Wedding Wednesday – Reception
Good Morning!
Sorry for my absence so far this week! I was having some technical difficulties, I am hoping they are resolved now π Today is the last in the Wedding Wednesday series – at least for now – I may bring it back later on to recap other weddings/wedding related events I attend in the future.
We left off last week at the end of the ceremony. From there we went to The Old Drake Hill Flower Bridge for pictures with the bridal party and Layla…
who was not very cooperative, but so cute! My mom made her this tutu so she could stand in as our honorary flower girl!
We did manage to get one good shot with her before she was taken back to the hotel, far away from my white dress, haha.
Although it was too early in the season for there to be flowers on the bridge, it was still the perfect back drop for photos. I love the rustic look of the bridge and how the color of the bridge compliments the bridesmaids dresses! I was so happy the weather cooperated enough for us to get these photos!
After the bridge, we headed the The Riverview where we had the reception. It was important to us that we were at cocktail hour and to allow our bridal party to be there, so there was a gap between the ceremony and reception to allow for picture taking. We arrived about 45 minutes prior to our other guests. We released the bridal party to warm up and get a jump on cocktail hour while we went outside for some more pictures.
I was worried about how these pictures would turn out since it was still basically winter, but the grass was green enough and the barren trees are kind of a neat background. Our amazing photographer, Alissa Dinneen, could have also had something to do with it π
After cocktail hour came introductions. Our fantastic DJ, Jeff Ladd, suggested that we use 2 Zac Brown Band songs for the introductions – “Homegrown” for the bridal party and “Loving You Easy” for our entrance. Which transitioned right into our first dance which was to “Someone Like You” by Van Morrison.
During all of the dances – our first dance, the father-daughter dance and the mother-son dance – half way through we invited our guests up to join us and dance with their significant other, father or mother depending on the dance. This was also a suggestion from our DJ and we really liked how it worked out. It got our guests up, dancing and having fun early on in the night!
My Dad, Maid-of-Honor (Steph) and the Best Man (Aaron) all gave wonderful speeches that were both heartfelt and comical. We are so lucky to have them, they are so supportive and mean so much to us!
During dinner we snuck off with the photographer to take a night shot outside right after the sun had set.
Then the party got started!
There was lots of dancing…
a very competitive bouquet toss…
cake smashing…
and Nicecream…
What more could you want!?
We could not have asked for a better day. Everything turned out just as we had hoped it would. We had the time of our lives celebrating with family and friends that traveled from near and far to be with us!