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Miss (almost Mrs.) Sunhat got me thinking the other day about our own winter wedding. We are getting married at the end of January, and our Milwaukee party is going to be in the beginning of February. We chose our wedding date because it is our third anniversary. What better way to celebrate that occasion besides getting married? (Sure beats a dinner and a movie!) We chose our hometown party date because it was convenient to our honeymoon plans.
Getting married in Vegas in January is not much different than getting married there in March or October. The temperatures tend to range from the upper 30s to the upper 50s. However, the weather in Milwaukee during this time is an entirely different beast. Want to see what it looked like outside there last February?
Well, someone loved it at least
Like other blogger bees who have had destination weddings, we are going to have a hometown celebration for the people who can’t make it to celebrate with us in Vegas. The first question to ask, though, was which “hometown” was it going to be in? Mr. Mole grew up in the Chicago suburbs, and I grew up in southeastern Wisconsin. We eventually decided on Milwaukee because it is an easy drive for our friends in Chicago, it is convenient for my relatives throughout Wisconsin, and it is close to my mom. Milwaukee was also our home together for the ten months before moving to Los Angeles!
Plus Alice Cooper loves the city / Video via YouTube / Clip from Wayne’s World
So now that we had the general location, it was time to talk specifics. We are thinking of this event like a party, not necessarily like a second wedding reception. We aren’t going to be cutting a cake or dancing or throwing a bouquet or anything like that. We just want to gather all of our loved ones together for a fun celebration with fantastic food and drinks. Keeping this in mind, we quickly zeroed in on our favorite Milwaukee restaurants. In all, we contacted three of them.
What’s that? You don’t remember who I am, let alone Part I of this saga? Well, let’s start with a bit of a refresher.
I’m Mrs. French Fries. I’m a Milwaukee blogger who got engaged in September of 2008, and was married in June of 2010 in a whirlwind day that included torrential rain and awesome photos, jars of candy as our centerpieces and homemade wedding napkins for DIY decor, and the color pink. Lots and lots of pink.
For those of you who don’t want to go back and read the original post, here’s a quick refresher for you:
So, that’s the story of the napkins. But when I say I “just kind of stopped,” I’m leaving a little bit out. Okay, a pretty big bit out—this past summer, two days after our first wedding anniversary, I found out I was pregnant!
I’M BACK! …er, well maybe I’m just back for a hot minute. But! I’m so happy to be posting here again! I’ve missed everyone! Have you done something new with your hair? Have you lost weight? It’s been SO LONG! OK…maybe not. It’s been 2 months. Whatever. Let’s get to the point of this post, mmmmmkay?
~~~
Once upon a time (or really, last summer) I channeled my inner Matt Foley – Motivational Speaker, and posted about how I was going to go out and get the (sewing) world by the tail and wrap it around and put it in my pocket by taking an online sewing class. I’m happy to report that I have not resorted to eating a steady diet of government cheese whilst living in a van down by the river.
In fact, Home Ec (and married life in general!) has gone quite well and I’ve learned a lot (let’s just not talk about how I haven’t exactly finished all of the Home Ec tutorials/classes…that’s another story for another day). I’ve learned enough to sew curtains for some of our windows, two quilted table runners for our dining room table, and a tote bag (with a lining! and handles! and an inner pocket!) to carry my extra “gear” to and from work. I’ve come a long way from being scared to even thread my sewing machine, but I admit that I still have a very long way to go.
Way before all of that Home Ec stuff, though…all the way back when I was a blushing bride to be, I posted about a grand idea I had to make all of the napkins for our wedding reception. You’ll also recall that my mom had to step in and finish that project for me because I was full of ideas but low on time (and confidence!) to finish them myself. And now, just because I love remembering how they looked on our wedding day…a little bit napkin action:
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At the end of our reception, the hum of excitement of the day began to get a bit quieter. People started to filter out, the remaining candy in our centerpieces was distributed, and before we knew it, our DJ was playing our last song. I remember thinking that the end of the evening had come all too soon, and I longed for just a few more minutes to soak everything in.
Early on in my planning, I had determined that somehow, some way, we would have a photo booth at our wedding. Whether we made room in our budget to rent one, or if we made it ourselves and appointed someone to man it with my MacBook, this was something that I really wanted. Mr. FF was slightly more reserved about the idea, however. (I’m sure it had something to do with rental fees…although at the time he claimed that it was an “unnecessary expense.” Hrmph.)
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Create the honeymoon of your dreams.
In my last post, I mentioned that my *favorite* part of our reception was dancing. Little known fact about me: in general, I’m a pretty shy gal. I don’t really like being the center of attention, and have a propensity for blushing when put in the limelight. But. BUT! I love to dance. Somewhat of a contradiction, I know, but it’s true. I have kept my booty on the dance floor all night at all of the weddings I have been to in recent memory, and at the last wedding Mr. FF and I attended, he practically had to drag me off of the dance floor.
Therefore, in the weeks preceding the wedding I told everyone with a pair of ears that if they wanted to find me after dinner at our reception, they should look for me on the dance floor.
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“Make sure you eat at your reception!”
Before our wedding, this was the one thing that we heard from so many of our friends that were already married. Thus, we were bound and determined to try some of the amazing food that we had selected for our reception. Us, not eat? Ha! You haven’t seen the damage I can do to a bowl of pasta. Or a quesadilla. Or mashed potatoes. Or really…any combination of cheese and carbs.
Once they opened, Mr. FF and I took the lead and visited our three food stations. For some reason, I remember exactly what I picked out: a mashed potato martini, some pasta, and a chicken quesadilla (uhm, see above comment re: cheese + carbs).
Mashed. Potato. Martini. NOM.
After cutting our cake, we settled in for toasts!
Mr. FF’s brother / Best Man went first, followed by my sister / Matron of Honor. Of course, being that they are our older siblings (we’re both the babies in our families!) there was a little bit of good-natured ribbing going on.
With our grand entrance complete (and with Mr. FF still in one piece after his crane kick) we made our way front and center to cut our cake.
We had originally planned on a three-tier cake with a simple cake flower on the side and a Precious Moments figurine that my mom had given us (to match a bridal shower gift she made for me) to decorate the cake table. We walked up to the cake table at our reception and saw … something other than what I was expecting! It was pretty, don’t get me wrong, but it just wasn’t what I envisioned!
With family portraits wrapped up, Mr. FF and I made our way through the corridors of our hotel to the grand ballroom. You know, for a little get-together. A small fête. FOR OUR FREAKING RECEPTION!
Our escort card table centerpiece let guests know they were in for a sweet reception!
::ahem:: I’m pulling myself together now, I promise—I just still get excited every time I think about it! I had planned for months for our reception décor to look cohesive, pretty, and well…pink. And letmetellyou, when I walked into that ballroom, it literally took my breath away.
After I had a chance to calm down and dry my eyes, it was time for us to take portraits with our families in our hotel’s lobby. And by “our families” I mean my immediate family and Mr. FF’s brother, since his family still hadn’t materialized at our agreed upon location for family pictures. So, we got started and ended up taking pictures with Mr. FF’s family after our reception had started.
I know that people find family pictures boring, so I’ll try to keep these to a minimum.
Me with my parents:
After our portraits, Mr. French Fries and I drove to our hotel for family pictures as quickly as we could. Because of the rain, traffic was terrible, and as if that wasn’t enough, there was construction and detours everywhere. What should have been a 10 minute trip took us upwards of 20-25, and we were super late for family pictures. We parked our car and walked into the hotel to find my immediate family waiting in the lobby with Mr. FF’s brother/best man. Everyone from both sides of our families were supposed to be there, and everyone on Mr. FF’s side except for his brother hadn’t shown up. Um, really? Yeah, really.
Add to this that I was emotional, tired from the day’s activities thus far, we were running late, and I hadn’t eaten much so far that day. Oh, and we both were soaking wet from the rain—Mr. FF’s suit coat was drenched, the hem of my dress was stained with mud, the tiers/pickups of my skirt looked like a deflated balloon and were falling out in some places, and my hair was wet and sticking to my face and neck.
Is the stage set yet? Because, OK. Here’s where I’m going to keep it real.
When I saw my parents and my sister/MOH, the floodgates opened.
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After our bridal party portraits, Mr. FF helped me (and all of my dress, “My Big Fat Greek Wedding”-style) into the car. The dark, ominous clouds covering the sky during our bridal party pictures suddenly opened and it began to pour. Sheets of rain were falling fast and furious, and I didn’t know whether to laugh or to cry. This was the only time we had slotted for our pictures, and had a little more than an hour to get them done. I began to laugh at this point, because what good would crying do? It wasn’t going to stop the rain, and we just had to make the best of the situation.
Shortly after our ceremony concluded, our photographer Molly found me and showed me the screen of her iPhone which had an image of the current radar. She said that the weather had been gorgeous, but that “this” is what was headed our way. Want to know what “this” looked like?
Um, yeah. That’s the actual radar image of the weather on our wedding day (I Googled our wedding date with the word “radar” and this historical radar image popped up…technology is neat!).
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