Friday, November 20, 2009

Reception

I'm a little behind on my wedding posts, but that's ok. It's fun for me to relive it everytime I write about the different parts of the day!


September 12, 2009
Between the ceremony and reception Jason and I and the wedding party rode around town on a trolley, making some stops to take pictures. We had drinks and snacks on the bus and it gave us a chance to spend some time with the wedding party and get the party started!

Just Married!
Woo Hoo, I can eat!
The wedding party


We stopped to take pictures at Lafaytte Park - it's so pretty!


And Washington Avenue for some urban shots.
Then to Citygarden for some Arch shots

One of my favorites of the day!

Then we headed to St. Louis Union Station for our reception. I have to say, our reception was awesome! Everything turned out so perfectly and it was better than I ever thought it would be. The reception was held in the Grand Hall at the Marriott at Union Station. I was a little nervous how things would come together because the coordinator who was responsible for our wedding changed 5 times from the time we booked to the actual wedding date. I was worried that some things would get lost in translation or slip through the cracks, but everything was absolutely perfect!
Some of my favorite moments:

I loved our wedding party entrance into the reception. We decided to let each groomsman choose the song that they would walk into with one of the bridesmaids. They picked some pretty interesting and diverse songs, but I think it turned out really cute and showed a little bit of each guy's personality not to mention some of their smooth dance moves ;)

Our entrance into the reception. I had envisioned walking up the stairs into the Grand Hall since we first went and checked it out and it was just as awesome as I thought it would be. As we came up the stairs I was blown away by our friends and family clapping and cheering for us. It was in that moment that I really realized how amazing it was that all of these people were here for us and that they were genuinely excited and happy for us. It sounds cheesy, but I really could feel the love in the room from all of the people that mean the most to us and it was just an amazing feeling. I think my brother's friend, Mary, said it best when she said, "You are like a rock star at your wedding." That's exactly how I felt ;)

My sister and Jason's cousin, Jake, both gave great speeches. They were both touching and funny and just confirmed what a wonderful family we have. My sister swore she wouldn't cry but she did choke up just a bit - which of course made me choke up!




The food! YUM!

Our first dance

The father/daughter dance
Mother/Son Dance

Our DJ, Jimmy Hussey, was awesome and I highly recommend him for any event. He was not cheesy and didn't talk too much like some DJ's can. He just played great music and kept everything on track all night. I spoke to Jimmy a few days before the wedding and he told me that I had the smallest "must play" list he'd ever seend from a bride (I think I had maybe 5). He was used to seeing pages of detailed play lists from brides. I told him my thinking was that he's the expert and he will know how to read the crowd and play the best music that will suit everyone. I trusted him to do his job without me micromanaging him. He said that it was refreshing to hear and promised it would be a fantastic night. The dance floor was PACKED all night long! It amazes me to look at some of the pictures and see how many people were out there! We got tons of compliments on the music and many people said how much fun they had dancing the night away!

The night went by so fast it seemed like it was over before it even started. Jason and I had so much fun celebrating with our friends and family. Once we got up from the table, we never went back. We were dancing and talking the whole night. We didn't even get to eat a piece of cake - there were 3 pieces at our table- we just never made it back to enjoy them! (Sidenote: since we did not get to enjoy any cake, we broke out our top tier before we left for the honeymoon and dug in! Who wants to wait a whole year?! I figure I can get a replica made for our first anniversay and we will be just as happy! Hopefully, we did not curse our marriage ;))

It really was a magical night. We got to celebrate with a room full of the most important people in our lives, the food was delicious, the music was great, and the dance floor was packed all night. What more can you ask for?

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