Our Wedding: The Reception
Once we finished taking our sunset portraits, we made our way back into the house for the reception. For our entrance, we chose the song Welcome to the Jungle by Guns N’ Roses, which made for a comical start to the night.
After everyone was settled in their seats, champagne was poured and the speeches began. In total we had four and Brandon’s brother, Derek, was first up.
He started by cracking a few jokes at Brandon’s expense which had all of us laughing, but by the end, it became sentimental. It turned out to be a really heartfelt speech that ended in tears.
They are both usually very strong and poised men so it was really sweet to see them show so much emotion.
Then after that, my mom gave a beautiful speech telling me how proud she is of me and how happy it makes her, knowing that I found someone like Brandon. Of course, I cried like a big baby.
Next was Brandon’s father who also gave an emotional and beautiful speech that ended in happy tears.
Last but not least was Joel, Brandon’s best friend for almost 15 years and our roommate in college. He has seen us go through some pretty big ups and downs over the past nine years so it meant a lot to hear him congratulate us on our success and toast to the happiness of our future.
After the speeches, we enjoyed salads and a vegetarian dinner that included eggplant parmesan and mushroom stroganoff. I barely ate anything because of all the excitement but from what I remember, it was delicious.
Our first dance was to the acoustic version of Thank You by Chris Cornell.
I’ve always loved the Led Zepplin version of that song and Brandon is a huge Chris Cornell fan so when we found the acoustic version, we knew it was perfect for us.
Brandon danced with his mom to I Hope You Dance by Leeann Womack and I danced with my mom to In My Daughter’s Eyes by Martina McBride.
My mom and I were laughing because she told me that we were dancing to the wrong song. We’re still arguing about who’s responsible for that one (her!) but at least it made for a good laugh.
After that we cut the cake to One and Only by Adele.
Brandon made it clear that he didn’t want there to be any smashing of cake into each other’s face so we kept it neat and tidy.
Then it was time to get on the dance floor and make asses of ourselves!
We made a playlist based on music selections from our guests so that there was something for everyone. I was actually a little worried that no one would dance since it was such a small wedding but we had a pretty decent turn out. Brandon’s dad is a huge Bruce Springsteen fan so he was out there as soon as he heard Bruce come on.
Our friends Stacey and Jayme are from Texas and they got up and started two-stepping at one point. Unfortunately my photographer missed that shot but he did get them laughing at us from the table.
By then, it was pretty much time to wrap things. Eventually, we made our way to the car as everyone blew bubbles for our exit.
It was a perfect end to the best day of my life.
All photos are courtesy of Dustin Prickett at Sunglow Photography
The more posts you share, the more beautiful the pictures! I think your photographer captured some truly magical moments and I am so happy you’re sharing them on your blog! :) Naturally I would have emailed you excessively if you hadn’t! :) I feel like if I ever get married, I wouldn’t want to do the smashed cake thing either… Wouldn’t everything be all sticky? Bleh! Ha, I have been eating sugar all weekend long and looking at that cake just makes me want MORE!
I can imagine the tears flowed during the speeches – the few weddings I’ve been lucky to attend have had me in tears at that part too. :)
So beautiful Sarah. Your photographer did such a wonderful job, which is allowing you to relive your special day so vividly. Truly wonderful and I’m so happy for you and Brandon <3
That looks like so much fun!!!!! I’m sure everyone had a marvelous time :)
Such a beautiful wedding! Your photographer did an amazing job – the photos are so, so gorgeous.
Have I told you that I’m smitten with your wedding? Because it looked like absolute perfection to me <3 So many wonderful memories captured absolutely beautifully, and so much love :) Really happy for you, hun!
So gorgeous! I’m not a fan of the cake-face-smashing either, so I warned Riley what would happen if he did that to me! Looks like a perfect wedding day to me!
So, so beautiful! You certainly had an amazing photographer! I also really love your wedding cake – it’s simple, yet so elegant!
I love that you kept it so intimate and personal :) If I could do my wedding over again, I’d keep it small and probably do it in a more special place! Seriously so beautiful, friend, gah, you are just gorgeous :)
Yet again, these are beautiful pictures! It sounds, and looks like it was such an amazingly beautiful wedding.
i love your song selections! :)
Oh my gosh… this is the greatest post I’ve read all day! Amazing photos (you looked so gorgeous!!!), and absolutely love all of the song choices. Especially ‘Welcome to the Jungle’ — so fun!
Awww! I love weddings so much! You’ll remember everything from yours! It’s the best! I definitely wanted no cake smashing! I was like, “this is the most I’ve ever spent on makeup and probably the best I’ll ever look. Don’t you dare put cake all over my face!” Seriously though, your reception looks so sweet!
What is it about black and white photos that make me so sentimental? Lovely =)
That first picture looks so magical! I love all the trees in the background. The last picture is also beautiful! You were such a gorgeous bride!
You two are the cutest! Looks like you had pretty much THE most perfect reception. And I love your music choices – Welcome to the Jungle hehe :) Love love love!
I’m so glad you split all these up into multiple posts… I’ve really loved seeing all the intimacies of your beautiful wedding. I hope to see some pictures from your honeymoon, too!
So beautiful Sarah. The sunset portrait is breathtaking. We went through a couple of summers where there was weddings galore but it’s been a few years now since we’ve been to a wedding and now I feel like I was at yours! :) Thanks so much for sharing it with us. Your impeccable taste and elegance shined through in every detail. I wish you both all the absolute best for your future together. xxoo
It looks like you had such a blast!! I’ve loved seeing all these photos from your wedding : ) Hope to see some from Hawaii too!!
Looks like such a magical day!!
I absolutely love that you guys did all vegetarian dinners. I was so tempted to do that but everyone made me feel like meat was necessary…looking back I wish I did an entire veg cocktail hour & dinner! Maybe I’ll renew my vows at some point and have a take 2 to do that :)
Ahhh, Sarah! Just going through all of your wedding stuff now (finally…I’m seriously the grandma of blog reading). I just wanted to say how beautiful you looked. I loved your dress/hair/everything so much!! Very, very happy for you. It was all so perfect. x