WEDDING RECAP // RECEPTION - SPEECHES, FIRST DANCE, DANCE

I told you before that there were three moments throughout the day when I teared up, that were my absolute favorite. The first two were my first looks with Matt and my dad, the third? is THIS moment, right here.

M and I stood outside the lattice and I heard our entrance song, Feel Again by One Republic start. The bridal party was already seated, M and I wanted to keep it simple, so it was just us entering. I heard our DJ announce us, and as we rounded the corner and I saw hundreds of my closest friends and family standing, clapping, and cheering loudly- it was really overwhelming, in the best way possible. I'm not sure what I was expecting, I've seen plenty of "grand marches" at weddings, but, the reception we received surprised me- and was one of my top three most favorite moments of the day.

To cut down on the glass clinking, a wedding peeve of mine, after the first clink we had our DJ announce our "thing".. you clink the glass and want us to kiss? Great! Except before we do, you have to get up and sing a snippit of a song with the word "love" in it. I knew with our group we'd get a few, and oh boy did we ever. Some of Matt's group of friends sang "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" from the Lion King. The girls sang Timon's part, the guys sang Pumba's. It was absolutely priceless:

Later, a few more of his friends sang another song- I can't remember what it was though. 

 

The biggest surprise of the singing came when M's sister's mild mannered boyfriend, who was meeting 90% of the family for the first time that night did a SOLO Frank Sinatra song. We just DIED. I wish there was a photo of his sister's reaction.

We had cupcakes, and didn't even do a traditional "cake topper", so for our "cutting the cake" we just fed each other a mini cupcake :)

 

 (you're not seeing the picture of him feeding me..sorry. hahaha)

 Then my pretty MOH gave her speech, which was short and sweet :)

M's best man gave his speech next- in which he outed my 'fancy cheese pizza' that I made for him one night. I guess M raved to him about having "fancy cheese pizza" for him when he came over to hang out with M. He said he walked in the house and saw us unwrapping a Jack's frozen pizza- to which I added goat cheese (SO DELICIOUS) and ta-da.. fancy cheese pizza!! He said that's when he knew M was smitten, because he was raving about me cooking a frozen cheese pizza. hahaha. 

After the speeches and dinner, it was time for our first dances. Which got delayed a bit because of the sloth (Yes, you read that right. That's being saved for a "bonus" post.. ;-)):

aannnndddd the infamous woman, in the photo below. She's the mother of one of M's groomsman. They've been friends of the family for years. Well, she had a bit to drink and was enjoying herself when she decided she wanted to dance with M. This is just a snippit:

I had to "save" M at one point. I'm not surprised that this has been a point of conversation for almost every single person we've seen since the wedding. Hahaha. 

Since the sloth delayed things, our photographer wasn't there for much of the dance, but she captured enough to remind me what a fantastic time we had. M's group of friends (pictured above) never disappoints at a wedding..and ours was no different. The dance floor was full the entire night, and my legs and arms (from holding up my dress) were killing me by the end of the night.

This may have been the end of the progression of the evening, but I have some bonus photos.

Up next: reception space add on, details, bonus photos of M & I, and Stefano- the SLOTH.