You're My Everything: Chatting and Cheesing at the Church

Immediately following the ceremony, Mr. Snow Cone and I stepped outside into the bright sunshine.  I was more focused on tracking down some sustenance than enjoying the beautiful weather.  Thankfully, my mom's emergency granola bar made its way into my hands in no time, and I consumed it in about two bites before kicking off our receiving line.  Take note: eating a hearty-ish breakfast at 8:00 AM will probably not be sufficient to keep you powering through until cocktail hour.  Have a designated person (or two) to carry an emergency snack supply!

For our receiving line, we opted to limit it to the newlyweds and both sets of parents.  Including the bridal party would have made the line way too long, not to mention a bit awkward, since there's no way any one of our guests would have known more than two or three of the bridal party members, and vice versa.

In the planning stage, I considered a receiving line something to do because tradition and etiquette dictated it.  Not necessarily something I was craving to do, but something I couldn't get away with skipping.  Now that I've done it, though, I can say it was one of the most structured but relaxing parts of the day.  All I had to do was stand in one spot and welcome face after face after face.  It was nice to get some one-on-one time with each guest, even if it was just a quick hug and sharing some well wishes.  Mr. Snow Cone and both sets of parents remarked that they thought the line took a while to finish, but I never felt that way.  Maybe it was because I had expectations of it dragging on for an almost unendurable length of time, but it seemed to chug along at a nice pace once it was under way.

Here's a photo of Mr. Snow Cone checking out the train of my dress.  Between having the receiving line outside and constantly stepping into and out of hugs, the train on my dress got nice and dirty.  Fortunately, by that point in the day, I didn't have a big problem with that turn of events.  Something to think about if you're worried about keeping your dress clean!
 

 
While we received our guests, the bridal party and the guests who had already gone through the line mixed and mingled.

Above 6 photos by my brother P

 Photo by family friend F

Above 2 photos by BM E

Once we had completed the receiving line, the bridal party, siblings, parents, and grandparents headed back into the church for a few quick formal portraits.  I learned two important things during this brief stretch of the day.  First, be very clear in communicating who needs to be where and when for pictures; we had to retrieve some stray family members who assumed they were off the hook and returned to my parents' house.  Second, don't forget to get a few shots of just the bride and groom in the church.  About 10 days after the wedding, Mr. Snow Cone turned to me and asked if we had gotten any pictures of just the two of us in the church.  Turns out, we didn't!  I had spaced out and forgotten to put that combination on the photo list, but it certainly isn't the end of the world.  Everyone who's seen our entire gallery of photos agrees that the church ones are lovely but the ones from later in the day are the real winners.  Those are for a future post or two, though!

Mr. Snow Cone's immediate family + his grandma:

Mr. Snow Cone's immediate family:

Mr. Snow Cone's parents:

Mr. Snow Cone's sisters:

Both sets of parents:

My maternal grandmother:

 
My immediate family + grandparents:

My paternal grandparents:

My immediate family:

 My parents:

My siblings:

With the receiving line and the church portraits wrapped up, we headed back outside, as our party bus awaited!

 Photo by family friend F

All photos by the amazing Christina Garber unless otherwise noted

• We spent a low-key night with some of my friends and family.
• We ran some errands and received some one-of-a-kind brewskies.
• I had a moderate-sized freak-out at the rehearsal.
• I went toe-to-toe with the priest over a few significant details.
• We expressed our gratitude to our bridal party, without any tears (almost)!
• We dined and drank our way through our rehearsal dinner.
• We threw an after party with a birthday twist.
• We spent the morning getting beautified and relaxing.
• A peek into the details of my wedding day look.
• I had some private time with my mom, becoming a bride.
• I revealed my bridal look, twice!
• I enjoyed a pre-ceremony portrait session with my favorite people.
• Mr. Snow Cone’s crowd modeled for the camera.
• We set the scene for the ceremony.
• I waited like a caged tiger while the processional began.
• I finally made my way down the aisle to my handsome groom.
• We listened to the first part of our ceremony.
• We exchanged our vows and our rings.
• We wrapped our ceremony and shared our first kiss!