Getting to five years married is tough enough these days, so making it to 25 years? That’s definitely a milestone that should be celebrated.

This wedding took place in 2004 at Burbank’s Pickwick Gardens. The bride was a friend of my mom’s, so my mom of course pulled out all the stops to decorate this wedding. Quite honestly, I’ve been wanting to post the above picture for years, but didn’t sit down to properly edit it until just recently (the wedding took place in July and it was extremely bright that day). But I was thoroughly impressed with how the ceremony decorations came out here — large arrangements with lavender roses, orchids and pink ginger and lots of ti leaves spray painted silver, on top of silver lamé-draped columns.

One of the nice things about Pickwick Gardens is that there is a lovely garden with several areas where you can hold your ceremony, and indoor banquet rooms just steps away where you can hold your receptions. Outside the banquet room where this reception was being held, my mom had done a large entry arrangement with lots of silver ti leaves and areca palms that had been either braided or cut into cool, angular shapes. This was typical of my mom’s much-loved tropical arrangements, with pink ginger, heliconia and a massive protea in the center.

I am not experienced with the planning of a milestone anniversary wedding — my husband and I will only be celebrating nine years this year — but I imagine that you wouldn’t need as many head tables as you might for your first wedding, where you would probably need to seat your bridal party, any sponsors, parents, etc. This head table seems set up to only seat the bride and groom and their bridal party. The table is draped with silver lamé fabric and lavender organza. The backdrop is two tall columns flanked by two medium columns on either side, draped with more of the silver lamé fabric and the lavender sequined fabric.

This was the first time I’d encountered a trellis behind a cake table, and I loved the challenge. I draped the trellis with lavender organza and silver netting, and the table with lavender charmeuse and white English netting.

Here’s a look at the overall setup.

My mom happened to be very proud of the bouquet, so she had me take several photos of it, and the bride holding her bouquet. The bouquet was made up mostly of purple cattleya orchids, along with some trailing, purple dendrobium orchids. She also spray painted the tips of some of the greens silver, to add the silver touch to the bouquet.

I snapped this candid of my mom with the bride as they all talked with their friends. It was a happy day.