Weddingbee Blog

Finally, it was reception time! Again we hid out in the bridal party suite while the venue’s staff ushered everyone through to pick up their escort flowers and take their seats. The wedding party entered to the first part of the Star Wars “Throne Room” theme!

(Yes that is Sister GP twirling Best Man J )

Mr. GP and I entered to the opening strains of Muse’s Starlight and I have to say, entering the reception was a little weird. Everyone was clapping and cheering for us, but I wasn’t sure what we were supposed to do! So Mr. GP and I smiled at our photogs, waved at folks, and made a beeline for our sweetheart table.

(And as some attentive readers noticed in my first post-wedding post: I switched out my sash from ivory for the ceremony to a blue one made out of the BM dress material for the reception!)

(Our table with the sun setting through the windows)

My dad started off by welcoming everyone to the wedding, and thanking the guests for being there to celebrate our marriage. Dad GP’s a really eloquent guy, and he gives presentations and speeches for his job all the time, so of course he had an excellent speech prepared.

He told a joke about the movie Father of the Bride, and then went into how happy he was for Mr. Guinea Pig and I, how much he loves us, and we love each other, and then it happened—a moment I’m not sure I’ve witnessed so clearly in my entire life. My dad had to hold back tears.

This one photo makes me cry every single time I look at it (right now included). You can imagine the tear-streaming mess I was at the reception. Dad GP tossed his planned toast out the window, wrapped up quickly, and I hugged him as though my life depended on it.

Next, Best Man J stood up, and pulled out…his iPhone?

As I’ve mentioned before, Mr. Guinea Pig essentially had two best men—one who could only be there in spirit because his daughter was born the morning of our wedding! But he had not forgotten about us, and had texted a speech to Best Man J for him to read out. It was both funny and sweet, and Best Man J executed it perfectly.

After a quick cheers for the Best Man-in-spirit, J went into his own hilarious and heartwarming toast that had us laughing and at one point even had Dad GP putting Mr. GP into a fake headlock!

Something about bachelor party shenanigans which will forever be kept secret…

Finally, it was my sister/MOH’s turn. Judging from our rehearsal dinner tears, I knew this would be a hard one not to cry through, and boy was I right. About 10 seconds into her toast, Sister GP burst into (happy/emotional) tears. Smart thinking though, she’d brought her napkin with her!

(and she may very well kill me for posting this photo, even though I love it. Love ya Sister GP!)

I tried to hold back the tears but again, only succeeded in making a funny ’trying not to cry’ face.

SoI gave up and wiped away tears with my napkin, too.

After a quick, emotion filled toast, we hugged Sister GP, did one last ’Cheers!’, and then it was time for dinner! We chose buffet so everyone could have lots of options, and the venue brought Mr. GP and I each a plate stacked high with a little of everything. I heeded the advice of those before me and tried to take a moment to actually eat dinner. All I remember is that the Maryland crab cakes were delicious.

Anyone else feel like the toasts were one of the best parts of the whole affair?

*** All photos in this post copyright Amy Deputy Photography ***

Miss something in the Guinea Pig recaps? Far Beyond Forever:

• A photo summary of our wedding
• Practice makes perfect (Rehearsal)
• Crabs and Crying (Rehearsal Dinner
• Friends get gorgeous-er (Girls get ready)
• I get Bride-ified (Miss GP gets ready)
• Guys get Dressed in 0.5 Seconds (Boys get ready)
• Our First Look
• A Guinea Pig Photo shoot (portraits of the GPs)
• Countdown to the Ceremony (ready, set, go!)
• Veil away, veil away (walking down the aisle)
• The Ceremony Begins (readings)
• Mr. and Mrs.! (vows, rings, etc)
• Family Love (our families)
• Wedding Party Portraits