Happy Wedding Wednesday! I’m so excited we’ve finally made it to the reception! So far, I’ve shared our video, the background story of my dress, the details of the morning of the wedding, and our ceremony, but the reception was really the star of the day! The inspiration for it was blue and white coastal, and it all came together even more beautifully than I could have imagined.
My mom and I poured our heart and soul into making this reception everything I’d always dreamed of and our amazing planner, Sarah, helped us pull everything off! Next week, I will get into all of the personalized details that helped make our reception so special, but today I want to give you an overview so you can really get a feeling for it all.
But, before we can talk about the reception, we have to get to the reception, right?! Since our church was on Balboa Island and our reception was along the bay, it only made sense that we and our wedding party arrived by boat! One of our family friends generously offered their boat to us to use, and we got to have a little boat party cruising the bay. This was one of the highlights of the entire day because the pressure of the ceremony was completely gone, and the craziness of the reception had yet to begin. It was just happy, fun times with some of our closest friends. They even surprised us by decorating the boat with signs and flowers and stocking it with all the refreshments you could want! We also used this boat time (and the walk from the church to the boat) as a great opportunity for photos!
While we had our boat party, our cocktail hour was underway! According to our schedule, the plan was for us to arrive just in time to enjoy the last 15 minutes of the cocktail hour, but little did I know that my mom had the ultimate surprise up her sleeve! As we were coming up the dock, about to enter the reception area, I began to hear the familiar sound of horns… My mom surprised us with the USC Marching Band! Shane and I were both shocked and in total disbelief! I couldn’t believe she pulled that off. The only people who knew were my mom, our planner, and my dad! Even though Shane didn’t also go to USC, his parents and grandparents both did, so the school means a lot to both of us and our families. This was such a special and exciting surprise that everyone enjoyed!
My mom also surprised us by having local artist Timree there live-painting our reception! This was our official wedding gift from her and it is so special. You can’t tell in the photo below, but Timree captured all the details so perfectly. You can get a better look at the finished painting here.
When the band’s performance was over, Shane and I ducked away in the corner of the cocktail hour while everyone took their seats before our Grand Entrance. We entered to the instrumental intro of “New York, New York” by Frank Sinatra, which led perfectly into our first dance song, “You Make Me Feel So Young.”
One of the most important things to both of us for our wedding was having a live band and amazing music. Our band, headed by lead singer Matt Mauser, specializes in Frank Sinatra and other similar classics, so we knew this was the route we wanted to go for our first dance. We chose “You make Me Feel So Young” for a lot of reasons. It has a beautiful message, it’s upbeat and fun, but what really sold it for us is that it has a significant part in one of my favorite movies, Elf. As silly as it sounds, that sentimental aspect was really the deciding factor. One of my friends even came up to us afterward and said, “Did you pick that song because of Elf!?” Ha! I guess I’m predictable.
The rest of the evening was filled with so many memorable moments. We had a speech that was touching and entertaining from a family friend, a special blessing by my Maid of Honor’s father, and of course my dad’s Father of the Bride Speech. After dinner, Shane’s Best Man, Josh, gave his speech and then my Maid of Honor, Maureen, gave hers and they completely brought me to tears. There is nothing more precious than lifelong friendships!
After Maureen’s speech, I had a surprise of my own up my sleeve… The only people who knew about this beforehand were Shane, our planner, and I think my bridesmaids, but I surprised everyone with a toast to my mom. You can watch the full toast here! It’s only a few minutes long, but it was such a special moment. Everyone came up to me afterward to tell me how it brought their entire table to tears. Anyone who knows me knows that my mom is my other half (other than Shane), and it didn’t feel right to let the entire day go by without recognizing her for all the work she put in to make our day and our life so incredible.
I’m pretty sure this photo was the moment my mom realized I was talking about her.
Once the sun started to set, the fire pits turned on and we had s’mores supplies brought out, which was a really great activity for the kids! Then, it was time for our cake-cutting! I was absolutely obsessed with our cakes from The Butter End. We got to pick two flavors and went with Banana Chocolate Chip and Double Chocolate Chip for the main cake and then I chose Red Velvet for Shane’s Groom’s Cake! Everyone got a different flavor except for Shane, who I made sure got a slice of all three.
Then, everyone took to the dance floor for a bit before it was time for the Father-Daughter and Mother-Son dances.
Those dances were really the last big moments of the night, then it was time for me to change into my after party dress! I went back and forth for a long time about whether I wanted an outfit change, but I am SO glad I did. I loved my dress so much, and while I would have loved to stay in it all night, I knew I wanted to really feel free on the dance floor and have fun, so switching to a shorter dress was perfect! I loved how my dress had little bows on the straps to tie in with the bows on the back of my first dress.
I think one of the best signs of a good wedding is when everyone is up and dancing and I can honestly say that I think everyone danced that night. At one point, I remember stepping off the dance floor and seeing that all the tables were basically empty and the dance floor was completely packed. It made my heart so happy to see everyone having so much fun! One of the reasons I really think this was the case was our band. Not only were they fun and dynamic, but the music they played crossed generations and were hits that everyone recognized! I truly don’t think it’s possible to not have fun with that!
This is one of my favorite pictures of my parents from the evening. Everyone on the dance floor is having fun with them standing off to the side, taking it all in. I feel like in this moment, they were both thinking, “We did it!”
Again, next week I am going to really break down all the details that I think made the day special. Things like the monogrammed patch inside my dress, our embroidered head table napkins, our custom matchbooks, our wedding suite, and so much more! It was just way too much to include in this post. I mean, honestly, this one is already way too long, so if you’ve made it this far… THANK YOU!
In case you missed them, you can check out…
Our Wedding Video here
The story of my wedding dress here
The details of the morning of the wedding here
Our ceremony recap here
As always you can always reach out via DM on Instagram or leave me a comment below with questions!
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