our budget-friendly wedding IV: reception

When you cut through all of the fluff (the crafty wedding paper, the themed decor, the fancy china, the rented lounge furniture, whatever your wedding may have featured), all receptions are the same. From the local VFW to The Drake, the same laughs, the same tears and the same good times are had.

What I'm about to share, no amount of money can buy...they just happen...

Nathan and I decided to completely omit some of the not-so-timeless "reception ceremonies", such as the bouquet toss and garter ceremony (to each his own, right?), and we decided to vary some of the others. For instance, Nathan and I were introduced casually, sans bridal party, to Queen's "You're My Best Friend" ...It might sound corny, but as our DJ started playing the song, Nathan looked at me and said, "I'm so lucky to have married my best friend..." As we rounded the corner, we entered the room to a roar of claps and "wooows", but I'm not sure if the smile on my face is from the crowd's welcome or from Nathan's comment.

Shortly after, Nathan's brother (BM), my father, and my sister (MOH) gave the most touching speeches I'd ever heard. (I'm sure everyone says that about their wedding...) We laughed...

...and cried. And, nearly all of our guests mentioned how touching the speeches were.

Nathan and I danced our first dance as a married couple to Making Memories of Us. Nathan's not much of a dancer (I know, I'm the lone dancer in a family of wall-flowers...), so we decided we would invite everyone to join in after the first 60 or so. The bizarre thing was, he knew everyone was staring at us, but he didn't care. He just stared into my eyes and sang to me. It was the fastest and slowest 4 minutes of my life...

Later, I danced with my father to My Wish. Because he was terrified to have "all eyes on him", we decided to make it an "informal" father-daughter dance...covertly sneaking a private dance amidst the sea of other dancers. His plan worked, no one looked at him! He kept saying, "how am I doing; should we be moving around more; why is the photographer taking pictures of us, doesn't he know how funny I look right now?" It was hilarious! But then, he got really serious and said, "this would be a lot harder for me if Nathan weren't the best mad I'd ever met..." I lost it - completely broke down on his shoulder. Thank goodness this photo was taken just before. It's one of my favorite photos from the entire evening.

And then we danced and danced...

and danced (with some air guitar)...

...and danced some more... (Name that tune: "a little bit softer now, a little bit softer now...")

We wrapped up the evening with a photo shoot in the stacks... These are my FAVORITE photos from the entire evening, bar none. Even though it was relatively planned out, the photos seem to have captured our stolen moments.

...okay...enough said on that subject... ;)

photo credit: Essence Photo and Video

17 comments:

Hannah said...

Awwww-- I seriously LOVE those pictures!!!

Anonymous said...

i love those pics in the stacks. romantic and naughty. very nice.

Hannah said...

Oh by the way

name that song: You make me wanna SHOUT!

I cannot WAIT to dance to that song at my reception!

said...

beautiufl photos! thanks for sharing!!

Anonymous said...

I love the pictures of you with the books! Fun to see your day...

Confessions of a Northern Belle said...

the stacks photos are brilliant!

Laura said...

Hey I was just looking through your list of vendors on your sidebar (awesome! I need to do that) and saw that you worked with Honeybee for your coordinator. Did you work with Marilyn or Misse? I'm meeting with Marilyn tomorrow and wanted to see if you could share any insight on working with them (pros, cons, advise, etc). Would be greatly appreciated :)

Thanks & love the blog, a lot of great d-i-y resources!

Laura

jessica lynn said...

yes, the pictures in the stacks are my favorite. love them!

Colleen said...

Thanks for the kind words, everyone! It made my day, literally!

Laura, Honeybee was fabulous - fab-u-lous! Shoot me an email and I'll tell you more; I don't want to spoil my upcoming Honeybee vendor review. theeverydaybride at gmail dot com.

EngiNerd said...

Your photos are great you really had a beautiful wedding! Would you pass on the contact info for your reception site?

Colleen said...

Hi EngiNerd (LOVE THAT NAME! Too funny!) I tried to find your contact info on your profile, but no such luck. Send me an email at theeverydaybride at gmail dot com and I'll tell you everything you need to know about the venue.

It's A Jaime Thing said...

Congratulations!!! You made a gorgeous bride and those pictures are awesome. I wish you both all the blessings for a long, happy & healthy life together. Cheers!

Sincerely,
Jaime

It's A Jaime Thing said...

P.S. I've added you to my Newlywed list - yay!

See it at:

http://justjaime28.wordpress.com/2008/10/22/wedding-blogging-newlywed-list/

Colleen said...

Thank you Jaime!!! You are too sweet!

Jessica said...

Your dress is EXACTLY what I'm looking for. Do you have a post telling more about it? I'm a brand new reader :)

Colleen said...

Hi Jessica!!! Welcome to The Everyday Bride! And, thank you! I happened to love my dress more than any other detail in the wedding! Seriously. It is a preowned 2004 (or maybe 2005) Vera Wang that I got for only $800!!!!! I know, the deal of a lifetime!

I don't know what your budget is, but if you're trying to pinch pennies wherever possible, a preowned or sample dress is a great way to do that! Cities all of the country (including Atlanta) have stores dedicated to sample and preowned dresses, along with preownedweddingdresses.com, and of course, Ebay (but I would only consider local options on those websites...so you could try the dress on). Another good option would be a sample sale - I have a friend who got a 4k dress for 1k at a Priscilla of Boston sample sale.

I hope this info helped! Feel free to contact me again if you need any other info!!!

Unknown said...

Wow, those BM dresses are beautiful! Where are they from? It's hard to find such a great purple color.