Weddingbee Blog

When Mr. EB and I first started planning our wedding we had a lot of discussions about what we wanted it to feel like. We wanted the focus to be on our family and our friends—our community coming together to support our love and our relationship.

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And just like that it seemed, our wedding day was over.

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After the cake had been cut and the dance party was going strong, I found out that Kat had one more surprise up her sleeve.

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So you’ve seen our First Dance (and the disaster that preceded it) followed by our lovey-dovey sunset photo shoot…which leads us to the end of the night when everyone really took to the dance floor to get.down.

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*All images courtesy of Lisa Rice Photography unless otherwise noted.

Mr P and I love to dance, especially at wedding receptions. We burned up the dance floor at our wedding reception in Seattle and absolutely loved our band. I was looking forward to having a DJ at our Midwest party because that meant a wider range of music.
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I had no sooner put the finishing touches on the details and on my makeup when guests started to arrive. Mr P has a huge family, many of who we hadn’t seen since the prior Christmas, and we hadn’t seen my dad’s family for longer than that. The beginning of the reception was a whirlwind of hugs and hellos.

All images courtesy of Lisa Rice Photography, unless otherwise noted.

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About a month ago I celebrated my two year anniversary as a Weddingbee blogger. I figured since the one year anniversary of our hometown reception is just days away that now would be the perfect time to wrap things up.

Our Seattle wedding and reception in July 2010 was amazing and we were blessed to also be able to have a second reception November 2010 in my husband’s hometown of Fort Wayne, Indiana. My mother-in-law was an indispensable partner in planning the party. The days leading up to the party she helped me craft silk flower arrangements and put together the centerpieces. Fellow bee and dear friend Mrs Bunny drove in from Ohio to photograph the event. All images courtesy of Lisa Rice Photography, unless otherwise noted.

The party was the day after Thanksgiving at Ceruti’s Diamond Room. Our guests were welcomed by this decidedly “Pretzel” sign. Because I wasn’t a bride—we’d been married four months already—I had no qualms about doing the set up myself with help from Mr P and my in-laws. Of course this meant running around like a chicken with my head cut off trying to get ready at the last-minute, but whatever. It made me appreciate my amazing DOC from the Seattle wedding even more. All of the little details came together so nicely.
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I actually wasn’t sure I was going to have a shower for the wedding. My amazing aunt threw me a family shower (complete with ornaments and undies for the gifts!) while I was home last Christmas, which was a lot of fun! I would have called it a day at that. But apparently my mom and BMs had other plans.

As you may have gathered from my bachelorette party in Victoria, BC, I like tea. A lot. And I like tea parties even more. So, of course, my lovely BMs and aunt decided to throw a beautiful tea-themed shower in my honor. They seriously rock. Have I mentioned how much I love my family and friends?

First, let’s look at this cake that BM L made. She made it. For real. It is a tea pot. A tea pot cake. Yes, she is ridiculously talented.

And not only did it look ridiculously cool, it also tasted delicious.
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After we finished our first dance as husband and wife, it was time to welcome everyone to the dance floor and drop it like it’s hot. Yeah, I just said that.

Mouth open - unfortunately this is a pretty classic move of mine. Yes, it’s very bridal.

As much as I’m sure you’d love for me to walk you through each song that was played and the subsequent dance moves that followed…I’m thinking I’ll just share a few photos of the dance floor heating up.
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So you know how you look through recaps and think—wow, their wedding was clearly perfect. Yeah…I’m about to blow that thought right out of the water.

And to be fully honest, I’ve been dreading this part. It’s the one moment during our wedding that made me sad…and humiliated…and a lot of other emotions that I’m not sure I have the words for.

Okay, like a Band-Aid.

So after we enjoyed our delicious mini-pies, it was time for our first dance. As I’m sure all of you know, this is the point when typically the DJ introduces the couple under their new married name and invites everyone to watch as they have their moment on the dance floor. This is the time when everyone stops what they are doing, turns toward us and listens as the DJ begins to speak.

To make sure everyone is up-to-speed, my name is Melanie (as seen on our pie flags…I’m not worried about you all knowing my name). Please keep in mind my name when reading the next part.
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After the incredible toasts and the delicious dinner (that unlike many couples, we actually ATE), it was on to the tradition of “cutting the cake” - only we didn’t have cake. Nope…no cake. Need a refresher on why? Click here.

Enter the land of mini-pies.

Spoiler - our “cutting” pie is in view at the top there.

Hello mini-pies, I love you.
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So following our gorgeous ceremony, I ducked away for a quick change. Thanks to my uber talented Mom and my very generous Aunt, I was able to subtly change up my look for the reception. I’m a very lucky girl.

Enter slightly-more-glammed-up-Mrs. Frog:

Behold…hair up and new sash…faaaaancy

At this point, I didn’t know anyone was around other than Mr. Frog. We hadn’t planned a formal entrance to the reception, we just hoped to kinda slip in quietly and make the rounds. Typing that now, I realize how ridiculous that sounds…oh yeah, we’ll just slip in, nobody will EVER notice. Bride brain at its finest, folks.
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I absolutely love dancing. I look ridiculous while doing it, but it’s just so much fun I can’t help it. Mr. EB, however, is not a fan of dancing. But he promised to dance with me at our wedding, and he more than lived up to that promise (and I’m pretty sure he had some fun, too!).

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Hiya! Just popping my head back in to share a really great experience that I had at a last-minute backyard wedding a couple of months ago. I realized how much society is wrapped up in the idea that weddings take a long time to plan and cost a lot of money when I had the privilege of attending a wedding that was planned in just a few weeks time, was inexpensive, and was full of love and joy.

It started when my husband’s coworker, Jamie, asked him if we were doing anything on August 20th. He replied that we weren’t and Jamie said, “Dru and I are getting married, we’d like you to come.”

A bit of back story: Dru and Jamie had been together for close to 10 years. He had asked her to marry him a few times and she had said no each time until this summer when she looked at him and said, “let’s get married.”

He got our mailing address and a few days later, a nice homemade invitation arrived.
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After dinner was served it was time for the toast. Oh, the toasts!

Mr. EB’s best man took charge of organizing the people who wanted to speak, and I highly recommend appointing someone to do this if you haven’t already.
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