In my
previous posts you may remember that our wedding ceremony started at 7:30 so
the reception started late – around 8:15.
Since it started so late, we had already taken all of our formal pictures, so we were able to get right down to business at the beginning of the
reception.
B and I waited
until all of our guests were settled in and then we made our entrance… this is
actually one of my favorite pictures from the whole reception because – look
how joyful we were!
The First Dance
As soon as we
entered the room, the DJ started playing our wedding song – Love Song by
311. Surrounded by all of our family and
friends, we danced our first dance as husband and wife.
Father/Daughter Dance
Once Brian’s
and my dance was over, my Daddy came out and took my hand so we could have our
father/daughter dance. We danced to
Butterfly Kisses by Bob Carlisle… makes me cry every single time I hear it.
Mother/Son Dance
Brian’s mom
joined him on the floor next, and they danced to In My Mother’s Eyes by Willie
Nelson. If you haven’t heard it, you
should check it out. It is so sweet.
A Special Surprise
Unbeknownst
to me, my mom and my uncle had planned a special surprise behind my back, and
they had coordinated with our DJ and our photographer to arrange it. Y’all, I am such a planner, so I knew what
was going to happen every single second on this day, so for them to pull that
off was something serious!
I’m not sure
if I’ve ever mentioned on the blog or not that my mom is a song writer. She is incredibly talented and I’m just waiting
for the day that someone huge picks up one of her songs!. My uncle is a singer/songwriter in Nashville,
and they often collaborate, my mom writing the lyrics and my uncle writing the
music and sometimes singing or playing the guitar. Well, they put together the most beautiful
song to surprise us on our special day, and after our dances my uncle performed
it on stage for us. The song is called
If I Can’t Let It Go… there was not a dry eye in the whole house.
The Menu & Other Details
Once the
performance was over and I had dried my eyes, it was time to eat. Since the reception was during dinner time,
we wanted to feed people really well. We
didn’t want a big fancy sit-down dinner, though, so we opted for heavy hors d’oeuvres. Shrimp, finger sandwiches, chicken fingers,
pigs in a blanket, meatballs, an assortment of fruits and veggies, a cheese
board, and all the beer and wine that you could drink.
The Cutting of the Cake
After a quick
bite to eat, it was time to cut the cake.
We wanted to get all of the traditional wedding things out of the way
early so we could party for the rest of the night! B and I had a five-tier wedding cake and it
still holds the record for the best cake that I’ve ever tasted in my entire
life. Each layer was a different flavor –
the top and bottom layers were traditional vanilla, one layer was chocolate,
one strawberry, and one lemon. And of
that huge cake, there was not one bit
left at the end of the night… aside from the top for Brian and I to save for
our first anniversary, of course.
After cutting
the main cake, we cut the groom’s cake – a University of Georgia cake,
naturally – it was chocolate cake with chocolate frosting and it was surrounded
by homemade chocolate covered strawberries.
After we tasted that cake, we had our champagne toast and then we
indulged in a couple of the strawberries.
B and I fed each other daintily because he knows I would have killed him
if he had messed up my makeup! Haha.
The Bouquet & Garter Tosses
After the
cake was passed around all of the single ladies were called to the front for
the bouquet toss and my friend Adrienne caught it. The single boys came to the front next, and B
removed my garter… guess what kind of garter I had? Why, a University of Georgia one, of
course! ;o) My friend (and bridesmaid) April’s boyfriend
ended up catching it and they ended up getting married ten months later. :o)
Candids
Once all of
that was out of the way, it was time to par-tay! Our wedding will go down in the books as one
of the biggest throw downs I’ve ever been to!
People talked about it for years after we had it because everyone had
so. much. fun. The beer and wine were
flowing (as you can see from some of the pictures) and everyone danced and
danced and danced until late in the night.
As I mentioned in my previous wedding posts, we got married in 2007,
which also happened to be the year of the Soulja Boy song. It was all the rage, so yes, we learned the
dance just for my wedding, and yes, I Soulja Boy’d in my wedding dress. We have video of it somewhere.
The End to a Perfect Day
My wedding
day is still to this day my very favorite day of my entire life. I married my very best friend in the whole
world and we got to spend it with every single person who we loved. I am so thankful every single day of this
life that B and I have created together and I will never ever take a single
second of it for granted.
Now one day when I have some time I'll have to recap our honeymoon... it just so happened to be the exact opposite of our wedding day... a complete and utter disaster!
Now one day when I have some time I'll have to recap our honeymoon... it just so happened to be the exact opposite of our wedding day... a complete and utter disaster!
Planning & Details
Rehearsal & Rehearsal Dinner
Before the Ceremony
The Ceremony
Portraits
*Linking up with Home of Malones for Thoughts for Thursday.
