wedding day: the reception

{this mega-photo post is the final part of the series about our recent wedding day}

the wedding reception took place about a hundred feet from the ceremony, which was really nice because everyone just picked up their chairs and moved them under the tent. yep, we had one of those biiiig tents adjacent to the beach. as far as decorations went, there were a few simple things but the real star of the show was the beautiful view to the north of the islands and mt. baker. (tip: when you got great scenery, don’t focus too much on details!)
we took a couple wedding party and family formals while my musician buddies serenaded the guests with love songs.

later i rejoined the party and had some great chats with friends and family. it made my heart burst to know how far some of them had traveled to be there that day! we munched on appetizers, for awhile (thanks to my MOH for bringing me a plate after the threat of “hanger” crept in!) and there were some lawn games going on as well.

{just remembered in the nick of time to hang the wedding cards from alex’s students in the czech republic!}

good tunes reverberated throughout the tent, and eventually it was already time to eat! we wanted sort of “down-home” comfort food to make it feel like a relaxed family picnic! i think nobody was disappointed.

as far as drinks, we were serving washington wines, beer from anacortes brewery, and a fun little summer cocktail that our friend designed featuring local fresh sweet strawberries, gin, st. germain, lemon, mint, and soda water… it looks so beautiful sparkling in the sunshine! bartending was a collaborative effort for sure as we had not hired one and a couple of our guests (including moms, aunts, friends, and husbands) switched out throughout the evening. (note: when you have no official bartender, this is what happens!)
during dinner we were treated to some wonderful toasts from our family and friends… but alex’s mom’s definitely brought down the house with embarrassing childhood stories of alex. everyone loved it.

to go with our whole midsommar feeling, we wanted a kransekage (danish wedding cake) for our cake, which was a really fun touch… even though whoever helped put it together went a little crazy with the toothpick flags! i only got about one bite of this cake, but i heard that guests enjoyed it. such is a wedding!

after our first dance, i definitely didn’t know that i would be basically glued to the dance floor for the next five hours but when you’re really excited about your dance playlist years in the making, i guess those things are bound to happen! so from about 7pm onward, if you weren’t dancing, we weren’t hanging out. but hey, it’s my wedding! (sorrynotsorry)

eventually at the stroke of midnight, alex made the executive decision to end the dancing portion of the evening, mostly because people were staying in cabins right behind the tent. so we danced to our lovely last song and had a sparkler send-off back to our woodsy cabin.
it was a weekend that flew by entirely too fast on an island i never wanted to leave.