The Ultimate Wedding Week 2012 Linkup Party... The Reception

Hey there! Gorgeous day to talk about anything and everything wedding, right? My contribution to this week's party, The Reception. Each and every detail of wedding planning was fun, but for me, the reception was everything I was so looking forward to. I wanted our personalities to stand out, and I wanted our guests to have a fantastic time in Nashville. It was so much fun to be able to put our "style" into each and every detail and I loved that part of the process. This was where months and months of hard work paid off...not to mention soaking in each and every moment with our friends and family, and dancing the night away.
Up first, the traditional elements of any reception...the transportation to our venue, the entrance of the bridal party and obligatory first dances, the cake cutting, and then dancing and singing with the tunes of an incredible band.

The Transportation: we wanted something fun, casual, and large enough to accomodate us as well as our bridal party...trolley time! Add a fun mix CD + loads of "adult drinks" + dancing pole = FUN!

 

 

 

The Bridal Party Entrance: take the "traditional" out and you have exactly what we went for...we wanted a fun entrance, and one of our favorite rap songs just so happened to incorporate colors from our wedding (Wiz Khalifa's Black and Yellow)-hilarious! We had ordered 50+ pairs of wayfarer sunglasses for everyone {thanks to my Dad} and our bridal party entrances were the perfect way to get the party started.

 

The First Dance: trying to get my fiance to take dance classes, now that was something I was simply unable to do...so we had a "practice" session at home one night after a few cocktails, and left it at that. We chose to dance to Gavin Degraw's "Meaning"--sentimental, emotional, and sweet. Looking at these pictures, I can't help but think back to that moment when I knew this was the start of everything I had waited my whole life for.

 

 

 

 

Next up was a fun twirling rendezvous with my Dad to "My Girl" by The Temptations. Way traditional, and we had the most fun time, sinking everything in and talking all about just how fast everything was happening. Every daughter dreams of the day she'll get to dance with her daddy as she wears white and my day was nothing short of perfection. Finally, Jeff and his Mom took the dance floor to "Stand by Me" by Ben King. I think Kaye's face in this picture says it all...such a fantastic evening filled with emotion and love!

 

Next up it was time to toast, courtesy of the hosts for the evening, my Mom and Dad. The thing that stands out most was my Dad saying something along the lines of "look at all the beautiful people out there" and I can't help but chuckle. He had waited for this moment for a long time. So we raised our glasses and celebrated to a happy, healthy, and blessed marriage.

In between drinking and dancing, we made sure to make time for the traditional cutting of the cakes {mine was a 4-tier vanilla almond cake with buttercream icing topped with fondant peonies while Jeff's was a kahlua chocolate cake with chocolate cream cheese icing} and treated our guests to a yummy southern style action station/buffet dinner. Finally, the rest of the evening was spent listening to the tunes of Scat Springs Band, who were absolutely incredible, doing the celebratory garter and bouquet tosses, and topping the night off with late night treats from Krystals, all before riding away in a vintage Rolls Royce.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Vendors/Etc:

Transportation: Fadd's Party Bus Rentals
Band: Scat Springs
Recepion Venue: aVenue
Bride and Grooms' Cakes: The Bake Shoppe
Catering: Chef's Market

Now it's your turn to link up to show off your reception details...cannot wait to read and recap special reception moments from your big day!!