"Oh please, God, don't let my dress catch fire."

I'm joining in on the fun with the twitter wedding blog hop!

Unfortunately, I don't have the disc with all the images on it with me, so I'm taking these off the Photos By Mandi proofing site. And, while we're on the topic of Mandi, if you live in the DC area and need a fantastic photographer, you need to contact her ASAP. Not only is she a great friend but she's great at what she does.

My favorite picture of getting my hair done, I felt like I was in the 50's with the big round dryers!

P.S. If you need a password to see any of these, it's "jones"

My shoes!

My grandmother's real pearl necklace that my grandfather got her for their 25th wedding anniversary

Me & five of my six bridesmaids (I should probably mention that this was New Year's Eve. It was about 30 degrees outside and raining.)

love this one with the beautiful view of downtown Charleston

all the bridesmaids, this time

(left to right: Jenna, Michelle, Summer, me, Kathryn, Rachel, Jymme)

Our wedding and reception were in the same spot. It was a big, open banquet room with a stage at the front. The stage is where the ceremony took place, and everyone was already seated at their reception tables to watch the ceremony. It worked quite nicely! Here's one of the tables

h'or dourves, served before the ceremony: grapes, pita bread with two kinds of hummus, veggies, and cheese. Keep in mind, we had a New Year's Eve wedding. The ceremony started at 7:30 PM and the reception ended after the midnight toast. We wanted a later ceremony, but the older folks were against it.

The violinist, who played Amazing Grace as I walked down the aisle. I don't remember what she played for the bridesmaids but it was beautiful. She was a high school friend, named Alasha.

Pictures of the twelve bridesmaids and groomsmen walking down the aisle to the stage.

My brother Zeb and niece Dora

& Maggie, the second flower girl (and Dora's sister)

Me and my grandpa walking down the aisle

view from the stage

The whole time I was up there I just kept thinking, "Oh please God don't let my dress catch fire." I was later informed that several guests had their pitchers of water ready to throw on me just in case.

And the best part of the ceremony? No, not the kiss. My brother laying down with his ring bearer pillow, taking off his shoes, and pretending to nap. But not before he told the preacher, "Sssssh! You're not allowed to talk up here!"

Now, immediately after the wedding party walked off the stage, the curtains opened and there was an improv group on stage to entertain the audience while the wedding party was getting pictures taken. Sadly, I don't have any pictures of this, but I heard it was so much fun and the guests really enjoyed it. The theatre group was from a local high school, the director being my old theatre director, and the actors were some of her students. We had wanted to do a mystery dinner to surprise the guests and really make it a wedding to remember, but the group couldn't get together enough actors that were allowed to travel so far over winter break. I don't blame their parents, really. I'm extremely thankful for the ones who were able to come and I still think the guests will remember that part.

 

Back to the pictures!

The cake! It wasn't gigantic or outrageous (though it did feed over 500 people by cake standards), but it was simply gorgeous and tasted better than ANY cake I've ever had in my life. We had three flavors: peanut butter & jelly, bananas foster, and chocolate peppermint (it was the best).

Our meal was a breakfast buffet with everything you could want, including an omelette station. We also had two types of pasta for those who didn't want breakfast at 10 pm, and for the kids, in the building's lower level, we had homemade pizza and cotton candy (which a lot of the wedding party snuck downstairs for). We even had an ice luge at the open bar! 

our rings in the cotton candy

ice luge!

the foyer table with guest book and party favors in a basket on the floor (all the usual New Year's Eve stuff)

And here are some random reception shots (the first one is of Mike and the photographer, Mandi [isn't she cute?])

Oh, and did I mention we had a photobooth? Yeah, totally did. It was set up in the foyer and people were welcome to get as many silly or formal pictures taken as they wanted. We even had props for them. Unfortunately, only like 10% of the guests used it which kind of sucked because our wedding favor was an 8x10 picture of you or your family at the photobooth. Not many people ended up getting favors since they didn't participate. Oh well! Here are some pictures from it, and again if you need a password it's "jones"

We all decided that it was a good sign if the preacher left the party with a tie on his head.

We still haven't gone on a honeymoon, and we don't have one planned for the near future but I'm hoping & praying & dreaming that I get one. Mike & I haven't had much time together as people. We got pregnant three months after we started dating and we've been Mommy & Daddy since then, those of you with kids know how hard that is, and I'm craving a chance away from it.

Hope you enjoyed the blog post! I loved sharing it with you!