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!)

Our Sweet Beginning: The Ceremony

After getting most of our pictures out of the way, the bridesmaids and groomsmen climbed into separate limos to head to our ceremony site. When I pulled up with my girls and saw the gorgeous job our florist had done with the aisle, I was so giddy! Everything looked even more beautiful than I had pictured in my head. We were a bit early, so we sat in the limo (hidden by the tinted windows) and watched guests arrive and mull about before finally taking their seats.

Brian and I wrote our wedding ceremony and vows ourselves, borrowing from elements we read elsewhere and liked. I have included our readings here because they have so much meaning to the two of us.

Aisle and quatrefoil wedding programs

Ceremony musicians and personalized water bottles (see more here)

Reserved seating signs for our families

Before the ceremony started, our ceremony musicians played "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring" by Bach as our groomsmen escorted the grandmothers...

...and the mothers down the aisle to their seats.

My beautiful bridesmaids walked down the aisle to "Largo (from Xerxes)" by Handel.

After our ring bearers and flower girl made their way down the aisle, it was finally time for me to make my appearance.

My dad escorted me down the aisle to marry my groom to Pachelbel's "Canon in D." I still get chills every time I look at these pictures.

After a greeting from our pastor and an opening prayer...

 ...Brian's Aunt Bernie read Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 and my Aunt Kathy read a traditional Jewish prayer, the Shehechyanu.

 "Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor. If either of them falls down, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up. Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm. But how can one keep warm alone? Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken."

"Blessed are you, Lord our God, Creator of the Universe, who has given us life, sustained us, and brought us to this joyous moment." (This prayer was read in both Hebrew and English.)

My cousin Prudence read Robert Fulghum's "Union," an excerpt from his book From Beginning to End; The Rituals of Our Lives. I fell in love with this passage the first time I read it (and you may also recognize part of it from the pallet sign I made for our kitchen.)

You have known each other from the first glance of acquaintance to this point of commitment. At some point, you decided to marry. From that moment of yes, to this moment of yes, indeed, you have been making commitments in an informal way. All of those conversations that were held in a car, or over a meal, or during long walks – all those conversations that began with, “When we’re married”, and continued with “I will” and “you will” and “we will” – all those late night talks that included “someday” and “somehow” and “maybe” – and all those promises that are unspoken matters of the heart. All these common things, and more, are the real process of a wedding.

The symbolic vows that you are about to make are a way of saying to one another, “You know all those things we’ve promised, and hoped, and dreamed – well, I meant it all, every word.”

Look at one another and remember this moment in time. Before this moment you have been many things to one another – acquaintance, friend, companion, lover, dancing partner, even teacher, for you have learned much from one another these past few years. Shortly you shall say a few words that will take you across a threshold of life, and things between you will never quite be the same.

For after today you shall say to the world –
This is my husband. This is my wife.

Then, it was time to say our vows. I tearfully listened to Brian before reciting mine.

"Lauren, I choose you to be my wife, my love, and my best friend. I will share my whole life and all that I am with you. I will be faithful and truthful to you. I will respect, trust, and help you. In distance and in closeness, in laughter and in tears, I promise to grow our love for each other every day of our lives. With every beat of my heart, I will love you."

"Brian, I choose you to be my husband, my love, and my best friend. I will share my whole life and all that I am with you. I will be faithful and truthful to you. I will respect, trust, and help you. In distance and in closeness, in laughter and in tears, I promise to grow our love for each other every day of our lives. With every beat of my heart, I will love you."

After our vows, we exchanged "I dos" and our pastor blessed our wedding bands before we slipped them onto each others' fingers.

He then read 1 Corinthians 13:4-8a, 13 before offering a prayer for our marriage. 

"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no records of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.

And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love."

Finally, we were pronounced husband and wife! Brian was told to kiss his bride, and I don't even really remember leaning in and hugging him afterwards.

We linked arms and walked back down the aisle to Mendelssohn's "Wedding March" as husband and wife! Married! Pure joy.

We were followed by our wedding party...

...and our families.

After snapping a couple of quick pictures with our bridal party, they were off to cocktail hour. Brian and I hung behind for a bit for a couple more pictures of the two of us before climbing in the limo to head to our reception!