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It's my last wedding recap post, and I'm super excited to share the features of our reception. We had a blast visiting with our amazing guests, seeing our vision come to life and celebrating our new vows. Our reception venue was decided on quickly and easily - a huge, refurbished warehouse space provided the roominess and industrial feel that we wanted (my rule was NO carpet in our venue). I knew fairly early on in the planning process that I wanted to feature ladders at the reception - I'd seen a couple of cool Pinterest shots with ladders adorned with candles and loved the rustic whimsy of the look. My husband and my father-in-law are both amazing wood craftsmen, so I had my father-in-law whip up a couple of ladders to suspend over our buffet, and my mom scoured flea markets for five A-frame ladders to place around the site. Our incredible florist blew us away by adding lanterns, gold mercury glass, wooden boxes, candles, wooden table runners (that my mom made), burlap and fresh, eclectic blossoms all over the space. Seriously, y'all. She was INCREDIBLE. We also had a friend make some really fun art that we displayed around the venue that featured snippets of the scriptures that were read during our ceremony, and we chose to have guests sign a photo book of our favorite pictures together in lieu of a traditional guest book - a decision I'm so glad we made.
We also knew that we wanted to have corn hole at our reception - indoor corn hole. Hubbers made the sets, and I painted them - one a Mr. & Mrs. theme and the other one a hometown theme - Charlotte and South Portland, Maine. We loved providing our guests with another activity if they weren't in the mood for moving and grooving. I also stumbled across an old church pew at a flea market and knew it would be perfect for us to sit in as we dined.
Our reception food was a mouthwatering buffet featuring shrimp and grits, ahi tuna tacos, sage crusted chicken, cream Brussels sprouts, wild mushroom risotto cakes, and roasted vegetables. Our cake was a five-tiered almond cake with strawberry cream filling, and I surprised my groom with a surf-themed groom's cake that was carrot with cream cheese filling. Both were to die for. We had a mix of square, round and cocktail tables... we didn't want anything too terribly uniform. I really, really dislike seated dinners, and I loved the relaxed feel that our buffet and casual seating provided, plus no stress of a seating chart for this bride!
Our first dance was to Ray LaMontagne's "You Are The Best Thing," a song I listen to on repeat regularly to this day. I just love it. We had taken one dance class before our wedding, and we sort of thought we'd use some of those moves for our dance but basically abandoned the entire plan and winged it when we got there. Despite almost having a wardrobe malfunction of the breast-y variety, I wouldn't change one things about that dance. My dad chose our father-daughter song, and I had no idea what it would be until it started playing... he made the perfect selection with Rascal Flatts' "My Wish." Seriously perfect. Although, note about wedding dances: the songs feel like they last FOREVER. Literally, they feel 12 minutes long. The hubbers and his mom followed us by dancing to Josh Groban's "You Raise Me Up." It was so sweet watching them twirl around the floor.
In the middle of our escapades, my groom grabbed a mic and presented me an incredible wedding gift - my entire blog bound and published into a book. A sweeter gift could not have been dreamt up.
When it came time for us to head to The Ritz for our first night as husband and wife, we outfitted each guest with a small bag of pink and gold sequins adorned with a "Let Love Sparkle" label I designed. We walked out to a shower of sparkles... so, so, so much fun.
So here's what happened. And I'm pretty sure it could have happened to anyone.
On Saturday night whilst producing our church's worship experience, I texted the hubbers that I would swing by and visit his restaurant and sip on a glass of wine and munch on some smoked crowder peas when I was finished working. I was pretty excited about my post-work outing and then looked down in horror at what I was wearing. A mixture of fug, as it turned out (I'm having a looks crisis at the moment... hate my face, hate my hair, hate my makeup, hate my clothes, etc). So instead of going home to change because that would mean that the puppies would know I was home and want to suck the life out of me - by getting food, cuddles and a trip to the toilet, I decided to go to Target to pick up a better pair of pants (yes, it was worth the $22)... Because the leopard tank I was wearing had potential, but notsomuch for the too big, baggy boyfriend jeans I had on at the time (which, coincidentally, I'm wearing today because I feel fat).
I found a pair of skinny black pants (which was great since I needed a new pair anyway, so I could finally retire my favorite pair with the hole in the crotch that I kept "accidentally" wearing without underwear. And then when I remembered about the hole, I took duct tape and stuck it over the hole then remembered that it would rip all my skin off... anyway, they're in a bag for Goodwill now, since the impoverished aren't picky about that sort of thing). I'd also been battling a pretty nasty throat issue and upper respiratory crud, so I stopped by Starbucks for a skim, no whip hot chocolate (since I hate coffee, but the heat was so soothing).
On my way Uptown I worked on sipping my concoction and changing my clothes (oh, and driving). I began taking off my original pants and realized that I wasn't wearing underwear (naturally), so I tried to strategically drape the new pair across my nether regions while I took another drink of my hot chocolate and thought about the best method for shimmying into my newly purchased skinny pants. Instead, I panicked and sloshed my piping hot beverage all over my now-exposed lady. I used the old pair to mop up the mess and control the scabbing (still driving, naturally, because apparently you can't just get a red light in Charlotte when you need one). Gingerly I worked to pull up the new pair of pants without irritating the fresh burn. And finally, finally, gloriously they were on and secure. And I arrived at the restaurant. And my super studly chef husband came out to greet me. And I told him everything that happened on my journey. And he just looked at my incredulously and asked if I was going to blog it. And here we are.
Because the hubbers and I chose not to see each other pre-ceremony, we sneaked away with our incredible photographer for a few minutes after the wedding for some couples' shots before joining our reception fete. I am in awe of how these pictures turned out. I'm pretty obsessed with our wedding photos - not because I felt prettier than I've ever felt before or because I like seeing the fun that our guests are having - but because I love reliving such a sacred and holy day for us and seeing the pure bliss and joy and excitement that we felt... something that I know won't fade as we continue our marriage.
