Reception pt. 1

The reception lasted from 7-10 and followed this timeline(roughly):

• Brooke and Scott enter 
• Buffet dinner
• Cake cutting, best man/maid of honor/father of the bride toasts
• Bride/groom first dance, father/daughter dance, and mother/son dance.
• DJ continues to play fun reception music and Brooke can’t leave dance floor.
• Bouquet/garter toss
• Last dance
• Brooke and Scott exit

In part one of the reception, I will be recapping our entrance, the cake cutting, and the toasts. I’ll save the rest for part two!

When the reception started all of the guests, including the wedding party, had already found their seats.

Scott and I entered to the song “You are the best thing” by Ray LaMontagne, while the DJ introduced the new Mr. and Mrs. Scott and Brooke Hamilton!

We started dinner off right away, by leading the party down the buffet line. Our guests followed shortly after.

We sat at a sweetheart table, just the two of us, where we could have a little time together before the loud music and dancing started.



I didn’t have much of an appetite, but I did eat the salad and little bit of prime rib that was on my plate. We served a more traditional style dinner: prime rib, chicken, and a vegetarian option with a lot of sides to go along with it. Being a buffet, you were able to try all of the things!

The DJ played music from artists like Michael Buble, Frank Sinatra, Norah Jones, and Jack Johnson during the dinner. It made the whole atmosphere very classic and swanky.

Once most folks were through the buffet and well into dinner, it was time to cut the cake.

We picked white cake with fresh strawberries, key lime filling and buttercream icing for the wedding cake. It was a safe crowd-pleaser.

For the grooms cake, I surprised Scott with a smoker shaped cake. I was so impressed with how it turned out. But the best part was that it tasted just as good as it looked! We went with something a little more bold. Underneath the smoker was fat chocolate cake with mocha filling and espresso buttercream.



Yes, we fed each other with a fork… It wasn’t until I was looking at other peoples wedding pics when I noticed that most couples feed each other with their hands…


After cutting the cake, we grabbed our champagne flutes and headed over to hear the first toast from Scott’s best man, Jonathan.

He shared stories from their early years of friendship to their hiking days, bear encounters included… He had the audience on the edge of their seat with that story…

Bailey, my maid of honor was up next. Her toast seriously took the cake. It was incredible. Smart, witty  so hilariously funny, with a sweet ending of how happy she was for me and Scott.



My dad was up next. His toast was short and sweet. He thanked everyone for being there, and shared with us how proud and happy he was for both of us. And that he loved us.

He’s not a spot light kind of guy, so the fact that he was up in front of everyone meant so much to me. He said everything he needed to say. 

(all photo credit to Doberenz photography)

To be continued…

Cocktail hour

Eh, so it wasn’t really an hour. The cocktail hour was more like 45 min. We opened up the bar and served four kinds of h’orderves. It was open bar(score!) and people were raving with how good the h’orderves were. The wait staff served pork pot stickers, grilled brie/raspberry sandwiches(my favorite), bacon wrapped scallops and some kind of endive as our vegetarian option. Wish we got more pictures of the delicious food, but I just have this one of the pot stickers… mmmm.

While the wedding guests were getting liquored up, the rest of the family and wedding party stayed back and took a few more wedding photos and had a few drinks ourselves before joining the rest of the party.

We all gathered around, chatted and squealed with excitement. It was official, we were married! I was so giddy! Seriously, everyone had an overly goofy smile that they could not get rid of. It was such a great feeling to see everyone around us so supportive and happy for us.


In that moment, I realized that wow we just got married and I immediately start bawling! Which brought tears out of others… Don’t worry, they were happy tears!

Puffy eyes^^^^

A few weeks prior to the wedding, we were over at Thane and Amy’s house, and Thane showed us this ridiculous horse head and I insisted that he bring it to the wedding! Well come wedding day, I completely forget all about that. Thane isn’t one to disappoint… He walks over with the head and of course we have to reenact our vows.


Those pictures are hilarious! Thanks to Thane for remembering to bring it!

We were off to join the rest of the group and get the reception started!

(all photos courtesy of Doberenz photography)

To be continued…

Ceremony

Ah the ceremony…where the magic happens. This was my favorite part of the whole wedding. The food was delicious and the dancing was fun, but there’s no competition when it comes to saying your vows and becoming husband and wife. After all, that’s why you’re having a wedding in the first place, right!
Our ceremony was so us. It was simple, it was light, it was silly, it was short and it was sweet. Perfectly imperfect, and I wouldn’t have had it any other way.

Guests arrived between 5:30-6. The ceremony started promptly at 6. Our groomsmen doubled as ushers to walk my two grandmothers and mom down the aisle. They all walked down the aisle to “crazy love” by Michael Buble.
   
Once they were all seated, the processional began. Our officiant, Thane, lead the way, followed by Scott and his groomsmen.

My bridesmaids all walked out one by one.  I picked the song “love me tender” by Norah Jones. What a wonderful and fitting song for the processional. I had the DJ fade out the song once everyone made it to the alter.
  
It was finally my turn to walk down the aisle. Like I said in my previous post, I was strangely calm and at ease. I was sitting in the bridal suite, waiting for my queue to head down the stairs to meet my dad and step dad. I just kept thinking to myself I wonder how everything is going down there, and hoping that the DJ queued the songs at the right time, and how I hoped it was flowing smoothly. I remembering thinking wow, it’s really happening. I’m going to marry Scott in a matter of minutes in front of all of our closest friends and family! I was so antsy to go join everyone!

I met my dad and step dad at the double french doors where we latched arms and headed out. They were both blown away… I just remember my dad barely squeaking out the words, “Girl, you look so beautiful,” with a lump in his throat. (queue teary eyes). Bob was speechless. I walked down the aisle to “Angel” by Jack Johnson.

The moment I walked out of the doors, I could not smiling! Once I met Scott’s eyes, they were locked to his, along with my overly anxious smile.





We all made it to the alter seamlessly. We didn’t have a formal “who gives the bride away” thing, we all just hugged and my dads took their seats. I have to post these series of picture because they’re just too good not to…

Veil attack #1.

And it’s off…. (yes, that’s me cracking up…)

And it’s back on…

Thane welcomes our guests, and begins the ceremony.


Veil attack #2. This picture is actually a really gorgeous graceful picture… and that was the last of my veil. Bailey ended up grabbing it and wrapping it up around her wrist for the rest of the ceremony.

My veil apparently had other objectives that day that didn’t include staying on my head. I could have been completely bummed about it, but my reaction to it was basically like it never happened. I thought it was hilarious.

Thane did an incredible job with officiating our wedding. He scripted the ceremony with so much love and truth. He spoke humorously, loud and clear. It was perfect. He and his wife Amy are dear friends of ours and we are incredibly grateful for them.

We wanted to include Renee and Laura, Scott’s sisters, into the wedding ceremony, so we had them both read poems that we picked out. Renee read “Union” by Robert Fulghum and Laura read a shortened version of “The Art Of A Good Marriage” by Wilferd Arlan Peterson. It was a special touch to the ceremony to hear them read these sweet poems to us.

Before we knew it, we were exchanging vows to each other and exchanging rings.

I did want to include our vows, because I found it extremely helpful to read other peoples vows when we were trying to script ours.



“I,(Scott), take you, (Brooke), to be my wife, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death us do part, according to God’s holy law, and this is my solemn vow.“… and vise versa. Pretty traditional right?

The ring exchange



“(Brooke/Scott), I give you this ring as a symbol of my love and faithfulness to you.”
Through these vows before God, family and friends you’ve become one. I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss your bride!!!

Ladies and Gentleman it is with much joy that I introduce the new Scooter & Skipper Hamilton!

After we were announced, our DJ started playing “Is this love” by Bob Marley for our recessional.

I was so happy!

To be continued…

(All photos courtesy of Allen Doberenz)