Weddingbee Blog

After Mr. Cardigan and I made our way to our seats with our bridal party, it was time to eat! I was looking forward to having some time to sit surrounded by all the people I love most and just relax and talk with everyone. The day had been so hectic and emotionally-charged up until that point, and it was wonderful to have some time to unwind and enjoy ourselves!

Mr. Cardigan’s grandfather started us off with a word of prayer…

And then dinner began! As you can see in the above photo, our day-of-coordinator was absolutely wonderful and made sure to set a few plates of the hours d’oeuvres at our table so we could enjoy them. And oh, did we ever enjoy them. YUM!

We sat and chatted with our friends for just a few minutes, and then the food started coming. Now, I feel totally cliche saying this because I’ve heard it a million times from other brides (and I never thought it would happen to me) but I just could. not. eat. anything. I had been extra careful not to eat much throughout the day, because I really wanted to be hungry for dinner, but I was so excited and had so many emotions surging through me that my stomach refused to cooperate. I think I had maybe 5 bites of dinner, total, which was disappointing because it was WONDERFUL!

I didn’t talk about the food at all before the wedding, because we didn’t have a tasting (crazy, I know, but that’s just how it worked out), but the food completely exceeded our expectations. We started off with a Caesar salad…

And then we had lasagna and Tuscan chicken with Alfredo pasta bundles for the main course – and yes, every guest got both of the main entrees instead of having to choose just one!

Just looking at that gorgeous food is making me hungry. Why, oh why, didn’t I eat more of it?!

While everyone was eating (and I was trying to convince myself that I was hungry…and failing), there was a lot of love, laughter and talking going on throughout the room. We got hugs from family members…

And in-between courses, Mr. Cardigan and I made the rounds to say hello to all of our guests.

My nieces enjoyed their chicken strips!

Once the entrees had been served, I noticed that some specific guests were getting a bit antsy…

The kids completely swarmed the cupcake table and started circling it like they were preparing their plan of attack. Luckily, I was sitting just a couple of feet in front of the cupcakes, so none of our guests (kids included) swiped any of the cupcakes before it was time. We let the kids drool over the cupcakes for a few minutes, then I let them know that it was time to sit back down because we had one more thing to take care of before we could cut the cake – the toasts!

But, there’s one thing I feel I should mention before we get to that portion of the night.

We had a lot of no-show guests.

Like, an entire table’s worth, plus a few more. I’d say we had about 10 guests just not show up at all.

Was I upset? A little. Did I let it get to met? Absolutely not. We had a couple of guests that had been seated at a table where no one else showed up, and I didn’t want them to sit alone, so I quickly talked to the DOC and had her shuffle a few people around, and just like that the problem was solved.

And, instead of having a completely empty table in the middle of our dining room, the vendors ended up taking that table so they didn’t have to eat separately from everyone else – I loved that they got to join in on the fun in the dining room, because I got close to most of them throughout the wedding planning process, so having them there with us felt very natural.

Plus, it helped that I didn’t have to stare at an empty table all night long.

We still haven’t heard an apology or explanation from the no-show guests, and we doubt we will. I’m still a tiny bit bitter about it, but in the end we had all of the people that truly matter to us, and we were so blissed out on our wedding day that we barely even noticed that anyone was missing.

We just spent our time focused on each other and the people who were there to support us – and it all worked out in the end.

Did you have any no-show guests? How did you handle it?

(All photos by She-N-He Photography)

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Need to catch up?

• The Week Before
• The Day Before
• The Rehearsal
• The Morning of the Wedding
• The Gift Exchange
• The Makeup
• The Dress
• The Somethings
• The Bridal Portraits
• The Family Photos
• The Bridal Party
• The Ceremony Details
• The Moments Before
• The Processional
• The Bride’s Walk
• The Ceremony, Part 1
• The Ceremony, Part 2
• The Portraits
• The Cocktail Hour
• The Reception Details