Our Wedding Day

You are cordially invited to our wedding!

Sorry for the last minute invite. Actually, err, make that the "way-too-late invite".
By four+ years.

Awkward...

Why now? Well, a few months ago, I received an intimidating e-mail from my wedding photographer that screamed, "Wedding Memories Sale!!!" followed by, "We're cleaning out our photo inventory!" He was offering to sell the photo DVD's of past weddings. Even though I already had a wedding album made, his line, "We're cleaning out our photo inventory" freaked me out a bit. Would our precious photos end up in a digital trash bin if I didn't jump on his offer?

I talked Dan into buying the DVD, and it arrived two months later on July 24th, our four year and one month anniversary! How fortuitous, right?! I know, I know, the traditional four year and one month anniversary gift is supposed to be iron. Or is it aluminum? Plexiglass? Silicone??

I can never keep those rules straight, so we decided to buck tradition and instead went with photos... and a blog post to preserve this day forever.

So, here it is, a completely random time to be posting this and a bit self-indulgent, but I gobble up wedding details on blogs, so if you're anything like me, read on:

Our Wedding Day

Dan and I got married on June 24, 2006, a freakishly hot day even by Virginia's standards. That afternoon, my bridesmaids and I got gussied up in the upstairs master bedroom at Willow Manor, an estate in Providence Forge, Virginia. This is also where we held the reception later that night.

Dan and I picked this estate because we thought it would be memorable, had many places for people to lounge during the reception, and because the owners were open to letting us make it our own for the day.

The room where my bridesmaids and I got ready:

A shot of the staircase:



Dan and I tried to personalize the space in a few ways. First, we put wedding photos of our parents and grandparents on the front table, along with fun notes about the number of years they have been married. We also put framed photos of our families in the built-in shelves throughout the house.
As you can see in the above photo, we set up wedding CD's on this table full of our favorite love songs as our favor and as a way to direct people to their seats. I spent a few hours burning these, bought some cheap labels from myweddinglabels.com, and added the ribbon and seat info. Dan and I still listen to our copy every anniversary!
On the actual tables, we placed photos that Dan and I had taken weeks before holding signs emblazened with the table numbers. And, yes, Dan did look damn good in his t-shirt tuxedo in said pictures. :)

Here's another one:

Here's a daytime shot of the tables under the tent:My photographer captured this candid of my sister and me taking in the view of all the tables set up with the photos. We both have a copy of it hanging in our homes. Yay for sister moments :)

For the actual wedding, Dan and I were married in a small, old chapel about two miles away from Willow Manor. I loved our simple ceremony that included readings of lyrics from Dan's favorite Beatles song and an essay that I wrote.

Another DIY project we did was the programs. And when I say "we", I mean my parents and I spent three mind-numbing hours printing these out, slipping them down into a large envelope type sleeve, and gluing on the "T" monogram. They turned out beautiful, even if I saw more than a few guests fumbling with how to actually open the program. It's not that complicated, people!


My favorite part of the ceremony? The unrehearsed kiss, of course! But you knew that already...

As for the reception, everyone went back to the manor house for dinner under the tent after the wedding. I won't bore you with the usual wedding shenanigans: the toasts and the first dance and the YMCA (per a request from my mom). Dan and I tried to eschew as many other traditions as we could (like throwing the bouquet and garter), but, hey, my mom still wanted to throw her hands up like one of the village people. What the MOB wants, she gets.

The rest of the night, people hung out inside the manor house, danced outside under the tent, and lounged in the adirondack chairs in the yard. For further light besides the lights around the tent, we put out these cheesy candles, which looked pretty next to the glow of the pool.
Dessert is always a big deal for me, so besides our wedding cake,
we also had a chocolate fountain with marshmallows, pretzels, cookies, and strawberries for dipping.
It seemed to be a hit...












In short, there were many details that I had planned for months and photo ops and traditions and rehearsed kisses for the camera to capture.


Beyond all that, though, I still think the best part of the night was later when all the formality stopped. People began to loosen their ties and kick off their shoes. I threw on a pair of my sister's orange flip flops and officially became the sweatiest bride in history as I danced up a storm in the 90+ degree night.

My parents and us starting to glisten... yuck.

Then, Dan started doing his robot dance (see below). My sugar high friends pretended to lick the chocolate fountain. The cousins got drunker and screamed along to Abba's "Dancing Queen". And the party continued even after we left for the night when Dan's friends and my cousins took all our leftover beer and had an impromptu shindig at their hotel.

Good times!

Thanks for your virtual attendance!