Tuesday, April 6, 2010

The Reception

Many of you know how incredibly busy my life has been over the past couple of months. The busyness has not ceased but I had a moment before heading out to the garden and so I thought I would share some of the photos from our reception. Hey, I'm only four months behind!

Right after the wedding ceremony we had family photos taken while our guests enjoyed some wonderful bruschetta. The wedding party was then introduced again. Phil and I were much more relaxed at this point of the evening. He spun me around as we walked down to Etta James singing "At Last".




One long table!


Might as well get use to this...we have plenty of children to keep us busy and so we might as well learn to kiss around them!


My sweet daughter and my dear friend!


What a sweet group of friends that Daisy is surrounded by.


Dave, one of Phil's closest friends, gave the first toast. It was the start of probably the most emotional part of the evening for me. Dave talked about how they had been praying for a wife for Phil. Dave and I have similar interests in subjects like economics. He thought it was pretty cool that I owned and had been reading "The Creature from Jekyll Island". He thinks it funny that he didn't see this coming....and, is so happy that it did! So, for all those girls out there that love to read, talk politics, think philosophically, and enjoy learning, there are guys out there that are looking for gals like you.


Every single toast meant so much to me. Erik, another of Phil's closest friends, gave a beautiful toast...but, I wouldn't expect anything less from this very eloquent man.


Doggonit...the toast's just kept getting harder to hear....only because they were such kind words. Lisa's toast started out something like this "As many of you were praying for Phil to find a wife, we were watching Heather be a wife." It is still amazing to me how God has changed my life so drastically. What was rather sweet was that there were people present at our wedding that both Phil and I knew from different circumstances. For them to see us come together was quite wonderful....and probably strange as well.


So, the toast that I couldn't help but cry through was when Becca got up and talked about how hard this process was for her and yet how much she loved me.
She did a great job getting through a very teary toast.



Do you see the twinkle in my eye? Yep, I am trying to decide how messy I want to get.
Of course, I was just one big tease...I wouldn't have smeared it on his face. I did dab his nose though.


A bit nervous at what Phil might do to me. I love the playfulness of our relationship!


Not bad...not bad at all.





As with the wedding of Cana, we felt that our wedding should reflect the best that we could afford and give to our guests. We surely didn't want to have a wonderful ceremony, great food, and then skimp on the wine or the dessert.
The food ended up being amazing and the dessert was wonderful as well. The adults were served Tiramisu and the kids were served Twinkies and Ho-Ho's. Well, there were some adults that preferred the Hostess cupcakes!


We did the traditional throwing of the garter and bouquet. Phil's brother caught the garter...too fun! And, a dear friend of mine, Jamie, caught the bouquet.


and, then the dancing began....Phil and I started out the dancing with the Bride and Groom dance. I had recorded a song for him which is what we danced to. I had recorded it about a month before the wedding and so it ended up being a hard secret to keep.
Our family had taken dance lessons together before we brought home the kiddos from Africa. It was fun to see Nate and Becca putting those lessons to good use.


Love this photo!


The YMCA!


Enjoying being in my man's arms!


The kids got into the dancing as well.


The Hokey-Pokey...it was fun to see so many people out on the dance floor.
The DJ was worried that we might have a dull evening on our hands when he found out that we were conservative, homeschooling families without an open bar available.
I told him that he would be pleasantly surprised...and he was!


The Cha-Cha Slide...a favorite for many in our church. My friend Dana (in the far left side of photo) was leading the group. I love the mixture of adults and children...exactly what we were hoping for.


I love Phil's smile in this photo. Doggonit! I love this guy!


Mamma's and their children enjoying some dancing fun!


Even Brown Sugar and her friend were enjoying the dance floor!


What a crowd!


Before we had our last dance we gathered the kids and prayed with them. We wanted to say our last farewell's to them in private (well, the photographer was there but not everyone else who attended the wedding). It was a sweet time.


The last dance was danced to "Save the Last Dance" by Michael Buble. I wasn't expecting the last of the people who stayed to circle around us and watch us dance. But, the effect was fun...sometimes I had to close my eyes because I was starting to get dizzy by their spinning one way and Phil spinning me the other way.


Walking out to the car. My "boyfriend" helped hold an umbrella over me. It was too sweet. But, sorry kiddo, you can't go with us! Love that kid!



One last kiss for all to see. Off to Hawaii the following day to enjoy a week by ourselves.
~Heather

6 comments:

Cara said...

I just love your wedding! It's so wonderfully classic, detailed, beautiful and fun! Thanks for sharing :)

Jennifer said...

I love that the kids (and some adults!) got Ho-Hos and Lil' Debbie's!! Looks like a lot of fun! Can't wait to hear about the trip to Hawaii!!

godlover said...

You have been richly blessed. This is Marj from Calaveras County. I was writing you a lot in your early struggle with Eric's death. I lost your blog addy in a computer crash and just tonight had it pop into my head. So now I have the wonderful news. Congratulations! Also wanted to say that my grandson will be graduating for the AF BMT in Texas next week. What is Nate going to do? Michael will be a firefighter. I thought I had lost contact with you forever. You probably don't even remember me. Anyway, I'm so happy for you. And it was good to finally hear the real names of your children although I had figured out Nate's name. An inadvertent slip on your part. I will follow the story of you life as you continue to share it. God bless you.
--Marj
Calaveras County

Nan said...

What a fun evening it was!! :^D

Jessica S. said...

Hi Heather,

I enjoy looking through your blog and the lovely wedding pictures. You look beautiful in your wedding gown. Congratulations! :)

Martha A. said...

What a beautiful and fun wedding! It looks like alot of fun!