Our Sweet Beginning: Reception Fun and Sparkler Exit

Brian and I are gearing up for a weekend away in celebration of our first wedding anniversary! In some ways, it feels like we just got married yesterday; in others, it seems like I can't remember what life was like before we became husband and wife. I promised myself I'd have our wedding album done before the year mark (check!) and that I'd finish up these blog posts recapping our wedding day. Can you say "slacker"? But alas, here is the last installment of our wedding recaps -  reception fun and our sparkler exit! Mission officially accomplished. :)

After getting all of the formal reception festivities out of the way, it was time for the party!

You can see some of the pictures from our wedding photobooth here. :)

These next few pictures crack me up. Brian and I never really had a "song" while we were dating, but we'd often jokingly serenade one another with K-Ci and JoJo's "All My Life." Imagine my irritation surprise when Brian had his best man request it...I love how Kristi is pointing accusingly at Pat as I'm realizing what he did. So we danced to the cheesy 90's song and I guess it wasn't so bad. ;)

During the reception, Brian and I snuck away for a little while to play with sparklers and get some pictures behind the Resident's Club. They include one of Brian's favorite pictures from the whole day (the black and white one below), and the ten minute break from the action was definitely welcomed.

We made it back to the party just in time for a couple minutes of dancing before the last song: Journey's "Don't Stop Believing." In college, the little bar/club (although it's a stretch to even call it that) I'd often go with my sorority sisters always played it as the last song. It was a nice little trip down memory lane. :)

Brian and I hung around for a couple minutes while our guests made their way outside for our sparkler exist.

And, because I'm obviously going for overkill, here's a little snippet from our wedding video done by Cord3 Films (formerly GM Elliot Videography). We seriously love our wedding video - you can see the trailer here.
          
          

The whole day went by so fast, and I just remember being kind of shocked that it was all over. It was easily one of the best days of my life, and I think I've gone through all of the pictures at least once a month since that day last May. More importantly, I love the marriage we've built over the past year. I'm seriously proud of our commitment to each other and excited to celebrate our happily ever after at the beach this weekend!

A very happy first anniversary to my handsome husband!

Our Sweet Beginning: Reception Festivities

Before we could begin our reception, there were a couple of minor details to attend to. While Brian scouted out our cocktail hour (which I actually never got to see), his mom and sister bustled my dress before the festivities began. Brian returned with bacon-wrapped shrimp, and we briefly stuffed our faces before it was time to get moving (again)!

Eventually, everyone made their way from cocktail hour to their seats. To kick off the reception, my parents and Brian's parents were announced into the ballroom...

...followed by our amazing bridal party (including a ring bearer with some hilarious dance moves.)

Then, it was our turn...for the first time as Mr. and Mrs.!

We walked into the ballroom and straight into our first dance, to Brad Paisley's "Then." This was a part of our reception that I was super nervous about; we had taken a couple of ballroom dance lessons over Spring Break, but hadn't been together very much to practice. In the end, though, everything was fine and it felt like it was just us out there together. During our dance, we played a slideshow of pictures from throughout our relationship. Secretly, I was trying to make sure people weren't just staring at us the whole time we were dancing; I think it worked!

After our first dance, I danced with my Dad to "What a Wonderful World" by Louis Armstrong, and Brian danced with his Mom to Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Simple Man."

After the dances came the toasts. First from my Dad, who gave us some heartfelt marriage advice and closed with the poem he had written that morning.

Brian's best man, Pat, talked about their relationship throughout their time at West Point together. He called Brian a "leader of men," which I thought was such an incredible compliment, and talked about how Brian is defined most of all by his faith.

And my sister and maid of honor, Jennifer, toasted to our new married life together, lovingly hated on my blog, and begrudgingly admitted that she thinks I'm super cool (I'm paraphrasing, but that was the jist. ;)

After a prayer from our pastor, it was time to eat! 

Brian and I quickly took a couple bites of food (which was delicious) before we made our way around to all of the tables of guests. We finished our mingling just in time for the party to start!

My main goal in planning the reception activities was to get most of the "formal" things out of the way first so that the rest of the night was free for dancing and socializing. After dinner, we went straight to the good part...dessert! Brian and I agreed beforehand that there would be no cake-smashing, and although I had a brief second of doubt, he stuck to his word. We cut our cake to James Taylor's "How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You)." I'm still kind of mad that that was the only bite of cake I got. I guess I did stuff a whole coconut cupcake into my mouth later in the night, but I was starving so I'm not sure I even tasted it. All that stuff they say about not eating at your wedding? 100% true.

While the caterers cut the rest of the cake to serve to our guests, I tossed my bouquet!

My sorority sister, Megan (who is coming to visit me in April!), caught my toss bouquet. When I went up to hug her, she whispered, "Is there a garter?!" I think she was completely relieved when I said no. :)

My sorority, Phi Mu, has a tradition of singing to the bride on her wedding day. So, my girls unexpectedly sent our DJ one of our songs, "Picture a Girl," and they surrounded me to sing. I am so lucky to have found lifelong friends in these girls. After the song, they presented me with our sorority's flower, the rose carnation. My flower girl, Zoë, joined in, too. Future Phi Mu? :)

Only two wedding posts left before I'm officially done our recap....reception fun and our sparkler exit!

Our Sweet Beginning: Reception Details

After the ceremony, our wedding guests headed to the gorgeous country club where Brian and I had done our first look. Our caterers were amazing and set up the entire reception for us...so neither of us had seen the room completely finished. During cocktail hour, we got to sneak in and see the finished product. Everything was even more beautiful than I had pictured!

Most of the time I spent planning our wedding was dedicated to brainstorming things I could do to personalize the reception and creating DIY projects that would keep us within our budget. This post is dedicated to all of the little details from our reception that I worked so hard on! It was so exciting to see all of our ideas come to fruition.

Our invitations

Seating Chart

Brian and I opted to have a sweetheart table for the two of us with tables of our bridal party and their dates surrounding us. It was nice to have the (very limited) time we sat eating to the two of us.

Our reception tables had three different centerpieces: a tall and short floral centerpiece and a centerpiece inspired by a trip to Tucson. We also named our tables after places we had traveled together and included a picture of the two of us in that place on the table signs.

Our signature drinks were also an ode to our journey together: The Del Coronado Pacific Cooler (the drink I had at The Del after we got engaged), The Sunset Margarita (Brian's favorite drink from our trip to Key West), and Peach Wine (an ode to our new beginning in Georgia).

At each place setting was a jar of peach preserves, our favor to our guests and another nod to our new beginning, and a dinner menu.

Our cake and cupcakes were made by Desserts by Rita. Not only were they pretty, they were so SO yummy.

I made both the cake stand and cupcake stands but never got around to blogging about them in the last-minute craziness before the wedding, so I've linked to others' tutorials. :)

I made our guest book on MyPublisher using our engagement pictures. I love looking through it!

Beside the guest book were memorial candles celebrating the lives of family members who have passed away.

Next to our photobooth was a sign explaining that guests should leave an extra copy of their photo strip for us to keep. I painted a canvas with one of our monograms and made it into a memo board where guests clipped their pictures.

This is not exactly a reception detail, but I know as a bride I was stumped about what to get my bridesmaids as a gift. I ended up gifting them a personalized bracelet from The Vintage Pearl (love!) and a Coach wristlet to use the day of the wedding.

A last minute project (the week of our wedding and my graduation!) was the flip flop basket. I was so glad I put this together because the flip flops were much-needed for dancing. My feet were killing me by the end of the night!



When I was planning our wedding, there were so many details and projects I wanted to tackle. Of course, I didn't get around to all of them but I was so happy with how much I was able to accomplish (especially in the midst of my last year of graduate school!)