You're My Everything: Dancing the Night Away

At this point in the reception, the only thing left on the to do list was celebrate.  Coming into our reception, I hoped all of our guests would have fun, and I knew with full certainty that I'd have the time of my life.  I didn't form any concrete expectations regarding how that fun would emerge; I knew that with good food, flowing drinks, and all of my favorite people in the same place, I'd be one content newlywed.  I figured that I could split my time between dancing, visiting with guests, and enjoying some of the quieter spaces of our reception.  As the evening progressed, though, it became clear that the center of the dance floor was exactly where I wanted to be.  Mr. Snow Cone was never far from my side, and we spent the first evening of our marriage dancing the night away.

 

 

 

 

 

Part of the reason we couldn't tear ourselves away from the dancing action? It was absolutely packed with our friends and family!  I have to say, the facial expressions that emerged during the non-stop dancing are quite entertaining. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Some of the highlights of all of this dancing fun?

• Mr. Snow Cone and I somehow decided, on the fly, to do an impromptu dance to Michael Jackson's "The Way You Make Me Feel."  It started out of nowhere and we just decided to go with it.  A small circle of guests formed around us while we busted a move... aaaaand then we realized that that song is a solid six minutes long.  The last third of it was spent with us taking turns wondering when it would be over and encouraging each other to tough it out.  Apparently, some of our guests even thought we took dance lessons and planned this in advance!

 

 

Above 2 photos from BM K

• Ahead of time, we made arrangements with our DJ to play both parents' first dance songs during the reception.  My older brother and sister-in-law did this at their reception, so I don't think my parents were completely shocked, but they still seemed happy and nostalgic to hear their song again.

 

•  It wouldn't be a wedding with a sizable contingent of Pitt guests without Neil Diamond's "Sweet Caroline."  As you can see below, Mr. Snow Cone's college friends were pretty amped to sing along.

Photo by FIL Snow Cone

• We also played the Notre Dame Victory March, which was one of the most fun moments for me.  All of my college friends and siblings came scurrying into the room with the opening chords; it's like some sort of collegiate bat signal or something.  Either way, I have a very clear memory of screaming at the top my lungs, jumping up and down, and clapping until my palms were red.  Quite the sight, I'm sure.

• Most of the guests formed a huge circle to sing along to Billy Joel's "Piano Man," swaying arm in arm.

Now, not every moment was spent on the dance floor.  My poor feet needed a rest!

 

As I went to rest my feet, I found my some family members enjoying the cookie room,

 

my dad, dubiously examining the groom's cake devoted to a college rival,

 Above 3 photos by family friend F

and my brothers, high school friend, and Mr. Snow Cone in a big male group hug.  Evidently, good times were had by all.

 

As the evening came to a close, my bustle completely ceased to exist.  I decided to just grab a few yards of satin and tulle and keep enjoying my wedding reception. 

Classiest thing ever?  No.  Did I mind?  Absolutely not.

Finally, 17 hours after my wedding day started, the night fittingly ended with Michael Bublé's "Save the Last Dance for Me."  Mr. Snow Cone held me tight, slowly dancing until the final chords.  Neither of us was ready to break that final embrace, so we just hugged and soaked the entire atmosphere in for a few precious seconds.  It was the perfect way to end the perfect day.

 Photo by BM K

And, just like that, our wedding day was over.  Nine years of dating, 16 months of planning, 24 wonderful hours of celebration, all resulting in one shared lifetime, waiting to be discovered and enjoyed.

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!
• We had a receiving line and posed for church portraits.
• Our wedding crashed an Amish field trip.
• Mr. Snow Cone and I strolled down a familiar street.
• We basked in the details of our beautiful reception.
• We took some fun group pictures on the golf course.
• We had a bride and groom portrait session.
• We mixed and mingled at cocktail hour.
• We entered our reception, in grand style.
• We were toasted by four special guests.
• We cut the cake and enjoyed our wedding dinner.
• I fell on my butt as we had our first dance.
• We danced with our parents to surprise songs.
• We posed for photos with big groups of our guests.
• We tossed the bouquet and garter.

You're My Everything: Flying Fabric and Flowers

The last "scheduled" event of our reception was our tosses.  We were definitely correct in our assumption that we'd have a lot of young guests eager to participate; the dance floor was pretty packed for both the ladies and the gentlemen!  See for yourself!

Photo by Mr. Snow Cone's aunt G

 

We kicked things off with the garter toss.  Traditionally (at least in my experience), the bouquet gets tossed first.  However, we decided to mix things up a bit based on some feedback from our DJ.  During the planning, he suggested doing the garter first so that the single men can't alter their willingness to go for the lacy fabric based on the bouquet-catcher.  Apparently, he's worked at weddings in the past where a less genetically blessed woman, to put it politely, catches the bouquet and the result is that no one is remotely interested in catching the garter.  Can you imagine??  I didn't have reason to think that any of our female guests were less than gorgeous or that any of our male guests would be insensitive enough to behave in this manner.  Nevertheless, we decided to err on the side of caution and go with the garter toss first.

As the theme from Mission:Impossible played, Mr. Snow Cone politely found my custom rivalry garter.

 Above 2 photos by my brother P

As the song switched to Top Gun's "Danger Zone," all the single men in the crowd lined up, ready to do whatever it takes to catch that flying fabric.

... but not before removing the youngest guest at the wedding from the fun.  The men decided this was an "adults-only" garter toss, apparently. 

 

 Above 2 photos by BM K

Mr. Snow Cone gave it a toss, and GM A emerged as the winner!

The DJ switched to Cyndi Lauper's "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" while all the single ladies formed a crowd behind me.  Some jockeyed for better position while others seemed perfectly content to hang out on the peripheries, hoping for no bouquet action.

Photo by Mr. Snow Cone's aunt G

Once everyone was in place, I let it rip!

 

Above 2 photos by my brother P

The bouquet initially got caught by two lucky ladies who both politely surrendered, allowing the other person to have it.  As a result, the bouquet ended up on the ground before GM S's girlfriend claimed it as hers.

For the final part of our tossing fun, "Another One Bites the Dust" by Queen played as GM A prepared to re-garter his former roommate's girlfriend.  Good times.  The look on his face in the below photos is pretty priceless.

Strategizing

Above 3 photos by my brother P

Finally, GM S's girlfriend decided the garter was high enough on her leg, and bopped GM A's hand with the bouquet.  He quickly surrendered as GM S looked on.

When all the fun was over, Mr. Snow Cone and I posed for a quick picture with the garter and bouquet catchers; we let GM S in for good measure, too.  And, coincidentally, GM S and his bouquet-catching girlfriend just got engaged a few weeks ago!

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!
• We had a receiving line and posed for church portraits.
• Our wedding crashed an Amish field trip.
• Mr. Snow Cone and I strolled down a familiar street.
• We basked in the details of our beautiful reception.
• We took some fun group pictures on the golf course.
• We had a bride and groom portrait session.
• We mixed and mingled at cocktail hour.
• We entered our reception, in grand style.
• We were toasted by four special guests.
• We cut the cake and enjoyed our wedding dinner.
• I fell on my butt as we had our first dance.
• We danced with our parents to surprise songs.
• We posed for photos with big groups of our guests.