reception...part 2!

Thanks for sticking around friends while I finish up these last wedding posts! My goal is to finish up our honeymoon pictures in the next few weeks, as well. We have been married for almost 7 months afterall! :)

I love this picture our photographer snagged of me getting our of my car! It gives you a little bit of an idea of just how enormous my dress was. I LOVED all of the layers, but it looked pretty hilarious in the car--especially with my veil added to it!! :)

Here are a few pictures of us signing our marriage license. Hurray! :)

This is the outside of our pretty programs, along with our blinging rings! I love ring shots. :)

This picture is so special to me because it's a candid of my catching up with my two best college girlfriends. Who knows what we are talking about? But, I love the expression and the obvious happiness in all of our faces. :)

This picture was taken just before Rob and I walked into the reception. Love it.

Here is our officiant offering up a prayer before we all ate. I am so thankful for Stephen! His parents are friends with my mom. We are obviously friends and he officiated my wedding! These little details were so important to me on our big day. :)

Aren't my friends beautiful?

I think at some point I've mentioned that I had ten bridesmaids and Rob had nine groomsmen. Right?

Two of my bridesmaids had to go in with one groomsmen--but look how well they all pulled it off!

Here's my pretty sister and MOH giving her toast. She's so pretty too, isn't she?! I am always so thankful for my sister because we are incredibly close, but it meant the world to me that she was there to support me so much through our wedding planning and actual wedding day. She, of course, made me tear up a bunch. She's just the best.

Here is our first dance. I love this shot from our photographer so much--and I'm so thankful I waited to take off my veil! Isn't it beautiful? It was originally attached to my dress as kind of a veil for the dress. (Weird, right?) My awesome seamstress/third cousin-in-law made it into a cathedral veil for me. So, I ended up with a $500 veil for free. Amazing.

Our first dance was to "Blue Sky" by the Allman Brothers. Even though the song was over five minutes long, I wish it was so much longer because the time just flew by!

Rob dancing with his mom. So precious. It makes me tear up a little bit, actually.

Funny story about this picture. Rob picked the song he wanted to dance to with his mother. I objected because I thought there were several other songs that would be more appropriate. However, it was Rob's dance with his mom so I let it slide. Halfway through the song, Rob realized the semi-inappropriate words for dancing with your mom so he grabbed me and Rob's mom grabbed his dad. So hilarious, but it led to this pretty picture of us dancing once again! And, I don't have to tell you who ended up being right, do I? ;)

I was a little bit worried about people dancing at the reception. (Ok, let's be honest. I was major worried about it. I was also major worried about the food, the dresses, the hotel, just about every detail. Aren't all brides?) However, the dancing was in full swing until the very end of the reception! In fact, we extended the reception an extra hour because people were having such a great time. All of those worries were definitely wasted. Look at these pictures--everyone's so happy! :)

Here's my cute nephew and some of Rob's cousins dancing. Aren't they hilarious?

This is one of my very favorite pictures from our reception--my mom rockin' it out on the dance floor. Isn't she darling? She's the cutest. :)

Because we got married in the off-season (March), our DJ threw in a free photobooth. That's right, free! This turned out to be the biggest hit--as you will see in the pictures! We have copies of all of the pictures, as well as a scrapbook where our guests were able to write sweet wishes to us. Such a priceless treasure!

Here are some ladies I go to church with! Aren't they hilarious?!

Here are some of my cousins in the photobooth--I love the sombrero/feather mask combo!

And of course--our sweet ringbearer, Eli. Isn't he the cutest little boy you've ever seen? I think they ended up letting him keep the fireman's hat because he just loved it so much. So so sweet.

Rob and I cutting the cake! We were both sweet to each other when it came to feeding each other pieces. This was one thing I hadn't thought about and I was suddenly filled with so much fear! However, Rob was very sweet and the cake was delicious. We had three kinds--gluten-free carrot cake, chocolate cake with raspberry filling, and red velvet. I heard a positive review about our yummy cakes! :)

Here is my sweet friend and bridesmaid, Katie. She caught my bouquet. I can't wait to start planning her wedding. ;)

Towards the end of the night, our photographer snuck us out of the reception to snap a few quick dramatic photos. I totally stole this idea from our reception site's website. In fact, it was part of the reason I went out to check out the Jessing Center in the first place. No judgement? Didn't the pictures turn out beautiful?

Thanks friends for making it through all of our wedding pictures with me! I'll have all of my wedding posts together at the top of my blog for easy access later. Thanks for indulging me! This truly was the best day of my life. I am so thankful for all of our friends and family who made this day a dream come true. And, of course I am so thankful for my husband Rob who indulged me a thousand times to make sure the day was everything I had dreamt of since I was a child. Looking back through these pictures was such a wonderful way to relive the day I married the love of my life! :)