wedding favorites no.2

The flowers were probably my favorite detail at our wedding.  My mom headed up the flower committee and used a mix of wildflowers, flowers from friends' gardens and some flowers from the florist.  I wanted a wildflower look and I think all those involved with the flowers (Mom, Grandma, Kelsey Busby, my Aunts and my cousins) did a beautiful job.  My mom made my bouquet with just purples, whites and greens so it would stand out.  Actually, come to think of it, I even put a bouquet together!  I did all the paper products for our wedding and reception, with the help of my skilled artist friend Kelly Baker-Trapp.  She graciously designed on the computer whatever I asked of her.  For escort cards we printed out all the tags with guests name and added different stripes of washi tape on each card. I drew the emblem on our ceremony program and scanned it into the computer.  We had cupcakes and a small cake at the reception.  Friends from Greenville, Kim and Mark Meyers, made the cake and cupcakes.  We had SO many delicious flavors of cupcakes (creme brule, lemon and blueberry...), but I only tried one.  I can't even remember which one.  I heard rave reviews from my Dad, though!  Kim decorated the cupcakes with sage leaves and flower buds.  It was a stunning display.  The food at our reception was awesome.  Another friend (so many friends helped out), Kenzie Brister, was the head chef for the meal.  She got some friends and family together to chop fruit, make bread and cook the food. We tried to use local produce for each dish; Josh and I visited the farmer's market and talked with the farmers who provided us with tomatoes, melons, onions, basil and peaches.  We used cheese from the Marcoot Dairy in Greenville.  The dishes we ate were: melon salad with mint, caprese salad, homemade bread, vegetable quiche, and black bean sweet potato enchiladas.  So good!  This was Josh's favorite part of the day.

detail:

Before the reception, Josh and I stood in the hallway and greeted all of our guests as they entered the reception hall.  We wanted to thank each person for coming and the typical receiving line at the ceremony didn't seem like a good idea.  We also knew we would want to dance at the reception, so we didn't want to go around to each table during the reception.  Our solution worked out really well and we really enjoying greeting everyone. In addition to the delicious food at our reception, we had the usual speeches and parents dances, flower toss and group dancing.  But, you know, it didn't all feel usual.  I thought it was all exceptional.  The speeches made me laugh and cry, the dances were a symbol of our love for our parents and their love for us, and the group dancing was so inclusive and full of joy.  We did a contra dance, which is a type of folk dance with a fiddle and caller.  As you can see from the photos, it got most of our guests involved in the dancing and was great for all ages. After a few hours of dancing, our friends and family sent us off with tons of confetti!  Then after a couple days of hanging out with extended family in Greenville, we honeymooned in Long Beach, Washington.

reception:

This was such an amazing day!  I am still overcome with so much gratitude for all those involved. MANY THANKS!