Mr. & Mrs. !!!!!! - Part 6 - Reception - Cakes & Toasts

More of our Wedding Reception:  The Cakes and Toasts

If you missed the previous wedding posts, click here.

The main cake was the centerpiece our of reception.  Not only did it sit between the barn and the tent, where everyone had to walk by, but it showcased the awesome talents of one of my best friends, and Matron of Honor, Alisha.

I gave her full leeway on the design of all three of our cakes (we had this main cake and two smaller cakes on the dessert table).  I provided a couple of pictures of things I liked and gave her some general guidelines, but otherwise I said "Surprise me!"

She did such a fantastic job!!  Her creations were the highlight of our dessert-only reception!  I loved how they all coordinated, but were very unique on their own (remember how I mentioned that with the table decor here?)

Did I mention the cakes (all three) were her (and her hubby's) wedding gift to us??  She wouldn't even let me pay for supplies!!  And then she drove them all from 2 and a half hours away, set them all up and still fulfilled all her Matron of Honor duties without skipping a beat.

Here's a close-up of the detail on the main cake - it's soooo cute and sooooo perfect!!

The two smaller cakes (and when I say smaller, they were still good-sized cakes, just smaller than the main cake), sat on the dessert table.

Aren't they too cute?? 

I couldn't have imagined anything better!!!

Right before we were gonna cut into it....

Isn't it cute how our pose below looks similar to the cake topper?  It wasn't on purpose, our photog just happened to catch it.  Speaking of the cake topper, it was a gift from my Granny & Grandpa at one of our wedding showers.  Surprisingly, my mom had a smaller one that was exactly the same and since I wasn't sure which one would fit the cake proportionally (since I didn't know what the cakes would be like exactly), we brought both to the wedding and one ended up on the cake, while the other sat next to the cake on the table.  A little odd, I guess, to have two cake toppers there, but I thought it was kinda cute.

Time to cut....

Nope, no cake-shoving-into-my-face-messing-up-my-make-up from my sweet man.

And even though I gestured at first like I was going to get him good......

I didn't.

Then it was time for the toasts.  Shannon represented my Matrons of Honor and gave hers.  It was really touching, her toast was actually a letter she had written to me and printed on blue paper, that was my something blue.  She spoke of trips we'd gone on together, the similar paths our lives have taken and just being single gals together waiting (and being patient) for the Lord to provide husbands for us.

Then Mark, the Best Man, gave his.  It was sweet and funny.  Mark talked about what a genuine guy Brandon is and how there's no one quite like him.  I couldn't agree more and I try to remind Brandon often just how exceptional he is.

Then it was time for that intertwined-arm-sipping thing.... (they don't teach you this wedding stuff anywhere)

.....Brandon spilled a bit of his sparkling grape juice in the process.  Good thing it was the "white" kind and mostly clear so as not to stain his tux vest....or my dress!

Our cakes were two different flavors - chocolate with butter cream icing and strawberry with cream cheese icing.  They were SO yummy!

And a shot of our fun turquoise napkins with silver writing.

To give credit where credit is due, the majority of the above photos were courtesy of jhendersonstudios.com.  The rest are from friends and family.

We made sure that someone filled a large tupperware container full of cakes and desserts for us to take on the honeymoon since the bites of cake we fed each other when we cut the cake were the only tastes we got of anything at the reception. 

Two more wedding posts to go - thanks for reading about our special day!!!

Throwback Thursday

Always a Bridesmaid.....at least I was until May 28, 2011!

For today's Throwback Thursday, I thought I'd share about the 7, yes 7 (!) times I was a Bridesmaid.  Even though friends have joked with me, I was no where close to the "27 Dresses" movie.  It was truly a joy and such an honor each time I got to stand beside someone as they entered into the covenant of marriage.

The first time I had the honor was June 19, 1999.  It was for my brother, Brad's, wedding.

Then on September 7, 2002, I stood up with my "Best Cousin Forever," Jennifer.

And on November 19, 2005, it was my friend from church, Kori.

Katie, my friend since childhood, got married on June 10, 2006

Then I got to be Maid of Honor for the first time for my best friend and college roomie, Alisha

on September 30, 2006

Next up was another friend from church, Jenn, on May 19, 2007

And most recently I got to be Maid of Honor for my best friend (yes, I have 2!) and travel buddy, Shannon on November 6, 2010.

Not necessarily in the Bridesmaid category, but a close sister are the two times I got to be a Flower Girl.

The first time was for some folks at church (honestly can't remember their names).  They didn't have any kids in their families, so they asked my mom if I could be their Flower Girl - cool!  This is circa 1985.

And then in April of 1989 (I should probably know the date, but I don't), my Uncle Jeff got married and I was a Flower Girl at his wedding.

Mr. & Mrs. !!!!!! - Part 5 - Reception - Intro & Dancing

I have blogging A.D.D.  I need to focus!  I have so much I want to blog about and I want to get it all out of my head.  I was hoping to blog every day in November and actually within hours of telling my friend about that goal, my computer crashed and burned and completely ruined that plan.  Oh well.

With that said - here's the next Wedding Recap:

Our Intro to the Reception and First Dance as a Married Couple!

If you missed the previous wedding posts, click here.

Our Reception was held in an old barn on the same property where our outdoor wedding took place.  We rented a large tent and placed it directly next to the opening of the barn.

Here's a floor plan I made for the reception (click the picture for a larger view if you'd like to see the labels). 

The large rectangle represents the barn walls.  We placed tables & chairs inside the barn (down both side and the middle) for people to sit and the dance floor is the open dashed square in the middle.  The two round tables at the far right side of the barn were for the DJ (well, we didn't really have a DJ, we had a friend of Brandon's do a few announcements and run the music - since neither one of us are too fond of DJ's). 

The square on the left side of the floor plan attached to the barn is the tent.  The snake-like tables on the left side of the tent are the dessert/beverage tables (we had a dessert-only reception).  The three small round circles at the upper right of the tent were taller tables with pictures of Brandon & I together and one of each of us at around 5 years of age.  The rectangle at the lower right end of the tent was for gifts.  Finally, the round circle that sits at the opening between the barn and tent is the main cake table.

Maybe a few pictures will help?

This is looking into the barn from the tent.  The white/yellow/turquoise globes were right over the dance floor.

This picture is looking from the far side of the dance floor back towards the tent/barn opening:

A closer look at the area over the dance floor.  Some of the globe things light up, while others don't and some are in the shape of pom-pom like flowers:

This shot is also taken from the tent looking into the barn, showing more of the rafters in the barn:

I *loved* the simplicity, whimsy and contrast of the pom-pom/globes/lights against the rustic barn:

There was a girl that got married the weekend before us at the barn and put up the cute white twinkle lights (she left them for us to use too although that was our plan as well).  So thankful for the time she saved us on this part of the decorating.  I think is was the perfect touch:

The tables were all decorated similarly, but randomly.  My mother-in-law, my mom and my mom's sweet friends said they had a hard time with my request for the table decorations to be "random," but I think they did a great job!  Here you can see ribbon going down the center of a table:

And here are several versions of the table decorations which included but were not limited to: mason jars (both blue and clear) with/without ribbon with either yellow disbud(s) and/or white daisies and/or a small candle votive and/or a yellow place mat or white doily (you get the picture, right?  Random.):

We chose daisies because both our parents had daisies at their wedding....plus they really set off the theme of the wedding: Simplicity.  The yellow disbuds were the perfect pair for the daisies along with the blue mason jars to compliment our wedding colors:

I *love* the way it turned out and that everything wasn't completely matchy-matchy.  I like things to coordinate, but I like them to be different from each other too.....and they pulled off the perfect balance for me.

Our wedding favors were about 5 or 6 different pictures of us with our new address labeled on the back:

This is the dessert table (remember the snake-like table from the floor plan?):

Not only did we have a main wedding cake, but we had two smaller ones as well (pictured above).

We had several different dessert options aside from cake too....brownies and eclairs:

Cheesecake bites in a variety of flavors:

The buttermints my Granny made (in the shape of daisies):

We also had cream puffs and white wedding balls (also courtesy of my Granny).

The dessert table was decorated with small diamond-like confetti and a simple yellow B&M......you know for Brandon & Melanie. 

Here's the three taller tables in the tent with pictures of Brandon and I:

Jenn will probably kill me for putting this one on here, but it's another angle of those tall tables in relation to the barn (but don't you love Jenn's pose?)

Our guest book was actually a picture book too:

Okay, moving on to the actual reception......

Here we are outside the tent waiting to be announced for the first time in public as Mr. and Mrs.!

Then it's Go-Time

We went straight to the dance floor for our first married dance

For those that don't know, Brandon is a very accomplished Ballroom dancer.  He once was part of a Ballroom team and competed in competitions.

Our first dance was a Foxtrot to Frank Sinatra's version of "The Way You Look Tonight."  This song was actually playing at the restaurant right after we got engaged, so it was just the perfect choice.

After our first dance, we decided to surprise our guests and have a little fun, so we danced the Hustle next to the song "You Should Be Dancing" by the Bee Gees.

We had a little improv before starting the Hustle....

......and I "went fishing" for Brandon:

Reeling him in!

Then we started hustling

The Ballroom Hustle is a very twirly dance.  It's very easy and super fun!

.....And it should not beconfused with this hustle - click here.

Brandon is SO MUCH fun to dance with!  He is such a good leader and makes me look good (if you have a  good leader, it's easy to follow!)

Once that dance was done, we did what was called a "Snowball Dance."  Brandon and I started the dance, but then we split off and found another person to dance with....after dancing for a moment, the four of us split off and found someone else to dance with....and so on and so on until there's a big group dancing.

First up, we grabbed my friends Katy and Alex (who like to Swing Dance)

Then Katy grabbed my cousin Lee

And so on and so on....

My nephew, Tank, and I dancing:

He loved to spin, although he really only spun his arm around, not his body - it was funny!

My Mom and Tank:

My sister-in-law's step-mom and my niece, Boo:

Mike & Shannon:

Brandon's friends and their kids:

Then it was my turn to dance with my Daddy.  We danced to "You Are My Sunshine" (Bing Crosby's version).  This is a song that my Daddy sang to me many, many times growing up.

To give credit where credit is due, the majority of the above photos were courtesy of jhendersonstudios.com.  The rest are from friends and family.