US meets UK

Apparently, I am!

Sorry to promote myself, but I’m well chuffed!

ps. Major ups to my cousin Rachel for sending me this <3

Surprise! You thought I was gone, finished, finto after my recaps! Perhaps one day I’ll be writing a signing off post, but today is not that day my friends. As the spouse of an immigrant it’s going to be a very long time until I get to stop writing about marriage and immigration- but this post is not about that yucky business- it’s about photos!

I was lucky enough to be a fast commenter on a weddingbee classifieds post from Muriel Silva – an AMAZING photographer in the DC/MD/VA area. Despite the chilly temperatures (this session was in December 2009) and Mr.D’s general dislike of being a photography subject, we had a great time. If I were planning my wedding (and you know, not already married) I would hire her in an instant. If we’re in the states, and she’s doing maternity photos – I’ll be giving her a call in a few years.

We had a great time in Annapolis

At the end, we stopped by my favorite childhood ice cream shop and took a few shots with the letters I had made (cardboard and spray paint form Michaels). The letters now hang in our living room.

Did you do a couples shoot post wedding?

Mr. D and I nervously stepped up to do our first dance to Stevie Ray Vaughn’s Pride and Joy. We also heard this song on our first date, but I’m pretty sure it’s not about prostitutes or whorehouses. I think we asked it to be shortened to 45 seconds, Mr.D is not so big on the “everyone staring” thing that happens when you’re the only people dancing in a crowded room.

(Image via Jenna Cole)

My Dad and I danced to the ever popular Paul Simon’s Father and Daughter. I know so many people use this song, but since I’ve always loved it, I didn’t mind. We got teary again, because, well for one day at least that was how we rolled.

Thanks to our DJ’s suggestion, Mr.D danced with his mom to the Beatles, appropriate no?

Admittedly, our dance floor was off to a bit of a slow start. But things did pick up when our caterer tried to close the bar an hour early (so perhaps it was a blessing in disguise).

Newly refreshed, people started to boogie down. Perhaps you’ve heard of the hammer dance? Have you ever seen it performed by a hilarious Englishman?

Pretty soon, EVERYONE was getting down.

After I returned from my 20 minute search for the caterer to ask why the bar was closing an hour early-I joined in for some fun.

Mr.D taught us all to “big fish, little fish, cardboard box, put it on a shelf”

And Cupcake broke out the Brookie

I did the robot

(image by Jenna Cole)

and danced with my best friend

and my newly minted spouse

we sang at the top of our lungs

and my dad and I, as well as Mr.D and my mother, helped to close the dance floor out.

It was, to this day – two years later, the best day of my life. I married my bestest friend, was able to hang out with (almost all) the most important people in our lives and had a blast. Thank you so much for being part of the process.

All images unless otherwise noted are from Evan Bishop

The full and final, d’orsay recaps!

• US meets UK: Toasts, Dinner and a Lost Caterer
• US meets UK: The In-Between
• US meets UK: The Details of the Ceremony
• US meets UK: We Get Married!
• US meets UK: Heading Down the Aisle
• US meets UK: Everyone Arrives…Except For My Dad!
• US meets UK: I Can’t Believe We Also Forgot The…
• US meets UK: I Can’t Believe We Forgot The…
• US meets UK: A Spoiler Alert!
• US meets UK: Where I Am Late for My Own Wedding
• US meets UK: Getting Ready
• US meets UK: I Get by With a Little Help From My Friends

How much can you love this engagement shoot?

wait for it….

BOOM!

All photos via weddingjojo

Could zombies be the new large red balloons? I sure hope so!

After everyone hit the buffet, we settled in for the toasts. In England, the best man’s speech is longer than in the US and more akin to a stand up comedy routine/roast for the groom. Mr. D’s brother is not that wild about public speaking, so he opted for the US tradition.

It was sweet, funny and brought a smile and a tear to everyone’s face.

Since I had two MOH’s , OZ-MOH began with humorous and touching stories.

Stories, that apparently made me feel I might need a swig or two…

MB-MOH closed the bridal party speeches with a task for Mr.D and I.

She asked him to place his hand on top of mine, and proceeded to let him know that that would surely be the last time he had the upper hand in our relationship.

Mr.D stood, and thanked everyone for coming and supporting us in this part of lives. While not a lover of public speaking, he did a fabulous job.

Then my father went to the mic to give his speech,

and rendered us both speechless- he choked up,

I choked up, we hugged it out.

It was overwhelming to feel the love pouring from our friends and family. The toasts were one of my favorite parts of the day. Hearing how much our family and friends love us is something I will always cherish and the humor and kindness with which the message was delivered with will never be forgotten.

In case you were curious about the detail or DIY aspects of dinner:

the cork place holders turned out well

as did the table settings

(Image via Jenna Cole)

This post was hard to write because I’m still irked by mistakes from our caterer, which I’d rather go over while discussing dinner instead of the reception. The food that was served was not the food we contracted for at the tasting. While much of it was similar, the mains were different and it would have been an easy consultation to make with us. I loved the catering staff the day of, but our coordinator was a huge frustration. I’ll simply say that she chose to ignore her contract and chose to try and shut the bar down an hour early. I was livid, we were having a relatively short reception as it was and removing an hour from it was not in the contract. Since I did not have a DOC, I had to find the caterering coordinator to ask what was going on (in four inch heels and a wedding dress). I couldn’t find her in the kitchen, or in the house, or in the parking lot. I finally asked one of her staff to help me since it had already taken 20 minutes to search the previous places. After finding her I asked what was going on, re-explained the terms of the contract and she agreed to shut the bar down at the proper time and to focus her break down efforts elsewhere. If you’re an MD/DC/VA bride I don’t mind sharing who my caterer was, but I’m choosing not to link to them for this post.

Did you cry (or have a bit of champers) during your toasts? Any major frustrations at your wedding?

All photos from Evan Bishop unless otherwise noted

Curious what happened before?

• US meets UK: The In-Between
• US meets UK: The Details of the Ceremony
• US meets UK: We Get Married!
• US meets UK: Heading Down the Aisle
• US meets UK: Everyone Arrives…Except For My Dad!
• US meets UK: I Can’t Believe We Also Forgot The…
• US meets UK: I Can’t Believe We Forgot The…
• US meets UK: A Spoiler Alert!
• US meets UK: Where I Am Late for My Own Wedding
• US meets UK: Getting Ready
• US meets UK: I Get by With a Little Help From My Friends

After the ceremony we greeted all the people who came to share in our special day

took photos as a newly married couple

grabbed a few formal photos while our friends and family grabbed cocktails and the usual fare. At least, I think they did, I was outside praying that the rain would stay to an infrequent drizzle.

Then we were announced to La Grange by ZZ Top. We saw a band play this on our first date in Austin and chose it to remind us of our beginnings as a couple. Later, I learned the song is about a whorehouse. Cool. It was our plan that after being announced we’d cut the cake to save people from going between the house and the tent. Except, we walked past the cake to our seats, and had to turn around! Whoopsies!

(Image via Jenna Cole)

I love, love, LOVED our cake buffet, our bakery and the delicious cake they gave us on our anniversary. Our cake was originally supposed to just have a single (non edible) flower on top – instead they did an arrangement that I was completely in love with.

It was SUCH a nice surprise and I smile every time I think of our cake. I can’t recommend them enough!

(Image via Jenna Cole)

We loved all the cakes on our buffet. I’m pretty sure Mr.D and I tried to eat a bit of each flavor…

We cut into our two tier cake (pretty sure I’m thinking “oooo…. CAKE!”)

and I made the ugly cake face that one makes when trying to avoid being covered in cake while wearing a white dress. Neither of us wanted to do the cake smush, but I can see how it might be tempting after the wedding planning process. I kid, I kid!

I should have been Ms. Python with my giant retractable jaw.  Up next? Dinner and toasts of course!

Did you/will you make ugly cake face? Will you smush or no smush?

All photos from Evan Bishop unless otherwise noted

Need a refresher?

• US meets UK: The Details of the Ceremony
• US meets UK: We Get Married!
• US meets UK: Heading Down the Aisle
• US meets UK: Everyone Arrives…Except For My Dad!
• US meets UK: I Can’t Believe We Also Forgot The…
• US meets UK: I Can’t Believe We Forgot The…
• US meets UK: A Spoiler Alert!
• US meets UK: Where I Am Late for My Own Wedding
• US meets UK: Getting Ready
• US meets UK: I Get by With a Little Help From My Friends

Uh… hey…. it’s me, your favorite split shank purple shoe…. Just so I don’t give you a case of recap blue balls (again) I’ve actually finished writing them and am publishing them one at a time. Being a Weddingbee blogger has meant so much to me and I apologize for taking so long. In case anyone who was here in 2009 is still around, thanks for keeping me company! If you’re new to the hive – welcome! I’m a semi-old timey  Bee who is about to celebrate her two year anniversary!

*Where we last left off*

Before I move ahead with the reception, I just wanted to take a moment to highlight how several projects turned out. Some I didn’t even blog about (for shame!).

Those pomanders? That everyone helped so much with? Looooooooved them and for me, they were so worth it! (Big ups to Mr.D, my cousins Megan and Rachel, my sister Regan, my best friends and MOH’s MB and Beth, and Candy Corn). It takes a big village to make 10 pomanders. They’ve since visited Mrs. Cowboy Boot in Colorado, my cousin Megan, and now one of Megan’s friends!

(image via Jenna Cole)

Mrs. Kitten had posted about the lavender bags from Mint Blog and I enlisted my sister in the construction. Mr.D redesigned the tag, I filled the bags and my sister sewed them with her friend. As a side note, I wish I had used less lavender per bag and created little sachets (the kind you put in your drawer to make things smell nice) with a cute tag as a favor.  I had enough rice, and could have easily ordered two bags to have been sure and it would have been pretty cute.

A few weeks before the wedding my bridal party showed up to help me assemble the ceremony program fans that Mr.D designed-while Mr.D was out on his US bachelor outing (with my father, BIL, and OZ MOH’s Dad/our neighbor) to Hooters. Oh yes.  The night ended with him coming home IN a hooters outfit – as in, wearing a waitresses’ outfit (don’t worry she had another one to change into). Also displayed in bins were hankies gifted from Mrs. Tulip, OFF mosquito repelling wipes (6 pm ceremony+August+Maryland = total necessity) and lavender packets.

After lots of glue gun burns, corner punching cramps and glasses of wine – they were finished.

I also borrowed vintage handkerchiefs from Mrs. Tulip, and found mosquito repellant wipes to set out for guests.
Though not exactly a detail, my mother had the foresight to purchase an aisle runner. She was worried that because of the rain, my dress would get muddy and the lace would snag. During the outdoor photos with the bridal party we learned that yes, in fact my dress loved nothing more than to snag. My dress wanted to get all sorts of friendly with the parking lot, the side walk and the stairs.

And a detail that didn’t happen?

We purchased a large quantity of San Pellegrino Orange and Limonata, and I created signs and zotted purple ribbon to two large galvanized metal tubs. On the afternoon of the wedding we weren’t even sure we would be getting married outside, and made a split second decision to leave them home.

In retro, retro, retrospect, it would have been nice to have them. – but probably not worth the stress of trying to get them assembled (while wearing evening wear) with ice in the buckets prior to the ceremony.
What ceremony details are most important to you?

Can’t remember back to 2 years ago?

• US meets UK: We Get Married!
• US meets UK: Heading Down the Aisle
• US meets UK: Everyone Arrives…Except For My Dad!
• US meets UK: I Can’t Believe We Also Forgot The…
• US meets UK: I Can’t Believe We Forgot The…
• US meets UK: A Spoiler Alert!
• US meets UK: Where I Am Late for My Own Wedding
• US meets UK: Getting Ready
• US meets UK: I Get by With a Little Help From My Friends

Ask and ye shall receive.

<3

d’orsay