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.