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After dessert and gifts, everyone stuck around a while and tried to squeeze a few more blissful moments out of the evening.
Mr. Joey talking to our friendor Paul
To thank all our friendors, readers, ushers, and wedding party, we bought everyone t-shirts. We wanted something fun that people would use but that would fit in our tiny budget. The t-shirts were a hit! Everyone loved how each shirt sort of represented their personalities.
This is totally Jen
Our delicious meal was followed by one of our favorite desserts—ice cream. We didn’t serve your run-of-the-mill grocery store ice cream; it was one of our favorites from a local ice cream shop, Molly Moon. It is oh so good. They have amazing flavors. I love the honey lavender, but we went with our favorites: Salted Caramel, Vivace Coffee, and Strawberry Balsamic. We love salty sweet desserts. We love popcorn with semi-sweet chocolate on movie night, and our favorite candy is a caramel surrounded in dark chocolate and topped with smoked grey sea salt from Fran’s Chocolates. Are you noticing a trend?
Lynn dishing out the good stuff
We decided early on that Papa Joey would skip giving a toast altogether – he gets too emotional and isn’t comfortable talking in front of crowds. We also decided that FIL Joey would give a toast at the rehearsal dinner. Papa Joey told me later he was glad he skipped giving a toast. FIL Joey is a professional speaker (a professor) and his toast was engaging, sentimental and perfect. Papa Joey was happy to leave it to the master.
FIL Joey giving his toast
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Yes, there was a yacht. The owner of the house we had our rehearsal dinner at lives full-time in New Zealand but has this beautiful house in the Seattle area that she stays in in summer. Along with the beautiful house, she also keeps an amazing yacht here. The kitchen in the yacht is bigger than my kitchen, and I have a good-sized kitchen. We didn’t get to go for a sail (that would have been awesome) but guests did get to lounge on the yacht.
Mr. Joey’s Aunt enjoying a beverage and the view
Mr. Joey and I have been together for 5 years and so by now, we’ve met each other’s immediate family and actually are all quite close. We’re really fortunate that we each get along really, really well with our in-laws.
Because all of Mama Joey’s family live in Seattle, Mr. Joey has had the chance to meet and interact with them quite a bit. Unfortunately for us, Mr. Joey’s extended family lives in California, he doesn’t get to see them much. I had never met any of his aunts, uncles or cousins. Thankfully, some of Mr. Joey’s family decided to join us for the wedding, and his cousin Cate even agreed to read during the ceremony.
The rehearsal dinner was a great way for our families to meet each other. Mr. Joey’s immediate family had heard of nutty Sister Joey but had never met her. I had heard stories about Mr. Joey’s cousins, but never met them. Finally, everyone got to meet.
His peeps:
Mr. Joey and his uncle
Create the honeymoon of your dreams.
Yay Lake Street Catering! The food was… well, all I can say is NOM NOM NOM! I know I’ve been singing their praises a lot, but seriously, I can’t think of two nicer people than Neil and Lynn. The night was perfect and really, that was all because of them.
OK, now that the thanking and praising is over, let’s eat!
Everybody get in line! Food’s on!
We were both REALLY REALLY excited for the rehearsal dinner. We had sampled the food beforehand (delicious), checked out the dinner site (stunning) and couldn’t wait to actually talk to all the people taking part in our big day. The week before the wedding was big blur, and we never got time to just talk to all our friends and family who flew in.
Mr. Joey entertaining the crowd.
So before I continue any further with the recaps, I want to formally introduce you to the Joey Wedding All-Stars. This day wouldn’t be as memorable, put together, or as fun without them.
Joey MOH (aka Sister Joey)
She came home from Italy, put together a wonderful shower, a rocking bachelorette party and filled the role of 5 bridesmaids.
I wish I had the pictures of the morning before the wedding and the actual rehearsal, but unfortunately they are somewhere far, far away, with all the documents on my old hard drive. Instead, you’ll have to use your imagination.
The morning was hectic. Really hectic. I had to get all the flowers done (I won’t go into details but you can read about them here), take the rest of the booze to the reception site, pack a bag, and get myself ready to be married in the morning.
I pretty much failed miserably on the 3rd and 4th tasks on my to do list. Originally, I begrudgingly agreed to spend the night before the wedding at my parents’ house. Under normal circumstances, staying there would have been fine, but because of the wedding, my parents had 7 out-of-town relatives staying with them. Their house is hot in the summer, but with the heat wave, I knew it would be unbearable. After some effective guilt tripping from Mama Joey, I agreed. I had planned to pack a bag after the rehearsal dinner and head over to my parents house.
So my plans changed when Mama Joey called 3 hours before we left for the rehearsal and said they had booked a room 5 minutes from the chapel and that we’d just stay there.
Read more…
The bachelorette was a mixed bag of fun and torture. No, I wasn’t ask to carry inflatable “boy parts” or made to get some guy to give me his underpants. It wasn’t torture because they made me wear a crown and sash (that wasn’t bad). It was because it was hot. I mean HOT! The bachelorette party took place on the hottest day of the Seattle heat wave where temperatures reached 105 degrees. I know. That’s not crazy hot. But what’s crazy is that air conditioning in Seattle doesn’t exist. The heat was torture, but the night was fun.
We started the night at Baguette Box, my favorite sandwich place. I mentioned it before. They do a modern twist of the traditional Vietnamese bahn mi. The shop closes at 5PM, so my sister arranged for us to have it after hours. We even got to bring in our own wine. Just thinking about the crispy organic tofu with avocado baguette (braised coconut juice tofu + aioli + pickled daikon + red onion) is making me hungry.
We only had about 10 people, but it was great. It was such a good mix of people from different stages of my life. I only wish my friend Katie from grad school and Claire from Russia could have made it.
After dinner, we piled into cars and headed to Pike Place Market. No, we weren’t going for the produce.
Read more…
So, in addition to the fabulous food and super awesome gift planning, sister Joey also put together some games and little extra gift for me. The games were really fun and really funny.
She made her own mini version of wedding themed Scattergories, with special game sheets.
![Love in Grey and Yellow: Learning and Playing : wedding bridal shower Scat7 scat[7]](http://www-static.weddingbee.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/18/scat7.jpg)
The categories were:
I know, I know. These recaps were promised 2 weeks ago, but I have a good excuse. My computer died and with it, I lost all of my bridal shower and actual rehearsal pictures, and some of our honeymoon pictures. I’ve been collecting pictures from friends and family so I could put together my recaps. Luckily, I had saved the really important pictures on a disk.
But now, on with the show… I mean recaps.
Sister Joey (also my MOH) lives in Italy where her husband is stationed. Due to a number of factors, she couldn’t come home to Seattle until about 10 days before the Joey wedding. Mama Joey had offered to throw me a bridal shower so sister Joey wouldn’t have to worry about it 10 days before the wedding, but sister Joey was not having any of it. She said she had a plan.
Oh, what a plan! The theme she came up with was the ABCs of Marriage.
Read more…
OK, this is the last in the mini-series about lessons I learned and things I’d do differently. Let’s talk about photography.
A lot of people have asked me what I thought about the photographer we used at our wedding, particularly since we paid so little ($300) and I found him on Craigslist. I know I’ve said this before, but I’ll just say it again for the record: we’re not picture people. We LOVE photography and love looking at other people’s pictures, but our own? Not so much. I don’t think either of us are really photogenic. Mr. Joey has this uncomfortable smile, and I just feel uncomfortable. I think we have 2 pictures of us up in our entire 3 bedroom apartment, and both were taken while we were on vacation. The idea of spending money on pictures of us we wouldn’t have displayed in our home seemed silly to us.
So, the thing about our line of thinking we didn’t consider were A) that our parents and relatives would want a billion pictures of us, B) we did want pictures of the wedding for a small coffee table book, and C) we really wanted pictures of everyone and everything else. Would these considerations change our minds about finding a photographer on Craigslist for $300?
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If I could turn back time and change some of our (non)vendor decisions, would I? It depends. Decisions as they relate to the ceremony? NO WAY! It was perfect. It was easy and carefree. The reception? Well, that’s another story.
Before I start, I want to say that I LOVE the Lake Union Café. Dann and Victoria are A.M.A.Z.I.N.G. The staff? More of the same. The food? Can you say NOM NOM NOM? People actually sought me out during the reception to tell me it was the best wedding meal they had ever had. If Dann had not been there to keep the party moving, the reception would not have happened, period. That said, there are a few details I’d consider changing about our venue and reception.
First, I would have gone for the Friday night wedding, or actually tried to wait list us for a Saturday or Sunday night wedding. The space was lovely in the day, but at night, with the candles and view of the lake? Stunning. Plus, it would have been cooler. It was a little warm in there because of the heat wave that week.
Second, I would have hired a DJ. An iPod during the daytime equaled very little dancing.
Read more…
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Mrs. Joey, Seattle Age and Occupation: 28, Project Administrator for Public Health NGO Fiance's Age and Occupation: 30, High School History Teacher Engagement Date: June 24, 2008 Wedding Date: August 2009 Venue: Eastside Catholic Chapel and Lake Union Cafe About Me: I'm a Seattle girl through and through except for the fact that I don't drink coffee. I love my job most of the time because I get to travel and work with brilliant people who are trying to prevent Malaria. I love DIY projects of all sorts, cooking, and watching sports. I'd wear anything at Anthropologie and could spend all day on Etsy. I love to travel but shouldn't because I always get myself into unbelievable situations!
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