Weddingbee Blog

Recently I posted about our cocktail hour on the Church Street Marketplace. Today I wanted to tell you about our reception.

Here we are at the end of the bar at the beginning of the reception

For our reception I knew I didn’t want a formal hotel ballroom affair. Because we were planning on a small wedding our options were open to other kinds of venues. We ended up choosing a great restaurant right downtown around the corner from our church. We took over their second floor with great vaulted ceilings and a great vibe for the evening. It was so relaxed and festive. We decided to use their beautiful old bar as a “head table” of sorts. The head table is a tradition I don’t really like, so instead we just sat our young, single or unmarried friends with us at the bar and had two long tables of 18 to seat our 45 guests.

We started the reception with a first dance to Louis Armstrong’s “Kiss to Build a Dream On.” It was a last minute decision to dance so we hadn’t had dance lessons and it wasn’t really choreographed, but we had a great time anyway. For the week before the wedding we danced to our songs once or twice each evening to get comfortable and I’m really glad we did it.

I was blown away by our florist, Dana Barrow of Fresh Floral Design Studio. See my post, Cocktail Hour & Reception Details for some more images of her work!

We had a great menu as follows (again everything in print was lower case letters):

soup du jour
or
grilled pita salad
tomatoes, red onions, cucumbers, calamata, olives, feta and romaine

main

sautéed statler chicken breast
mushroom trio, prosciutto, green olives, sherry, herbed mashed potatoes and grilled asparagus

grilled beef tenderloin
lobster béarnaise sauce, roasted ratatouille and saffron mashed potatoes

paella
lobster, shrimp, mussels, chicken, chorizo, bell peppers, peas and rice served with a tapenade aioli

exotic mushroom ragout
served over crisp mascarpone polenta cake and sautéed spinach

sweets
wedding cake
chocolate almond cake with ganache and praline buttercream
and
vanilla cake with lemon curd & raspberry preserves

daily selection of sorbets and ice creams

The cake was from a great bakery in town, Mirabelles. Allison, the owner/baker did a great job. I provided the Marzipan Pears and the cake stand (from VT Tent Company) and she did the rest!

Listening to my bridesmaids sweet toast

Mingling and enjoying our guests during dinner

Beautiful bridesmaids stop to smile for the camera

Listening to my brother’s brief but thoughtful toast

My brother-in-law giving his HYSTERICAL toast! Seriously — it was priceless — my side hurt I laughed so hard. He promised me a copy for my scrapbook.

Dancing with my mom

Friends dancing up a storm

Everyone watching our photo slide show at the end of the night

The best part was everyone had such a nice time!

What are your reception plans? Will it be a large formal affair in a ballroom or a smaller more intimate celebration in a restaurant or under a tent? Or are you doing something totally different?