As beautiful and hart-felt (hehe) our wedding ceremony was, the reception was incredibly fun and memorable! Jon and I often discussed how the actual wedding was for the two of us and the reception was for everybody else! Come on, who remembers the bridegroom's vows or what song the bridesmaids walked in to (ours walked in to the instrumental of Bittersweet Symphony)? No. Guests remember what music they rocked out to on the dance floor and if there was open bar or not! After a few pictures, delicious hors d'oeuvres and an open bar cocktail hour, Jon and I entered our reception to "Tonight's Gonna Be a Good Night" by The Black Eyed Peas.
We immediately went into our first dance which was to You and I by Michael Buble.We were all smiles and couldn't help but to laugh feeling like the song went on for 10 minutes! My favorite part was the "H" that lit up on the dance floor.
My dad, with my mom by his side, made a beautiful speech following our dance. My dad is such a strong, compassionate and giving man, I think most people had tears in their eyes. Hearing him say how proud he was of me and how lucky I am to have found true love was the best feeling! He talked about Jon fitting right into our crazy family which couldn't have happened if my parents weren't so generous and loving. My dad actually had to borrow a guest's cheater glasses to read what he had written, someone is getting old!
Everyone was seated for dinner and our pastor said a quick blessing. Unfrotunately I do not have a picture of the food we served but wow what is amazing! 6 weeks before the wedding, Jon, my parents and I got to taste the menu and choose what we wanted. I highly recommend The Carillon, the exclusive restaurant located inside of the AT&T Executive Education Center. Here is what our guests feasted on:
- As guests arrived for the ceremony, we had a hot chocolate/apple cider bar which was awesome considering we had just experienced the snow storm of the century!
- Hors d'oeuvres- bacon wrapped quail, scallops, beef skewers with chimichurri sauce (Jon's mouth waters at the mention of chimicurri although I have no idea what it is!?)
- Salad- baby spinach, fresh berries, goat cheese and champagne viniagrette
- Main dish- chicken breast filled with spinach, sundried tomato and mozzarella
- Starch/side- sweet potato gratin, sunbursts and baby zucchini with chive oil emulsion
- Dessert- chocolate and vanilla wedding cake, chocolate and vanilla petit fours, chocolate dipped strawberries, gourmet mini cookies
- Late night snack- at 10:30p, guests were served cheeseburger "sliders"....I put sliders in quotes because they were bigger than a McDonald's burger! I was beyond stuffed from dinner and dessert that sadly, I did not have a taste but from what I heard, they were yummy (and helped soak up the alcohol)
- Bar- we had wine service with dinner, an open bar throughout the night and passed champagne during the toasts...I think the guests were very satisfied :-)
After dinner, the dj started playing some awesome music. Jon and I made sure we talked to all of our guests before hitting the dance floor. I loved having all of our family and friends in one spot, drinking, dancing and having a blast. The dancing was so much fun! My little brother, sister's bf Cole and some guests made dance circles that I some how ended up in? Let's just say my dress got stepped on quite a few times! The dance floor was FULL the entire night! Here are some fun shots below.
Next up were toasts from my two sisters (Tomi- maid and Cori-matron of honor) and Jon's best man Jon. Each speech was so genuine and special, would you be surprised if I told you I cried again? My sister's are my best friends and I cannot wait to "grow up" with them.
Believe it or not, those two blonde beauties are indeed my sisters! I am the 3rd wheel with my dark hair (my brother is light headed too!)
My dad and I danced to The Way You Look Tonight by Frank Sinatra. It was so light hearted and fun. We live about 20 minutes from my parents and are so lucky to see them so often. My dad and I talked about how much FUN the wedding was, he is a great host! Luckily I wore 4.5 inch heels because he towers over me at 6'2''
Throughout the night, guests were in and out of the photo booth (which we chose to have instead of a favor). This was seriously the best wedding decision I made, I was in there so many times with tons of different people and I have it all documented! Here is the link to all of the pics, hysterical!
We did the signature bouquet and garter toss later in the night....
Thank goodness my little brother didn't catch the garter, he isn't allowed to get married until he is 40 :-). My bridesmaid Maggie caught the bouquet and Jon's best man Jon caught the garter. He actually proposed to his girlfriend the week after our wedding so there's proof that it works!
I almost forgot to mention the cake cutting. We had a delicious half chocolate, half vanilla cake that Jon actually drew up and designed.
We danced our last dance to Me and Mrs. Jones by Michael Buble and departed from the reception through the hotels courtyard where our guests blew bubbles and cheered.
We headed up to our honeymoon suite (that had views of both the Capitol and the UT tower) to relax and change before hitting up Maggie Mae's on 6th street with our guests. My parents hired a shuttle to cart the guests safely to the bar. Here are some pictures from the "after party"
We headed up to our honeymoon suite (that had views of both the Capitol and the UT tower) to relax and change before hitting up Maggie Mae's on 6th street with our guests. My parents hired a shuttle to cart the guests safely to the bar. Here are some pictures from the "after party"
BEST.DAY.OF.MY.LIFE.
Make sure to check out my other wedding related posts and recaps!
2 comments:
My husband and I LEFT our reception to that Black Eyed Peas song hahahaha my mom was horrified and laughing at the same time ;) You're stinkin cute! ;) And I love your dress!
i agree with mrs. ali. YOU'RE STINKIN CUTE!
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