Although we put most of our energy into planning the little details of the ceremony, we did not neglect the details of the reception. After a sweet ceremony, there is nothing we wanted more than an even sweeter, but more fun reception. We stayed with the vintage “sweet love” theme we had going through the whole wedding. While Mr. CS and I were out taking photos, the guests helped themselves to Chex Mix, wine, beer, and root beer from a root beer keg. I’m a HUGE root beer lover, so we wanted to include that in our special day.
We re-entered the reception hall around 6pm as Mr. and Mrs. It felt so wonderful to see all the guests spread out at their tables cheering us on!
The hall was huge! The owners very generously allowed us to open all three rooms complete with 180 degree views of the outdoors so that the guests would not be confined and the reception would feel as though it was outdoors.
To the left of the head table in the photo above was a candy buffet table. My mom spent the entire week before the wedding baking cookies and confections to mix with the candy I bought online. It was a huge hit!
Am I making you hungry? :P
The tables were also decorated with the theme in mind. My mom and I collected hundreds of vintage and vintage-inspired vases, jars, and containers to hold the centerpiece arrangements.
Here are just a few (since each table was different):
The flowers included ranunculus, hydrangeas, spray roses, craspedia, dahlias (to replace peonies which were out of season which were my dream flower), and various filler flowers. Around each napkin, I tied yellow polka dot ribbon. Not pictured are the lemon wedges that were later placed on each water glass to bring in more sweet color.
After we entered the hall, my Dad lead a very sweet prayer.
Then we chowed down! I don’t have any professional photos of the food, but trust me, it was good! Being the foodies that we are, we gave our guests three options: Boursin stuffed chicken, stuffed pork loin, or rosemary-infused sirloin steak. All were served with asparagus and mashed potatoes.
After dinner we cut the cake. Although my husband has a degree in pastries, we decided to serve plated sheet cake to the guests and went with a simple small cake (that was supposed to have a peony on the side) to keep at the candy table. We topped it with a “Just Married” banner from Etsy and bride and groom salt and pepper shakers (which are something we collect). We did not keep our cake (it’s very sad) because we couldn’t find our portable cake stand which was later found buried in Mr. CS’s trunk. Oh well!
To spruce up the sheet cake, we had the bakers place a red fondant heart (that looked like my shoe clips) on each slice. We don’t have a photo, but it was really cute!
Next came speeches that were sweet and hilarious!
Mr. Converse Sneakers then thanked everyone for the support and for coming. He was extremely nervous to speak in front of everyone, so we made him a list of speaking points and even practiced the week before. It was so sweet when he got up there and called the guys “grooms maids” and the girls “bridesmen.” I wouldn’t trade that moment for anything!
Then became the party time!
We danced our first dance to “God Gave Me You” by Dave Barnes. I was kind of annoyed that it became a country song sung by Blake Shelton shortly before the wedding, since I wanted a unique song not a lot of people had heard. Oh well, Dave Barnes’ version is much better, in my incredibly biased opinion!
My dad and I danced to a song he picked, “Just the Way You Are” by Billy Joel. He picked it while in the car thinking of songs a while before the wedding and began crying when he heard it. He’s not one to tear up easily, so I knew it was the right song! I asked him why he wasn’t emotional again when we were dancing to the song at the reception and he told me that he had just enough champagne and wine to keep him from crying. I couldn’t help but laugh!
My husband danced with his mom to “A Song for Mama” by Boyz 2 Men, which has meant a lot to him for many years. They both teared up thinking about his grandma (her mother) who passed away many years ago but was definitely present the entire day. I wish I could have met her – she meant a lot to my husband which means she was a phenomenal woman.
Our previously MIA flower girl was more than ready to hit the dance floor, so we started it off before everyone joined us and we didn’t stop dancing until the clock struck midnight!
I don’t have photos of the garter toss or flower toss, but let’s just say I may have gotten my new husband to shimmy it up on the dance floor in order to give him permission to take my garter. I don’t think I’ll ever get him to do it again!
One of my favorite songs that came on (which I requested) was Glee’s version of “Don’t Stop Believing.” I’m a self-proclaimed Gleek, so my wedding wouldn’t have been complete without it, or without my friends and me screaming the lyrics until we lost our voices.
It was a picture-perfect night. Even the moon reflected our full hearts. I heard a full moon means good luck, as does rain which we got that morning.
And that was our wedding day in a nut shell! If you missed any, you can read about them here.
What is your favorite part of weddings?
My favorite part of a wedding is when after the ceremony is completed, they introduce the couple as man and wife. Always makes me cry! Every part of your wedding and reception looks beautiful and fun!
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