Thursday, March 6, 2008

On to the Reception

The bride, just before the wedding
After attending the wonderful wedding ceremony of our friends Abigail and Joe, we were invited to celebrate with them at the reception. They stamped their reception with the same personal touches that they had used in their wedding.

The stairs leading into the home were strewn with the same beautiful rose petals that had been used at the church. Upon entering this stately old mansion we found their "guest book," which was actually a large picture frame with the glass removed. The guests were to sign in on the mat board. After they returned from their honeymoon, they would choose a portrait to be inserted and then they will hang this guest book on the wall to enjoy. I loved this!

Each room in the house had a special purpose. There was a room for the gifts, one with sofas to relax in. The food rooms were all decorated with magnolia leaves around the food platters. The drinks room, fruit and cheese room, and dessert rooms were very popluar. The large hall area was the cake room. Tables had been set up in one room to allow guests to sit while they ate. Just as had happened at the church, people from all areas of their lives mingled and enjoyed hearing stories of Joe and Abigail.

The wedding cake was another representation of their personalities—with Cinderella and Prince Charming as the cake toppers (Joe loves Disney.)

Growing up as a Baptist, I have attended very few weddings where there was a first dance (Baptists don't dance). I understand the reason behind it, since often people become inappropriate in the manner that they dance. However, as in the rest of the day, we got a wonderful twist. The couple was brought into the cake room and the music began. Their first dance as husband and wife was full of sweet romantic smiles and soft caresses. The music ended and the dancing ended with their dance. The music was not extended as an invitation to other dancers.
The bouquet toss

When it came time for the bouquet throwing, Abigail threw it from the top of the staircase outside. There was much jumping for the prize.

The garter throwing held yet another thoughtful change. At our wedding, I chose to wear a garter, but no one was aware of it and we did not throw it. The tendency for people to want to hoot and holler and embarass the couple led us to tell people we were not doing that. When it was time for Joe to remove the garter, he reached to get it without lifting up Abigail's gown. Upon not finding it he removed his jacket to get down to business and, lo and behold, it was on his arm. Abigail then removed it and Joe threw it to the single men. There was no embarassing placing it on the bouquet-catcher's leg.

The bridal couple
As the couple left they were showered with rose petals. It was the most beautiful and God honoring wedding we have ever attended.

Thank you Joe and Abigail for including us in your day. I also want to thank David and Luke Edmonson for the amazing images you see on the post today. If you need an event photographed contact them at edmonsonweddings.com .

7 comments:

Richard D said...

The Edmonsons were great! It would be wonderful to be able to produce work like this.

Stacy @ The Next-to-Nothing House said...

What a lovely wedding. I am on the wedding committee at our church and have been unfortunate enought to see a few rather tacky weddings. The photos are beautiful.

Kim said...

I would love to be part of a wedding committee, our church doesn't have anything like that. We went to a church that had a wedding coordinator who created more problems then she solved. I think a committee would be a better way to go, that way more ideas flow and if there is a conflict on the date there would be others who could fill in.

Stacy @ The Next-to-Nothing House said...

For our church this is how it works....there are usually 3 of us on "duty." We show up the night of the rehearsal and help the wedding party line up and basically do a run through of the wedding. We, also, have to tell them all of the rules of the church. It is a very old historical church and there are several rules we must follow.
On the day of the wedding we are there for whatever the wedding party needs. I've stitched a torn hem, scuffed bottoms of new shoes, pinned flowers, cleaned stains, and tracked down members of the wedding that are MIA. We even help with the pictures.
This is a free service that our church offers and is a wonderful ministry. Perhaps this is something your church would consider trying?

Kelly @ The Barefoot Mama said...

Kim,

Your photos are phenomenal. I knew that you were a good photographer, but yowza, mama! They're so fantastic and really capture the joy of everyone. :o) (The bouquet toss photo rocks!!)

P.S. Love the one of you and David on the porch swing in the next post.

Kelly @ The Barefoot Mama said...

Okay, silly me didn't see the shout-out a the end of the post, LOL!

Kim said...

I'm glad you saw the shout-out. They are awesome, I wish I had taken the images on this post. These are the only ones not ours. All the other wedding images were taken by my husband, my son or myself.