Gords1babygirl
08-10-2006, 01:02 AM
The Wedding Story...
Wednesday night we get a call from our caterer, telling us that he wouldn't be able to open the hall for us the afternoon of the 4th, could we come Friday morning or Thursday evening? Since Thursday evening would mean an extra night in a hotel (that we didn't budget for) we told him that we'd be in Friday morning as soon as we could get there.
Thursday was spent packing and getting everything ready to go and getting the house ready to be unoccupied for 3 days while we were in Edmonton...that and trying to finde SOMETHING to use as table centerpieces!
FRIDAY, AUGUST 4TH
Friday morning, alarm goes at 6:15 AM, time to get up and get everyone fed, dressed, the van packed and out of the house which has us on the road by 8:30...not bad if I do say so myself!! We arrive in Edmonton about 11:00 AM breeze into the hall to be joined shortly after by the best man (who had all of our decorating stuff at his place) With our numbers, the caterer decides that we can do the reception with 4 less tables...awesome...4 less to decorate! I finish putting tags on the favors while the best man and FH put up the lit archway by where we will be getting married, they have to leave to get tools to put it together with so the mother of my FG is putting together bells and getting ready to hang them. By the time the guys get back and finish putting together the archway I've finished the favors which the ladies at the hall assure me that they'll put out when they set the tables. We take one look at the archway and realizing that we have no tulle to decorate it with, decide that it's too barren looking just standing there, so down it comes. In about an hour and a half we have the hall decorated, including the cake table, the gift table, the DJ's table, etc. Decide to reherse the walk down the aisle for our FG & RB...it's at this point that we learn that our RB will NOT carry the pillow, nor will he walk with our FG. No stress, we left out the pillow and let him go down the aisle with his Dad. Off we go to Beaners...time for the boy's haircuts!! :cool:
Get to Beaners and are told that we have to wait b/c we're late...no biggie, I expected it. The first stylist that comes up tells me that she can take one of the boys, so I ask her which she would like first...the easy one or the tough one...her response..."I don't care." (could you feel my teeth clench a little there?) So I give her "the easy one" when another stylist comes up and tells me that she can take the other one, so rather than get him to sit in the car, or on the horse or whatever she asks if it might be easier if I sit in a chair and hold him in my lap...never tried it before...nothing ventured, nothing gained right? The child in my lap (usually the "tough one") whimpered a bit...but nothing compared to his brother in the other chair (y'all KNOW a part of me is smiling HUGE :D on the inside watching her struggle!!!) Long story short, kids hair gets cut, looks awesome and it's time to go!!
Off to West Edmonton Mall to Build A Bear Workshop for our RB (our son) and the FG but since both of them have younger brothers old enough to kick up a fuss at the older ones getting a bear, we're making 4 bears...no biggie, the kids had a blast!! However, note to self...3 PM on a Friday afternoon is NOT the best time to try to build a bear...the place was a zoo! However it was all worth it watching our little guys dragging their bear condo's behind them looking like they'd struck gold!! :) Finally...time to check into the hotel!!
Get to the hotel, met my Aunt and Uncle who drove from Quebec to be there, in the lobby (we find out later they were in the lobby because when they were che4cked in, the front desk had checked them into our room!! That all gets settled, dump our stuff in quite possibly the most amazing hotel room that we've ever been in since we've had kids (that includes West Edmonton Mall's Fantasyland Hotel!!) Here's the link to show you our room http://www.rosslyninnandsuites.ca/VR%20Tour/room4b_mj.htm So we decide to go out to dinner with his BM and their family while my MOH and Dad go to supper with my Aunt. A good time is had by all...however by the time supper was done...it was too late for us to get our nails done, that'll have to be done tomorrow morning! :o
After supper my MOH comes up to visit for a bit in our room, and tells me that Dad's not sure if he'll be walking me down the aisle tomorrow (he's had 5 strokes and I KNOW that this day has played him right out!!) So I tell her that I'll be glad if he can...but not heartbroken if he can't...I understand. She stays for a while and then heads back downstairs to their room.
So at this point our three year old is convinced that this trip CANNOT get any better...he got to build a bear, AND gets to sleep in the top bunk of a set of bunkbeds!! All three boys go to bed relatively easy...this lasts until about 12:30 AM when our two year old gets up and can't get to sleep for the rest of the night!!! Oy!! Read...I was up all night with him...
SATURDAY, AUGUST 5TH...THE BIG DAY!!!
Get up around 6:50 (we have a wake up call set up with the front desk for 7:00 AM...thank god we didn't need it, it never came!!) Order room service for breakfast which we eat at a table in the boys' room in front of their TV (again...more stuff that never happens at home...this trip just keeps getting better!! LOL) While it wasn't the way I had envisioned the morning of my wedding going...it was still very nice!!! My MOH and I head over to get our nails done about 10:00 knowing that the BM will be at the hotel to pick us up at about 11:15 to take us to our hair appointments. I felt so bad for my MOH here, I had the sweetest girl, constantly asking if I liked what she was doing, checking to see if my fingers were hurting just generally very nice, my MOH had the acrylic nail nazi doing hers, barking at her "You must RELAX!!!" :eek: (not sure how one is supposed to relax with some stranger yelling at them...but I digress) So at 11:15 we're loading absolutely everything into the car that we're going to need for the day. (including a cooler that the limo driver suggested we put in the trunk for the little guys during the formals...that was a life saver!!)
Get to our hair appointments at 12:03 (who says a bride can't be on time?! LOL) Now here I admit I took a HUGE chance!!! I booked our hair and makeup not at a salon...but at an academy. No hair trials...just wing & prayer and hope they do well. They far exceeded our expectations!!! Our hair and make up was gorgeous!!! The girls were so friendly and chatty, AND we spent far less than we expected to!!! WooHoo!!! (we walked out just before 3:00 PM!!!!!) As our makeup was being finished the instructor is looking over their work, suggested to us that we get spray deodorant and basically spray it everywhere to help keep us cool (so this means an extra stop at the drug store...but no biggie) as it turns out, it worked, cool and fresh all day long!!!! While getting our hair done, my MOH tells me that Dad was telling her over breakfast that he wanted to walk me down the aisle (we figured that after a night's sleep the answer might be different)
We get to Poineer House about 3:20 PM, start to get into my dress when we get a knock on the door, MOH answers and comes back telling me that FH wants to know where my book with all of the contact numbers is...I panic a bit, knowing that there is NO good reason for it to be needed today!! So I tell her that it's back at the hotel...why?? She tells me she'll be back in a minute, and heads back out. So I continue getting dressed. Our photographer is getting some of the getting dressed shots etc. MOH comes back in telling me that our officiant is a "no show" and they're trying to track him down, she then asks when the crinoline goes on...LOL...I forgot it! So I get undressed, put the crinoline on and get redressed...all the while one of the guests at our wedding is on the phone trying to track down our JP!!! (she should become an investigator...she does GREAT legwork!! LOL) Photographer decides at this point that she's going to go do detail shots because she is getting too many "angry face bride" shots. Considering that our JP got the job by default (there was nobody left in Edmonton who had the time to do the wedding) I'm stressing a bit, if he can't be found, then we were S.O.L. (and I guarantee he WOULD have been going to court!!!) Finally about 4:30 (our wedding was supposed to start at 4!!!) they tell me that they found him and that he's getting dressed and is on the way. His reasoning for not being there...since he hadn't heard from me to confirm, he thought we had changed our minds!!! WTF?!? (now I had been e-mailing him, calling him...hell he even had an invitation!!!! All of these confirming Aug 5th/06 4PM...my last e-mail to him was on Wednesday before the wedding...gonna change my mind 3 days before?!? Don't think so...) Just before 5 PM Elvis enters the building. So we rush to get into position to FINALLY get this show on the road!!
I walked down the aisle with my Dad to the traditional wedding march, as we get closer to the altar he gets more and more emotional, by the time we get to the altar he's in tears and pretty well overcome with emotion, I'm stressed that he's upset enough that he's going to fall. Before joining my FH I make sure to get Dad safely seated in the big comfy chair in the first row :) So I then loook to my FH who is in tears also (at this point the only time I've cried is when we were going through the mising JP segment!!) a strange calm came over me when I got to where my FH was, but got teary when our 3 year old (RB) stepped behind his Daddy and blew me a kiss, I was blown away by how handsome my FH and our three boys were!!!. The officiant is whispering how sorry he is, and I can feel the look coming across my face that he's getting from me, but can't stop it...LOL...the wedding begins rapidly at this point. hehehe. We say our vows (actually pretty quickly) Turn and are introduced as Mr. & Mrs. and start our recessional...which is stopped...why you might very well ask...well let me explain...our officiant sees this as the right time to give me the pen (advertising his services) explaining that it had never been used before us signing the register and he wanted us to have it as a keepsake. It took some major self control not to jab him with his damn pen...but was worried about ink stains on the dress so I resisted...LOL. Apparently before the ceremony started he told FH that he couldn't find a Civil Marriage Statement to give to us after the ceremony, but that he would drop it off at the reception. (does he REALLY do this for a living?!?!) Got outside and was greeted by our friends and family with lots of warm hugs and well wishes and of course our awaiting limo!!
Headed to Alberta Legislature for our formal wedding pics, which I am positively DYING to see!!!! Our photographer was awesome, amazing and well worth every cent paid for her. We tried to hurry her a little because we knew the kitchen was stressing, being as everything was running late due to the JP (they actually even called us during the formals to see if we could hurry it up...) but she would have none of it...according to her, we promised her an hour for formals, and she was going to use every minute of it, something I know I'll be so glad of when we see her professional pics! She had some amazing poses and ideas, and the kids tried as best they could to follow direction, we got some great shots with them, but in time decided it was just easiest to let them go with the MOH and BM back to the limo for snacks.
Get back to the reception, and were announced again as Mr. & Mrs. (and no...I will never get tired of THAT!!! hehehe) Sat down at the head table to start an absolutely AMAZING meal (I can't even imagine how much better it would have been on time!! LOL) The officiant appears with the Civil Marriage Certificate, telling me how he wishes we had called him earlier so that he could have been better prepared!! (s'cuse me...??) and wanting to know if everything has been settled financially...lemme get this straight...you mess up my day and you want to choose the beginning of my reception, at my head table, in front of all of my guests to ask if we've paid you????? Hellooooooo!!!!! So I tell him that everything is settled finacially, so he leaves. The clinking started, we let them have one gratuitous kiss, after that if they wanted us to kiss they had to sing a song with "love" in it. After the BM's speech and the MOH welcoming FH into our family (since Dad doesn't speak she did the welcome speech) all of FH's neices & nephew's got up and read a poem/verse that they made up themselves and collaborated on, having written it down on one of the napkins at the table, to pass on their good wishes. We were blown away!!! The mother of two of FH's nephews was telling us that they did it without prompting from any of their parents and that they were having the napkin framed for us to keep...I LOVED the idea!! The kids started "clinking" after a bit, and I was going to let it slide and just do the kiss, after such a wonderful written verse, but my MOH started singing "All You Need Is Love..." so she took care of the technicality!! LOL... Dessert was served Apple Cherry Pie w/ Ice Cream & Strawberry Cheescake.
After this was cake cutting time, finally time to cut what was quite possibly the most beautiful cake I have ever seen! I had provided white flotaing candles to the cake lady, but Wednesday night we find out that they won't fit our candleholders, so when we got the floating candles for the tables (a beautiful metallic purple) we got enough candles for the cake as well, it looked wonderful and brought the cake and the table centerpieces together, beautifully. (OMG I can hardly wait for my PRO pics!!!!!) Our cake was a steal...which was a good thing... we paid $135 for it (assuming 100 ppl) we ended up with a cake big enough to feed 200 and only about 60 ppl showed!! we left what was left of the bottom two layers for the staff of Pioneer House and took the top layer with us. The day after the wedding we got "cake hungry" and decided to break into it... carrot cake...YUMMY!!! We gave some to everyone visiting us that day and finished it off the morning before leaving the hotel.
We decided to do the First Dance, BP Dance, Bouquet Toss & Garter Toss all together. We opted not to do a parent's dance, as we knew that my Dad couldn't and it would hurt him to know he would have to sit it out. For our first Dance the DJ played "Feels Like Home To Me" as we're dancing our little guy is trying so hard to be "part of it" so I picked him up and the three of us danced (to the applause of our guests) After these, the DJ launches into a STRING of "interactive songs" YMCA, Conga Line...the works. I'm quietly fuming, knowing I had put on our music sheets NONE unless they were requested, when the DJ announces ANOTHER request for our BM..."I Knew The Bride..." but to be honest, I was having too much fun, as was everyone on the dance floor to say a word!! After a while after the BM could think of not one other interactive dance left to do, people are mingling (I know the DJ felt seriously under used when he was offering to bring people pieces of wedding cake!!!) By this time all three of our sweet little guys are crashed out, two in their stroller and one on a bed of chair pads. So we figure that because people are talking about leaving (there weren't that many to begin with) we decide to have the DJ play background music, and do the gift opening. Our videographer did an interview with us after the gift opening, asking us if we had any advice for our sons as they got older and got ready to be married themselves, to which my DH replied "Make sure that she's "The One" and I replied "Don't use Hans Hildebrandt for your JP!!!" a feeling seconded by our videographer who also had a horrendous experience with him!
As it turned out the officiant's payment was in DH's jacket pocket, not with the officiant (and probably would have been staying there, had it not been that we have to meet with the officiant to correct our Civil Marriage Certificate!!)
After that everyone teamed up and we got all the hall undecorated and cars packed in maybe an hour or so (let the DJ close up early) We got back to the hotel... DH, and all three boys are asleep within minutes. An hour later I have all of the bobby pins out of my hair and crawl into bed with my HUSBAND where I drift off into the sweetest sleep I have ever had :)
Wednesday night we get a call from our caterer, telling us that he wouldn't be able to open the hall for us the afternoon of the 4th, could we come Friday morning or Thursday evening? Since Thursday evening would mean an extra night in a hotel (that we didn't budget for) we told him that we'd be in Friday morning as soon as we could get there.
Thursday was spent packing and getting everything ready to go and getting the house ready to be unoccupied for 3 days while we were in Edmonton...that and trying to finde SOMETHING to use as table centerpieces!
FRIDAY, AUGUST 4TH
Friday morning, alarm goes at 6:15 AM, time to get up and get everyone fed, dressed, the van packed and out of the house which has us on the road by 8:30...not bad if I do say so myself!! We arrive in Edmonton about 11:00 AM breeze into the hall to be joined shortly after by the best man (who had all of our decorating stuff at his place) With our numbers, the caterer decides that we can do the reception with 4 less tables...awesome...4 less to decorate! I finish putting tags on the favors while the best man and FH put up the lit archway by where we will be getting married, they have to leave to get tools to put it together with so the mother of my FG is putting together bells and getting ready to hang them. By the time the guys get back and finish putting together the archway I've finished the favors which the ladies at the hall assure me that they'll put out when they set the tables. We take one look at the archway and realizing that we have no tulle to decorate it with, decide that it's too barren looking just standing there, so down it comes. In about an hour and a half we have the hall decorated, including the cake table, the gift table, the DJ's table, etc. Decide to reherse the walk down the aisle for our FG & RB...it's at this point that we learn that our RB will NOT carry the pillow, nor will he walk with our FG. No stress, we left out the pillow and let him go down the aisle with his Dad. Off we go to Beaners...time for the boy's haircuts!! :cool:
Get to Beaners and are told that we have to wait b/c we're late...no biggie, I expected it. The first stylist that comes up tells me that she can take one of the boys, so I ask her which she would like first...the easy one or the tough one...her response..."I don't care." (could you feel my teeth clench a little there?) So I give her "the easy one" when another stylist comes up and tells me that she can take the other one, so rather than get him to sit in the car, or on the horse or whatever she asks if it might be easier if I sit in a chair and hold him in my lap...never tried it before...nothing ventured, nothing gained right? The child in my lap (usually the "tough one") whimpered a bit...but nothing compared to his brother in the other chair (y'all KNOW a part of me is smiling HUGE :D on the inside watching her struggle!!!) Long story short, kids hair gets cut, looks awesome and it's time to go!!
Off to West Edmonton Mall to Build A Bear Workshop for our RB (our son) and the FG but since both of them have younger brothers old enough to kick up a fuss at the older ones getting a bear, we're making 4 bears...no biggie, the kids had a blast!! However, note to self...3 PM on a Friday afternoon is NOT the best time to try to build a bear...the place was a zoo! However it was all worth it watching our little guys dragging their bear condo's behind them looking like they'd struck gold!! :) Finally...time to check into the hotel!!
Get to the hotel, met my Aunt and Uncle who drove from Quebec to be there, in the lobby (we find out later they were in the lobby because when they were che4cked in, the front desk had checked them into our room!! That all gets settled, dump our stuff in quite possibly the most amazing hotel room that we've ever been in since we've had kids (that includes West Edmonton Mall's Fantasyland Hotel!!) Here's the link to show you our room http://www.rosslyninnandsuites.ca/VR%20Tour/room4b_mj.htm So we decide to go out to dinner with his BM and their family while my MOH and Dad go to supper with my Aunt. A good time is had by all...however by the time supper was done...it was too late for us to get our nails done, that'll have to be done tomorrow morning! :o
After supper my MOH comes up to visit for a bit in our room, and tells me that Dad's not sure if he'll be walking me down the aisle tomorrow (he's had 5 strokes and I KNOW that this day has played him right out!!) So I tell her that I'll be glad if he can...but not heartbroken if he can't...I understand. She stays for a while and then heads back downstairs to their room.
So at this point our three year old is convinced that this trip CANNOT get any better...he got to build a bear, AND gets to sleep in the top bunk of a set of bunkbeds!! All three boys go to bed relatively easy...this lasts until about 12:30 AM when our two year old gets up and can't get to sleep for the rest of the night!!! Oy!! Read...I was up all night with him...
SATURDAY, AUGUST 5TH...THE BIG DAY!!!
Get up around 6:50 (we have a wake up call set up with the front desk for 7:00 AM...thank god we didn't need it, it never came!!) Order room service for breakfast which we eat at a table in the boys' room in front of their TV (again...more stuff that never happens at home...this trip just keeps getting better!! LOL) While it wasn't the way I had envisioned the morning of my wedding going...it was still very nice!!! My MOH and I head over to get our nails done about 10:00 knowing that the BM will be at the hotel to pick us up at about 11:15 to take us to our hair appointments. I felt so bad for my MOH here, I had the sweetest girl, constantly asking if I liked what she was doing, checking to see if my fingers were hurting just generally very nice, my MOH had the acrylic nail nazi doing hers, barking at her "You must RELAX!!!" :eek: (not sure how one is supposed to relax with some stranger yelling at them...but I digress) So at 11:15 we're loading absolutely everything into the car that we're going to need for the day. (including a cooler that the limo driver suggested we put in the trunk for the little guys during the formals...that was a life saver!!)
Get to our hair appointments at 12:03 (who says a bride can't be on time?! LOL) Now here I admit I took a HUGE chance!!! I booked our hair and makeup not at a salon...but at an academy. No hair trials...just wing & prayer and hope they do well. They far exceeded our expectations!!! Our hair and make up was gorgeous!!! The girls were so friendly and chatty, AND we spent far less than we expected to!!! WooHoo!!! (we walked out just before 3:00 PM!!!!!) As our makeup was being finished the instructor is looking over their work, suggested to us that we get spray deodorant and basically spray it everywhere to help keep us cool (so this means an extra stop at the drug store...but no biggie) as it turns out, it worked, cool and fresh all day long!!!! While getting our hair done, my MOH tells me that Dad was telling her over breakfast that he wanted to walk me down the aisle (we figured that after a night's sleep the answer might be different)
We get to Poineer House about 3:20 PM, start to get into my dress when we get a knock on the door, MOH answers and comes back telling me that FH wants to know where my book with all of the contact numbers is...I panic a bit, knowing that there is NO good reason for it to be needed today!! So I tell her that it's back at the hotel...why?? She tells me she'll be back in a minute, and heads back out. So I continue getting dressed. Our photographer is getting some of the getting dressed shots etc. MOH comes back in telling me that our officiant is a "no show" and they're trying to track him down, she then asks when the crinoline goes on...LOL...I forgot it! So I get undressed, put the crinoline on and get redressed...all the while one of the guests at our wedding is on the phone trying to track down our JP!!! (she should become an investigator...she does GREAT legwork!! LOL) Photographer decides at this point that she's going to go do detail shots because she is getting too many "angry face bride" shots. Considering that our JP got the job by default (there was nobody left in Edmonton who had the time to do the wedding) I'm stressing a bit, if he can't be found, then we were S.O.L. (and I guarantee he WOULD have been going to court!!!) Finally about 4:30 (our wedding was supposed to start at 4!!!) they tell me that they found him and that he's getting dressed and is on the way. His reasoning for not being there...since he hadn't heard from me to confirm, he thought we had changed our minds!!! WTF?!? (now I had been e-mailing him, calling him...hell he even had an invitation!!!! All of these confirming Aug 5th/06 4PM...my last e-mail to him was on Wednesday before the wedding...gonna change my mind 3 days before?!? Don't think so...) Just before 5 PM Elvis enters the building. So we rush to get into position to FINALLY get this show on the road!!
I walked down the aisle with my Dad to the traditional wedding march, as we get closer to the altar he gets more and more emotional, by the time we get to the altar he's in tears and pretty well overcome with emotion, I'm stressed that he's upset enough that he's going to fall. Before joining my FH I make sure to get Dad safely seated in the big comfy chair in the first row :) So I then loook to my FH who is in tears also (at this point the only time I've cried is when we were going through the mising JP segment!!) a strange calm came over me when I got to where my FH was, but got teary when our 3 year old (RB) stepped behind his Daddy and blew me a kiss, I was blown away by how handsome my FH and our three boys were!!!. The officiant is whispering how sorry he is, and I can feel the look coming across my face that he's getting from me, but can't stop it...LOL...the wedding begins rapidly at this point. hehehe. We say our vows (actually pretty quickly) Turn and are introduced as Mr. & Mrs. and start our recessional...which is stopped...why you might very well ask...well let me explain...our officiant sees this as the right time to give me the pen (advertising his services) explaining that it had never been used before us signing the register and he wanted us to have it as a keepsake. It took some major self control not to jab him with his damn pen...but was worried about ink stains on the dress so I resisted...LOL. Apparently before the ceremony started he told FH that he couldn't find a Civil Marriage Statement to give to us after the ceremony, but that he would drop it off at the reception. (does he REALLY do this for a living?!?!) Got outside and was greeted by our friends and family with lots of warm hugs and well wishes and of course our awaiting limo!!
Headed to Alberta Legislature for our formal wedding pics, which I am positively DYING to see!!!! Our photographer was awesome, amazing and well worth every cent paid for her. We tried to hurry her a little because we knew the kitchen was stressing, being as everything was running late due to the JP (they actually even called us during the formals to see if we could hurry it up...) but she would have none of it...according to her, we promised her an hour for formals, and she was going to use every minute of it, something I know I'll be so glad of when we see her professional pics! She had some amazing poses and ideas, and the kids tried as best they could to follow direction, we got some great shots with them, but in time decided it was just easiest to let them go with the MOH and BM back to the limo for snacks.
Get back to the reception, and were announced again as Mr. & Mrs. (and no...I will never get tired of THAT!!! hehehe) Sat down at the head table to start an absolutely AMAZING meal (I can't even imagine how much better it would have been on time!! LOL) The officiant appears with the Civil Marriage Certificate, telling me how he wishes we had called him earlier so that he could have been better prepared!! (s'cuse me...??) and wanting to know if everything has been settled financially...lemme get this straight...you mess up my day and you want to choose the beginning of my reception, at my head table, in front of all of my guests to ask if we've paid you????? Hellooooooo!!!!! So I tell him that everything is settled finacially, so he leaves. The clinking started, we let them have one gratuitous kiss, after that if they wanted us to kiss they had to sing a song with "love" in it. After the BM's speech and the MOH welcoming FH into our family (since Dad doesn't speak she did the welcome speech) all of FH's neices & nephew's got up and read a poem/verse that they made up themselves and collaborated on, having written it down on one of the napkins at the table, to pass on their good wishes. We were blown away!!! The mother of two of FH's nephews was telling us that they did it without prompting from any of their parents and that they were having the napkin framed for us to keep...I LOVED the idea!! The kids started "clinking" after a bit, and I was going to let it slide and just do the kiss, after such a wonderful written verse, but my MOH started singing "All You Need Is Love..." so she took care of the technicality!! LOL... Dessert was served Apple Cherry Pie w/ Ice Cream & Strawberry Cheescake.
After this was cake cutting time, finally time to cut what was quite possibly the most beautiful cake I have ever seen! I had provided white flotaing candles to the cake lady, but Wednesday night we find out that they won't fit our candleholders, so when we got the floating candles for the tables (a beautiful metallic purple) we got enough candles for the cake as well, it looked wonderful and brought the cake and the table centerpieces together, beautifully. (OMG I can hardly wait for my PRO pics!!!!!) Our cake was a steal...which was a good thing... we paid $135 for it (assuming 100 ppl) we ended up with a cake big enough to feed 200 and only about 60 ppl showed!! we left what was left of the bottom two layers for the staff of Pioneer House and took the top layer with us. The day after the wedding we got "cake hungry" and decided to break into it... carrot cake...YUMMY!!! We gave some to everyone visiting us that day and finished it off the morning before leaving the hotel.
We decided to do the First Dance, BP Dance, Bouquet Toss & Garter Toss all together. We opted not to do a parent's dance, as we knew that my Dad couldn't and it would hurt him to know he would have to sit it out. For our first Dance the DJ played "Feels Like Home To Me" as we're dancing our little guy is trying so hard to be "part of it" so I picked him up and the three of us danced (to the applause of our guests) After these, the DJ launches into a STRING of "interactive songs" YMCA, Conga Line...the works. I'm quietly fuming, knowing I had put on our music sheets NONE unless they were requested, when the DJ announces ANOTHER request for our BM..."I Knew The Bride..." but to be honest, I was having too much fun, as was everyone on the dance floor to say a word!! After a while after the BM could think of not one other interactive dance left to do, people are mingling (I know the DJ felt seriously under used when he was offering to bring people pieces of wedding cake!!!) By this time all three of our sweet little guys are crashed out, two in their stroller and one on a bed of chair pads. So we figure that because people are talking about leaving (there weren't that many to begin with) we decide to have the DJ play background music, and do the gift opening. Our videographer did an interview with us after the gift opening, asking us if we had any advice for our sons as they got older and got ready to be married themselves, to which my DH replied "Make sure that she's "The One" and I replied "Don't use Hans Hildebrandt for your JP!!!" a feeling seconded by our videographer who also had a horrendous experience with him!
As it turned out the officiant's payment was in DH's jacket pocket, not with the officiant (and probably would have been staying there, had it not been that we have to meet with the officiant to correct our Civil Marriage Certificate!!)
After that everyone teamed up and we got all the hall undecorated and cars packed in maybe an hour or so (let the DJ close up early) We got back to the hotel... DH, and all three boys are asleep within minutes. An hour later I have all of the bobby pins out of my hair and crawl into bed with my HUSBAND where I drift off into the sweetest sleep I have ever had :)