Our Indiana Reception

Since the wedding was in Pennsylvania, most of my family couldn't make it.  So, we also did a reception in Indiana.  I don't think I posted this on my blog, but this is the invitation that was sent out for that:

Well, not exactly.  I obviously blacked out some information so that you can't go stalk my parents!  :)

The reception went really well.  It was calm, which was exactly what we wanted.  My dad roasted a hog and we had salads and sides and such.  And my mom ordered some sheet cakes from a local bakery.  Everything was delicious.  And we got to see a lot of my family and friends from Indiana (and Philip got to meet most of them for the first time!).  There weren't really set times, so people just came and went throughout the day.  It was nice that way because we could spend a little time with people before they'd leave and then new people would come in and we'd spend time with them before they left.  And so on. 

I don't have a whole lot of photos from that day.  I think we mostly forgot about photography and just had fun.  But, here are some photos that we did manage to snag.

Mom set up some of the pics that she had taken of the ceremony and reception and displayed them here.  There are also some leftover vanilla favors up there.  And our photo frame card box.  :)

This cake was far less expensive than the wedding cake, but somehow they were able to decorate it better -- smooth, not half-assed, doesn't look like it was done in 5 minutes before the delivery... I'm not even a big fan of frosting flowers, but the cake is pretty.  :)

This one makes me laugh because it could have been awkward.  Philip and I are sitting at a table with my high school sweetheart's parents and grandparents.  ;)

It was an absolutely beautiful fall day.  :)

Yeah, great photo right?!  I mostly just wanted to show what I was wearing that day!

My dad and his brother playing horseshoes.  :)

Technically, this was after the reception had ended, but Philip is just too cute for me not to post this.  ;)

Those paper lanterns and string lights (along with the rest of the decor) got used again at the Indiana reception.  We wanted it to look as close to the Pennsylvania reception as possible.  Mom and Dad even bought a tent (they'll get plenty of use out of it for future parties!). 

And, there you have it.  There wasn't any drama.  It wasn't formal (or even semi-formal).  It wasn't over the top.  But, it was wonderful.  

When I *Should* Have Had a Bridezilla Moment...

For the most part, our wedding day was incredibly happy.  I will forever cherish the memories of me walking down the aisle with my parents at my side to see my wonderful husband.  The photos of us with our wedding party will always make me smile.  And I will definitely never forget my dad wearing his tie around his head for most of our reception.  

However, there were several things that went wrong on our wedding day that weren't things that I could just forget.  I had thought about just leaving it alone and not blogging about this stuff, but this is my wedding blog and it wouldn't be honest to just leave out my true feelings.  

Our wedding ceremony was scheduled to start at 4:00pm.  All family members were supposed to arrive by 2:00pm for photos.  So, imagine my surprise when 2:30 arrived and part of Philip's family still hadn't arrived.  And then 3:00.  And then 3:30.  Still not there.

Philip continued to try to get a hold of his mom.  Finally he texted her and told her that if she didn't arrive immediately, she just wouldn't have any family portraits. Philip was embarrassed and apologizing to me that his own mother couldn't show up on time to take photos.  I was getting pissed.  

Philip's mom was actually in the last group of people to arrive at our ceremony.  Almost two hours late.  By the time she arrived we only had a few minutes to go until the ceremony started.  I was fuming so I went to finalize some things with Jon (our celebrant) while Philip explained to his mom and step-dad when they'd be walking down the aisle.

Here I am talking to Jon right before the ceremony started. 

After the ceremony, I was on cloud nine.  So we got pictures with Philip's mom and stepdad at the reception site.  When we got back to the tent, Philip's grandfather started in on us about cutting the cake.  He said that people wanted to leave so we needed to cut the cake. 

I spent months planning out our wedding day.  There was a schedule to it.  We had an ipod reception, so the music was timed based on the schedule I'd created.  So, I wanted to just tell him to tell people to leave then.  I mean, WTF?  If you want to leave an hour into the reception, why is that my problem?  But, I took a few deep breaths, found the right song on the ipod, and we cut the cake -- smiles and all.

After dinner, when we were trying to dance, Philip's family started breaking down the tables.  Mind you, the reception is still going on.  Our friends and family started leaving because they thought they were being rushed out.  We live on the other side of the country from all of the people at our wedding.  We see them very little.  So the fact that our reception was cut short  really upset me.  

After most of our guests left, Philip and I just gave up, went inside to change, and came out to help take down the decorations.   

Did we have a good time?  Yes.  The amazing thing is that through most of this, I was fine.  I was so happy about life that I just let it all slide.  It was only as we were cleaning up that I started to get angry.  And then the next day I was really irritated.  It's now been over 4 months, and I am still irritated by it. 

We spent so much time, energy, and money on that one day.  It was supposed to be one of the best days of our life.  Well, it fell flat.  Don't get me wrong.  I was totally happy that day.  I just can't look back on our wedding day without thinking about all the crap that went wrong.  I'm just glad that it's over and now I get to enjoy the rest of my life with my wonderful husband.

I guess my advice for all brides is just to try to let everything slide on your wedding day.  Just enjoy it while you can.  You've got plenty of time afterwards to think about all those irritating things that went wrong!  ;)  Kidding!

Vendor Review: The Flour Child

We used The Flour Child in Columbia, Pennsylvania for our groom's cake and our wedding cake.  

Groom's Cake: 

I wanted a 3D R2D2 cake for Philip because he loves Star Wars.  I thought that the cake looked pretty good.  It really did look like R2D2.  It wasn't as smooth as I had hoped, but it definitely did the trick. 

However, I thought the cake itself was not good.  The cake tasted like it was over a week old.  It was dried out and didn't have a good flavor.  I also requested that she use as little frosting as possible because Philip doesn't like frosting very much.  Well, it had a TON of frosting.  

I was disappointed, but I knew that this cake was more complicated than our wedding cake and probably took a lot of time.  So, I just hoped for the best for our wedding cake.

Wedding Cake: 

First off, let me give you an idea of the kind of cake that I had requested.  I told Alixe that I wanted a square, three tier cake.  I wanted it to be smooth and sleek.  I wanted navy ribbon around the bottoms of each layer.  And next to that, I wanted big, creamy pearls (I used pearls in lots of places in the wedding).  I even sent her some sample photos of what I was looking for (all courtesy of The Knot).  

The ribbon (but in navy) and the smooth texture.

Again, smooth and this time with creamy pearls. 

This time square with ribbon.

She told me she understood and I believed her.  I had confidence that she'd deliver the cake that I wanted.  After all, I think it's actually a pretty simply cake.  

However, I was seriously disappointed to walk into our reception during the cocktail hour and find this:

That cake is not smooth and sleek.  The layers were lumpy and not even (you can even see that from a distance in the pictures!).  Yes, that cake is square, but the edges were not sharp -- they were wavy.  And the pearls were not pearls at all.  They were almost nonexistent which probably would have been better than the sloppy mess that they pretended were "pearls."  

Here, you can see what I'm talking about.  There are tiny little dots along the edge of the ribbon (NOT pearls).  And they were so sloppily done that most of them had tails.  You can also see that the ribbon was put on so poorly that it's squishing the cake out over the top of it.  You can also see what I mean about it not being smooth/sleek.  

This is an actual screenshot from The Flour Child's Flickr Gallery of our cake.  Even in the photo that they chose to display shows all the imperfections and crappy pearls. 

Thankfully Howie was able to get a few good shots of the cake that make it seem like it might have been pretty... But it wasn't.  It was not what I asked for and I am honestly surprised that they thought it was acceptable.  

What they gave me was not a professional grade cake.  I am an amateur and I could have made this cake.  I honestly feel confident that I could have definitely made the pearls much better than that!

The wedding cake did taste better than the groom's cake, but I still didn't think it was a good cake.  And a lot of our guests agreed with me on that.  

So, in light of all of that, I do NOT recommend The Flour Child.  Alixe was pretty good to work with in the months before the wedding (her communication was lacking towards the end but she said it was because she had a TON of weddings going on at the time -- I think that she seriously overextended herself and it showed in her work!), but her actual work left a LOT to be desired.  

I give The Flour Child 2.5 stars out of 5.  They do not get a passing grade from me.  I guess I shouldn't have looked at so many cakes online and watched so many cake decorating shows before the wedding!

Cutting the Cake!

When we came back to the tent, we were encouraged to cut the cake.  It wasn't supposed to happen yet, but we went with it anyway.  I knew what I was in for.  I didn't even bother to tell Philip not to smash cake in my face because I knew it would be futile.  Besides, I think cake face photos are adorable, and I don't think it would be very "us" to play nice during the cake cutting!

 

 

Yep.  He smeared it all over my face.  I had to have my mom help me get the cake off my face.  He didn't get smeared nearly as badly because he has much longer arms than I do.  So, he pulled away from my hand but could still reach my face!  Turd!  But, I do love these photos.  Especially the last one.  He's rotten, but he still gets a kiss (while he continues smearing cake all over my face!). 

 Photos courtesy of Howie Hartman of Double H Media.

Miss something?  Catch up here:
We arrive in Pennsylvania

We begin setting up

We stock the bar (and skip a rehearsal)

We have dinner and play games at our "Rehearsal" Dinner

We eat R2D2 and open presents at our "Rehearsal" Dinner

We bask in the glow of our paper lantern triumph

We finish setting up the tent

Wedding Day Details: The Favors

Wedding Day Details: The Set-Up 

Wedding Day Details: The Rings

Wedding Day Details: The Chair Signs

Wedding Day Details: Odds & Ends

The Girls Get Glamorous

Philip Gets Gorgeous 

Closeup: The Ladies 

Closeup: The Guys 

Closeup: The Bridal Portraits

Our First Look 

Pre-Ceremony Photos

More Photos of Us

Our Mini-Rehearsal

Partial Family Portraits

Wedding Party Photos at the Ceremony Site

Even More Photos at the Ceremony Site 

Grandparents, Parents, and Wedding Party Walk Down the Aisle

The Bridal Entrance... 

Ceremony Part I 

Ceremony Part II 

Ceremony Part III 

Ceremony Part IV: The Sand Ceremony 

Ceremony Part V: The Vows 

Ceremony Part VI: The Handfasting 

Ceremony Part VII: The Ring Exchange

Ceremony Part VIII: The Final Reading 

Ceremony Part IX: The End! 

The Recessional 

Pre-Reception Wedding Party Photos 

The Reception Begins

More Reception Photos

Thank You Parasol Photos

Gifts and Cake!

Before I start this, I want to add that I'm dragging these pre-wedding recaps out as long as possible because I still do not have our pro-pics.  I checked the mail half a dozen times yesterday and when it finally arrived, there was no disc.  So, I emailed Howie to see if the disc had been sent yet (remember, he said I'd it in my hand by the weekend).  He emailed back this morning to tell me that he had just finished editing them this morning and he'd put them in the mail tomorrow.  I'm getting frustrated.  I know that average wait time is this or longer, but it's double what Howie had told me originally.  Grrr... At least when I have them in my possession, I know that they are going to be fantastic!

Anyway, on with the recap.  You might remember that I bought a special groom's cake for Philip especially for the rehearsal dinner.  I chose R2D2 because Philip is a huge Star Wars nerd--er, I mean fan.  ;)

I was actually really pleased with how it turned out.  It looked like R2D2 and had a special touch especially for us:

 

It's a bit difficult to see, but it says "9  24  2011" with a little heart after it.  

Philip digging in to R2D2's leg.  Do robots have legs?  lol

Poor legless R2D2.

Unfortunately I was not as impressed with the taste as I was the look of the cake.  And, even more unfortunately, I wasn't the only one.  Many of the guests and I thought the cake tasted really not good -- like it had been made a week or more ago.  It was dry and flavorless.  And, I had specifically told her not to use a lot of icing (Philip doesn't like lots of icing).  However, apparently she couldn't get the cake to hold together without a ton of icing.  

Although I was disappointed, Philip thought the cake tasted fine and he loved how it looked.  In fact, after we walked in, he turned to me and said, "Did you see the cake in the corner?!"  I told him that I did and that I had ordered it for him.  :)  He was very pleased.  

And, since it was a bridal shower, we also got presents.  :)

 

 

 

 

While we were opening presents, Philip's uncle Dave was making everyone laugh hysterically (as evidenced by the last photos!).  It was definitely a good time.  

Afterwards, we mingled a bit more and then said our goodbyes.  I was exhausted and ready for bed!  So, we headed back to Dave and Melisa's house to get some sleep.  Unfortunately, Philip turned on the TV to Son-In-Law and I got sucked in, so I didn't get to fall asleep right away.  And, even more unfortunately, I still had to get up early the next morning!  But, more on that next time!

Photos courtesy of Philip's mom Kim, my mom, and myself.

Miss something?  Catch up here:
We arrive in Pennsylvania

We begin setting up

We stock the bar (and skip a rehearsal)

We have dinner and play games at our "Rehearsal" Dinner

Drumroll Please! ...The Centerpiece Mock-ups!

I've come up with no less than one hundred and thirty four different ideas for centerpieces.  It's really hard to narrow down the ideas in my head when there are so many absolutely amazing ideas out there!

However, I think I've done it.  So, without further ado, here is my idea:

So, a white/ivory tablecloth (without the leaf designs -- I don't have any plain ivory tablecloths!) with the luminary table number in the middle.  Then, one of these:

on either side of the table number.  Then, there will be a stack of books (preferably vintage).  On top of the books is a washed out tomato soup can (I am so classy!) with thick ivory ribbon tied around it.  In the can are beautiful Baby's Breath.  :)

My original plan wasn't to use the empty tomato soup cans.  I was looking for some kind of galvanized pail.  I didn't find anything that I liked though and decided to wing it.  I actually like the empty tomato soup cans!  

I really love the books.  For those of you who don't know me personally, I am an avid reader.  Before the wedding planning took over my life, most of my free time was spent with my nose in a book.  It's also very fitting because Philip's last name is Buch -- German for book!  :)

Anyway, that's what I've got for now.  What do you think?  Any changes I should make?