wedding recap part 5 - the reception!

so we're all caught up now, we've discussed the rehearsal, the morning-of, the ceremony, and cocktail hour, which brings us now to the reception!

ok first of all, i'm starting to become somewhat self-conscious in that it has taken me 5 posts to tell the entire store of my wedding day.  but considering i'd been blogging about it for a year leading up to the day, i guess it's not too bad.

so with this being said, let's continue on!

as i mentioned in one of my pre-planned posts during my honeymoon, we had chosen a special song for each bridal party "couple" to walk out to, and the bridal party had so much fun deciding what kind of special moves they'd do when they danced their way out to their introduction.  i had a blast waiting in the hallway with the 8 groomsmen and 6 bridesmaids as they all practiced their moves and made sure that they were all good to go - they all took it so seriously and it was hilarious.

this crew walked in to "rock with you - michael jackson"

and then we were announced, and i LOVE this pic (although blurry) because it shows everyone's faces as we walked in to bruce springsteen, born to run :)

(c) scobey photography

after the entrances had been done, it was time for our first dance.  if you recall, pat and i did take a dance lesson but we ended up mixing what we learned with what we were comfortable with.  our wedding song was "stay with you - john legend".  i don't know how anyone else feels but halfway through the song it felt like a century had elapsed, so we cut the guy off (non-chalantly, no one in the crowd saw), it just felt so long and awkward and when people are staring at you sway by yourself in the middle of the dance floor, it becomes drawn out after 2 minutes (in my opinion!).  BUT, i will say that it was also amazing and pat and i had a blast and it was very special to us.

(c) scobey photography

after our dance we actually went in to the dining room to eat dinner (or in our case, shove the salad i'd so carefully chosen [arugula, strawberries, goat cheese and scallions with candied walnuts on the side] in our faces quickly so we could go make our rounds at the tables).  right before everyone sat down, though, my dad made a speech which was absolutely perfectly said.  i don't remember verbatim but i do remember him recollecting the amazing long weekend we'd had so far, starting with a BBQ at our house in CT on thursday night with pat's family and some of the bridal party and groomsmen, golfing with the groomsmen and pat's brothers and dad on friday and having the "best round of golf" he's  ever played, rehearsal and rehearsal dinner, right up through the moment right then.  he finished it off  by saying "if there's one piece of advice i can give you, i'll tell you what my mother told me on my wedding day - never go to bed angry!"  it was very sentimental and really special and i was so glad he got to kick the night off with his sentiments.

my dad had a different boutonniere than all the other guys, a yellow rose in honor of his two brothers who have passed away from cancer, and the purple heart for mimi, which i made for all of my family members at her funeral.

dinner (the 5 cold bites of lobster tail and the baked stuffed potato that i had, at least) was amazing.  everyone was raving about the food and that, my friends, was a huge relief.  i don't know why i was worried, but you just never know when you're catering to more than 160 people!  at one point someone looked over at me, sitting at our table by myself eating cold food and said "hey you're not supposed to be sitting there alone!" and i was thinking, "hey, let me eat!"  haha :)  it was all in good fun of course!

yum

while our dinner sat patiently at the table waiting for us, we went around to each table thanking everyone for coming and saying hello!

during dinner we had the rest of the speeches.  my maid of honor, christine, went first and she was amazing.  it was so sentimental - we've been best friends for oh God, almost 20 years?!  now that's just scary.  and her speech was just perfect - we had the laughs but also got choked up a few times.

after christine, pat's first best man, his lifelong friend from home sean, did his speech.  i should also add that he has done stand up comedy on the side, so we knew it would be hilarious but people were literally doubled over laughing.  one of the best parts was him recollecting all the photos through the years he's found of him and pat, and was looking at them other day only to find one of him and pat in the bathtub.  then he said "and this is where it gets really awkward, because that picture was only taken 2 years ago" - and he just paused for a moment and everyone started cracking up, it was so funny!  but his point was, that in all the photos he could find of important dates in his life (graduation, etc.), pat was in them too.  it was great.

THEN came time for pat's brother (and other best man), sean (yes he had 2 best men named sean), to give him speech.  i should say that the night before he warned me that he was going to "make fun of me" in the speech and he didn't want me to take it seriously, so if you get a warning like that, typically you should worry, right?  well it was nothing to worry about in the end but it was pretty hilarious - basically making fun of me for moving to hoboken 2 weeks after reconnecting with pat (FYI friends, we had about 15 college friends who lived there too, so it was a LIFE decision, not just for pat, but i've never heard the end of it from his family, it was a funny joke they'd always bring up).  all in all the speeches were great and as soon as they were over, it was cake time!

i already raved about my cake so i won't go there, but i will say that the song we chose for it was perfect ("you and me" - dave matthews) and i loved every second.  and i'll reiterate, no we did not smash the cake in each other's faces :)

after the cake cutting (see why i broke this recap in to 5 posts now?) it was time for the father/daughter and mother/son dances.  as you may recall, the father/daughter dance song was a SURPRISE to me.  my dad wanted to keep it a surprise until wedding day which at first i was very reluctant about, but then warmed up to the idea.  so at this point in the night was on the edge of my seat wanting to hear what it was!  and it was absolutely perfect and it was the first time all night that i was caught tearing up, chin trembling and all.  the song he chose was "lullabye - billy joel" and he was explaining the meaning to me as we were dancing and it was just so special.

(c) scobey photography

pat and his mom danced to "the way you look tonight - frank sinatra" and it was really special.  pat's the baby in his family of 6 siblings, and he's the youngest by about 10 years from his youngest older brother.  so to watch his mom dance with the last son to get married was just so much fun.  and look at what a great time they had too!  they were swinging around the dance floor like seasoned pros.

(c) scobey photography - there are not enough words to describe how much i love this pic!

now one last detail i HAVE to tell you about before i close up this post is my mom's dress.  isn't it beautiful?  well, she made it!!!  it came out perfect, and she couldn't have bought anything more amazing!!  i was so proud of her, and wanted to share that little fact with you too :)

dancing up a storm in her amazing dress!

and that, folks, is it!  we laughed, we cried (tears of joy), we danced, we laughed and then we danced some more.  we even beat up the beat jersey shore style.  we took hilarious photos in the photobooth and caught up with friends and family whom we hadn't seen in years.  we closed out with "don't stop believin' - journey" and then had "new york, new york - frank sinatra" play as people left the reception.  it was the perfect day and all of my teeny tiny little details came together just as i'd hoped.  when no one wanted to get off the buses at the hotel after the reception and head straight to the margarita bar instead, we just went with it and the happy vibes all around.  and our transportation home after the events?  that was just priceless :)

so that's all i have for now on my wedding (until i get ALL the professional pics of course), but i do have some more exciting things coming up soon focusing on other brides and all those little pretty details involved, and will of course recap some of our honeymoon as well. so although my wedding recaps have completed, i won't be shutting down the blog because it's become something i've really enjoyed doing, and i want to continue to hopefully help provide a daily dose of "cup is half-full" inspiration, and a break from real life :)