The Big Day: The Reception

A few steps from the ceremony site was the reception tent.  We had a buffet dinner and an open bar.  I thought I was wise when I budgeted 2.5 drinks per person.  Some of our guests were underage and at least one was pregnant and some of our guests don't drink at all (or so I thought!), so I assumed that estimating 2.5 drinks per person sounded reasonable. Wow. I was wrong. I was informed after the wedding that even my 91-year-old grandfather, who never drinks, had a few cocktails. Oh well. It's only money, right?! I think everyone enjoyed themselves, though! Ha ha! :)

DIY up in this thang! Spray painted glass vase + stretchy lace + satin ribbon (the same that I use for wrapping up orders!) + grocery store flowers = < $15 flower arrangement.  My Dad made the wood table numbers from some 2x4's and I etched away at the stained wood with a Dremel tool to create the number.

 

Husband Guy and I (Wife Thing) love Game of Thrones.  These are our chair signs for our sweetheart table. In Dothraki they mean "king" and "queen".

Our guest book table!  I had Father make us the wooden photo display, which showcases our photos as children and photos as a couple.

 

 

For our guestbook we had peeps sign a page of an artist sketchbook I got at the HobLob, and then add a photo of themselves taken with one of a few Polaroid cameras provided by Mother. I needed complete documentation that they were there! Photo + signature!

I adhered a clear cello sleeve/pocket on every page of the book so guests could slide in their photos.

My Dad retrofitted an old German wine crate to hold 2 wine glasses and a bottle of wine.  The box was part of our Wine Box ceremony earlier in the day.

 

Dad giving the first speech of the evening.

My dear friend from elementary school gave a speech that brought me to significant tears.  The most touching thing she said was, "Since meeting Matt, Brandy has never seemed so comfortable in her own skin."  The truth in that was too much for me.  I think I was moved to the point of, what I like to call, "hysterical crying" - the type of crying where one makes the strangest noises, mostly consisting of the sound of sucking in air and weird squeaks mixed with howls.  (The fact that I can openly "hysterical cry" in front of Matt, and not cringe inside with embarrassment, is proof enough to me that he is The One.)

Husband Guy folded the paper owls for our cake topper.  He's really into origami, so I wanted to incorporate that wherever we could.  Also, paper is pretty cheap.  [One owl (the boy owl) is slightly larger than the other owl (the girl owl). Aww!]

My grandad wearing the capelet of the Jr. Bridesmaid (his other granddaughter). :)

This is the only leather item (besides our honeymoon tags) that I made for the wedding. A little leather rectangle has been stamped with our initials and the wedding date, and then secured in our card box with another paper owl folded by Husband Guy.  With only the closest of family and friends in attendance (37 guests), most of the guests already had in their possession some type of leather item made by me.  So, I didn't think giving them more luggage tags or key chains would be very exciting for anyone.

Instead, everyone was given an origami critter made by the Groom.  Husband guy knew months and months ahead of time that he was required to make a model for each guest, and that I wanted the models to be fairly complex (to show off his skill, of course!).  I had to ride his ass to get them all made, but he finally finished all the models a day or two before the wedding.

Oh yeah. He also had to make an owl to put on all the ceremony programs, so 2x the origami-making for him. These hardcover wedding programs are what remain left over from the ceremony.  After constructing the book and sewing in the pages, I stamped the front cover of each book with a custom self-inking stamp, and then glued on an origami owl.  I mention the programs in a wee bit more detail here.

Husband Guy and I are not dancers. However, we did opt for having the traditional First Dance, Father/Daughter Dance, and Mother/Son Dance.  After these dances were finished, we danced no more! Our First Dance song: "I Will Follow You Into The Dark".  I thought it was just *perfect* for us.  Although I do recall hearing a relative whisper, "This is such a sad song..." What evs.  It touches my/our heart. :)

The song my dad and I danced to was "House of the Rising Sun".  My dad is an avid guitar player, and the song I remember him playing and singing the most when I was a child is this song by The Animals.  I believe he also told me it was the first song he learned to play on guitar.  Either way, it reminds me of him, so that is why I chose it for our dance together. Plus, it's kind of a bad ass song.

Husband guy and his mom chose Rascal Flatts' "My Wish".  It was adorable.

After one last little photo session, we collected our stuff and then got ready to leave.  I remember walking along the gravel path behind us in this photo, alone, back to the changing room inside the restaurant.  It felt so odd, and I wonder what the people eating dinner inside the restaurant thought of seeing this lone bride in her wedding dress walking along a gravel path outside in the dark.

After changing back into normal clothes (ie. Just taking off my dress and adding a shirt, as I was already wearing pants and boots), we departed the restaurant and headed off to...my Dad's house.  We left the next morning for our honeymoon in Disney.

 Finally, a shot of the tie!

So there it is - how we became a married couple! :)

Even after the wedding, I still have a To-Do list! :(

-Do something with wedding dress. Sell it? Preserve it?

-Do something with wedding pictures. Wedding album? Prints?

-Change name on EVERYTHING. F*ck.

-Plan 10-year vow renewal ceremony.

The Big Day: Couples Shots

We didn't have a 'First Look', so our photography schedule was a little hectic.  We had to get all of our 'couples shots' after the wedding.  I felt like a lot of the evening after the 5:00pm (Er... 5:10pm - NOT my fault!) ceremony was rushed anyway, because not only did we have to do bride/groom pictures, but we also had to fit in a million family shots, dinner, our dances, cake cutting, etc.  However, even though Husband Guy and I didn't take pictures together until after the ceremony, we still took a ton of pictures together. Below are just a small smattering.  We got back 10x this many, which is nice, but really, what am I supposed to do with them all?  ><

I'm sitting on a canoe at Canoe. Tee. Hee. 

 "Ok, y'all, now squish into this bush..."

Thankfully, my mother-in-law gifted me this shawl the day before the wedding.  I would have been miserable without it, as cold as it was!  Also, I was not too comfortable with my dress getting this close to the bank.  The underside of the dress is now *nasty*.

Again, we could consider ourselves lucky by having the uncomfortably cold weather.  The restaurant patrons in the building behind us had no desire to venture outside, allowing us to take pictures without having strangers roaming around in the background.

 My necklace is askew!  I wonder why no one mentioned this to me?

 Just married shenanigans!

My favorite picture of the event! 

There aren't too many "trendy" shots of the wedding (people jumping up in the air, funny bridal party shots, etc).  I had wanted the guys to wear matching socks, so the photographers could get some cute "pull up your pant legs so I can see your quirky matching socks" shots.  My brother, a groomsman, flat out refused and claimed it was the stupidest thing he had ever heard of.  After considering it, I agreed and was kind of sad at myself for getting sucked into that crap.

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