Wedding achieved
Well, it is over and done with. I am officially married. We had a lovely ceremony on Saturday, in spite of making it to the church just minutes before starting time; something about wrangling nine people plus program books, bouquets, boutonnieres and my wedding gown into two vehicles was kind of hectic.
We got to the church and gathered in the social hall, waiting for the liturgical assistants to get everyone inside. As it always ends up happening with me, I spend so much time planning an event that, when it actually happens, I'm kind of caught unawares; wait, am I really walking down the aisle now? I thought I was gonna cry, especially when my parents were at my sides and they were about to open the doors to the church; I held back as much as I could, and I got away with just the moistened eyes. The whole ceremony was a blur of motions, listening to the readings, the traditional lazo and arras (which I ended up dropping... yep, that's my money handling right there) and the mass itself. It wasn't until the end of the ceremony that I realized, oh yeah, I'm married now! Had the announcement, the first kiss as husband and wife, and walked out to joyful music; signed the marriage license, got back in for pictures, and gathered everyone into the limo for the reception site.
We had two hours between ceremony and reception, which I had planned to spend at a studio for pictures; since I didn't confirm that was my intention, we instead used the reception site, and later, a park. I'm hoping some of those pictures are display-worthy, as I'm so used to seeing studio pictures over mantles. The two hours came and went, and finally it was time for the grand entrance.
The reception was full of enjoyable happenstance. My now mother in law wanted a traditional Polish receiving line, and we ended up having it because I forgot to confirm our plans with the DJ; it was real fun though, just saying hi to everybody. We had the first dance, then the toasts, then the baby picture slide show, followed by dinner. After dinner, we had the father-daughter and mother-son dances, then the anniversary dance (having all married couples dancing on the floor and gradually sending away couples until the one with the most years together remains; I had this instead of the bouquet and garter toss). The floor was then opened up to everyone, and boy did they make use of it! Event the DJ was surprised that there wasn't a need for warm up songs, they were all ready to jam XD.
There was rock and cumbia and salsa. We had the chicken dance, the detroit hustle, the ketchup song... we had the cake cutting and the champagne toast... we had some michael jackson, the macarena and the cupid shuffle... and then two hours before the end, a mariachi band appeared (a gift from my parents). We enjoyed some traditional songs, and then they switched to danceable ones. Even the wait staff came out to hear and see them :D. As they ended their set, the music changed to modern club music, and the last song was "At Last".
It was quite the wonderful night. Everyone was so happy with the food and the music (and the booze). I'm just glad that everything went well, and even the little surprises just flowed into everything. I can't wait until the video comes in so I can relive those things I barely remember!
We got to the church and gathered in the social hall, waiting for the liturgical assistants to get everyone inside. As it always ends up happening with me, I spend so much time planning an event that, when it actually happens, I'm kind of caught unawares; wait, am I really walking down the aisle now? I thought I was gonna cry, especially when my parents were at my sides and they were about to open the doors to the church; I held back as much as I could, and I got away with just the moistened eyes. The whole ceremony was a blur of motions, listening to the readings, the traditional lazo and arras (which I ended up dropping... yep, that's my money handling right there) and the mass itself. It wasn't until the end of the ceremony that I realized, oh yeah, I'm married now! Had the announcement, the first kiss as husband and wife, and walked out to joyful music; signed the marriage license, got back in for pictures, and gathered everyone into the limo for the reception site.
We had two hours between ceremony and reception, which I had planned to spend at a studio for pictures; since I didn't confirm that was my intention, we instead used the reception site, and later, a park. I'm hoping some of those pictures are display-worthy, as I'm so used to seeing studio pictures over mantles. The two hours came and went, and finally it was time for the grand entrance.
The reception was full of enjoyable happenstance. My now mother in law wanted a traditional Polish receiving line, and we ended up having it because I forgot to confirm our plans with the DJ; it was real fun though, just saying hi to everybody. We had the first dance, then the toasts, then the baby picture slide show, followed by dinner. After dinner, we had the father-daughter and mother-son dances, then the anniversary dance (having all married couples dancing on the floor and gradually sending away couples until the one with the most years together remains; I had this instead of the bouquet and garter toss). The floor was then opened up to everyone, and boy did they make use of it! Event the DJ was surprised that there wasn't a need for warm up songs, they were all ready to jam XD.
There was rock and cumbia and salsa. We had the chicken dance, the detroit hustle, the ketchup song... we had the cake cutting and the champagne toast... we had some michael jackson, the macarena and the cupid shuffle... and then two hours before the end, a mariachi band appeared (a gift from my parents). We enjoyed some traditional songs, and then they switched to danceable ones. Even the wait staff came out to hear and see them :D. As they ended their set, the music changed to modern club music, and the last song was "At Last".
It was quite the wonderful night. Everyone was so happy with the food and the music (and the booze). I'm just glad that everything went well, and even the little surprises just flowed into everything. I can't wait until the video comes in so I can relive those things I barely remember!