Our Wedding: The Reception, Part II

At all the weddings we went to this summer (and it was a LOT), I found the toasts were my favorite part. I like hearing the mushy personal stories and I love getting all verklempt. There are so few opportunities in life where people just say incredibly raw, vulnerable things to each other, so I just eat it up when those opportunities present themselves.

My poor Maid of Honor Jamie was very nervous about her toast, but she shouldn't have been. I knew it would be great! Jamie and I became best friends in the 4th grade, when she invited me to sit beside her in Mr. Hobbes' class. She told the audience at our wedding, "At some point, we stopped being friends and became sisters." TEARS.

Arthur and Sean also met as children, and grew up a bike ride away from each other. They went through every rite of childhood together, so it was lovely to have two people who have known us since we were children stand up and talk about us.

Sean's father wrote this very sweet toast about Sean's childhood, and how he grew up practically in the woods and though he might not have been the best on the soccer field, he always tried hard. I can't wait to hear it again when we edit the wedding video this weekend.

My dad went up after Mr. Harold and said, "Well, I didn't prepare anything." But my dad is a writer and editor, and so he proceeded to wing this awesome narrative about how when I was growing up, he didn't care if I was the prettiest or the smartest...he just wanted me to be cool. And then he said, "And if you all look around at this party she planned, you know she's cool." It was very sweet, and very "my dad."

Everyone warned me something would go wrong, and when I think of what went wrong, I'm actually glad for it because it was hilarious. Since I was wearing a short dress, I was nervous about wearing a garter all night because I was afraid it would show or slip down. I decided I'd stash it in my purse and then put it on right after the bouquet toss.

Lo and behold, Jamie's parents thought my purse went with her stuff and took it back to their hotel with them. The DJ announced the garter and I realized I didn't have one. Before I even had a chance to panic, Miranda dragged me to the catering kitchen, found some ribbon and tied a bow around my thigh. I then proceeded to walk with my legs clenched together so it wouldn't fall down, and right when Sean started to reach for it, I said, "Pssst...there's no elastic so it won't fling! You just have to throw it."

It worked out perfectly, and most people had no idea what happened!

I enjoyed seeing my guests nibble on the candy we had for our candy bar (more about that later!). These enterprising ladies sipped their spumante with Twizzler straws!

The reception had many highlights and one of them was when I turned to Bret and said, "Go tell the DJ it's time for 'Love At First Sight.'" As I finished the sentence, the song started (kismet!) and I proceeded to get my dance on.

When I was 17, I was bored and made up very literal choreography to Kylie Minogue's "Love At First Sight." Somewhere along the way, I taught the choreography to all my friends, and I was shocked and overjoyed to see them all do it at the wedding. I looked back and realized I had back-up dancers! I was laughing so hard, I could barely keep dancing!

Then the DJ played "I've Had the Time Of My Life" from Dirty Dancing, and out of the corner of my eye, I saw Jamie and Bret recreate the lift from the end of the movie! I have the most amazing friends.

And for our last dance, Bret and I danced to "This Will Be" by Natalie Cole, which we've always said will run over the final credits in the movie of our lives.

We were able to squeeze almost everyone in for a group picture, which I will print out and hang up in our house somewhere.

And we finished the night with a stupendous sparkler exit. We used extra-long sparklers from Sparklers Online, so people had plenty of sparkler fun.

It was an amazing way to end the most fabulous day of my life thus far. In the weeks since, people have told me about how they had so much fun, but what really warms my heart is when I see that they've become friends on Facebook, or when I see pictures of people together at the wedding who had just met. We are blessed with the most fun-loving family and friends I could imagine.