to pay for our wedding, but I still had a budget I had to work within. Instead of just settling for second rate things that were in my budget, I took my time to scour the internet and shop around and get exactly what I had envisioned for my wedding, even if it sometimes was the longer and more frustrating path. In the end I ended up with everything that was important to me, without going (too) over budget. Also if you can afford it, get yourself an amazing wedding planner! My mother and I would of strangled each other during the planning process if it wasn't for my amazing planner, Jonnaysa of Planned Perfection. She was worth every penny, and found 99% of the vendors that I ended up using, some of which that I would of never found by just googling around.

VENDORS
Photos: Barbara Shoop Photography | Event Coordination: Planned Perfection
Venue: The Booking House | Florist: Petals with Style
Cake: Rettew's Catering | Furniture & Signage: Treasured Rentals
Wedding Dress: Mori Lee at In White Bridal | Bridesmaids Dresses: In White Bridal
Groom & Ushers Attire: Men's Warehouse | Flower Girl Dresses: Little Dreamers Inc.
Make-Up: Maggie King | Hair: Kelly's Hair Design
Stationery: Renee Connors

A Hufflepuff Bridal Shower


My best friend, Shannon, was getting married. In ten years of friendship we'd shared secrets, a blog, our ups, our downs etc. etc. Of course I accepted when she asked me to be her Maid of Honour and of course I wanted to throw her the best Bridal Shower I could. The snag? I live in the UK. She lives in the US. But I am a master planner so what was a little pond going to do to put me off! It was a hectic few months of emails and long-distance phone calls and one very long evening with two bridesmaids and I popping paper flowers with me straight off the plane but in the end I think it turned out alright!
Given that the shower was coming via England, when I found out there was a tea room just around the corner from Shannon in my favourite town of Lititz, PA, I knew we were onto a winner. The team at A Tea Affair were just amazing, sorting me out long distance and putting on a perfect afternoon tea (so perfect that I forgot it included dessert and we ended up swimming in cake between what A Tea Affair provided and the four delicious cakes ordered in from The Baker's Table!).
As Shannon and I both appreciate the geekier things in life, the theme of the Bridal Shower was 'Muggle to Mrs', and I used a colour scheme of yellow and black (Hufflepuff colours for Shannon's house!) with soft blue accents to hint at the mint in the wedding colour palette. For centrepieces I filled blue mason jars with paper flowers in three shades and Hufflepuff pencils for the games, tying the jars with black ribbon and assorted Harry Potter charms.
The Harry Potter theme was carried through into the guest book too. Having found a beautiful wooden book engraved with the Marauder's Map artwork, I filled it with blank portrait templates for guests to personalize. For favours I stamped muslin bags with a Hogwarts crest stamp and filled them with Butterbeer-scented candles and Sherbert Lemons.

For games each guest had a 'Who Said It?' sheet as well as an activity to create the best wedding dress simply by tearing a piece of paper. Shannon was then put in the hotseat to play a version of the shoe game with her fiancé's sister standing in to deliver his answers. Game prizes were boxed Ring Pops!
All in all the shower got a lot of praise for days and, most importantly, Shannon was happy! Not bad for long-distance planning! My only regret was that in the flurry of flights and setting-up, I didn't take as many pictures of the little details and I'd have liked but we live and learn!

Paper Flowers: Princess Approved Flower Shop | Butterbeer Candles: Maple & Whisky Candle Co.
Bride to Be Sash: Black Label Decor | Wooden Guest Book: Wood and Root
Hogwarts Crest Stamp: Geek Stamps | Hufflepuff Pencils: Midnight House Elves
Paper goods and photography by me (and one photo by the lovely Laurie Reber).

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Sixpence and Silver
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