easjer
06-20-2006, 10:32 AM
Note - I ended up wearing a white top with flowers and leaves embroidered on one side in black, with my beige suit pants and a burgundy scarf-turned-wrap. I felt a little underdressed, but when I got there, I remembered that I was in Texas, not New York, so I was juuuuuuuust fine. Most of the guys weren't even in suits and a lot of the women were wearing their 'church' dresses. This was the wedding of one of our groomsmen to a girl we both know (worked with her in college) - they were high school sweethearts (lots of their high school friends were there) that got back together in college.
Wedding ceremony- Started only 15 minutes late, and that was clearly to accomodate the folks who arrived a little late. There were candles and an archway, but little else - the Baptist church was a typical church, and while not ornate, didn't need much decoration. Anyway, the candle light was beautiful, and once the couple entered, they dimmed the lights.
Music was standard processional music, nicely played by a piano player and an organ player. There were, count 'em, EIGHT attendants on each side. Oy and vey. Too many, imo, but I understand that they had a lot of people that were close to them they wanted to include, so whatever floats their boat! The bridesmaids were wearing that tea length/cocktail strapless dress that is nude, with the black lace overlay. A good choice for the various body sizes. One thing (that again, only I would notice) that made me giggle was that a lot of the girls looked like they'd been tanning to avoid matching the underdress color, and six of the eight bridesmaids had very distinct tan lines. (Good for the bride for not bitchily suggesting they eliminate them for her pics!)
The bride is a lovely girl with a great figure that is getting a bit pear shaped, but boy does she know how to dress herself. She was wearing a strapless (and very well fitted) dress that fitted down to the hips, then gathered in fullness to a long cathedral train (without being a mermaid or trumpet dress - a more natural line). It was a lacy/chiffon overlay (wrapped at the top) embroidered with flowers and crystal in ivory. Her hair was pulled back in a sleek, but full look, and she opted for a waterfall veil (two layers) with pencil edging that perfectly came to a point just before her train started.
The groom looked great, very happy, and clearly had not seen the bride prior to her entrance, because he was straining for a look of her and the awe and grin on his face when she came up the aisle were great to watch.
I liked the ceremony - it wasn't the typical 5 minute Southern Baptist deal. They must've liked our ceremony, cause they structured theirs in a pretty similar way (and given that we wrote ours ourself, albeit with some influece from the Catholic and Episcopalian ceremonies, I think it came from ours) with a declaration of intent that made folks think that the preacher had lost his place. They used the same scripture reading that we used (and got from Cathy!) - Colossians 3:12-17. That's such a great passage, you know? Preacher did a good job of speaking for just a few minutes (about 10) and gave a nice sermon. Then they exchanged traditional vows and rings and Grooms's brother/best man sang (and was amazing!) "There is Love" which is a song I adore and that's when I started crying.
There was no receiving line (more on that later), instead the preacher invited us to go on to the reception, while the bride and groom had a brief photography session. Jason was afraid they'd be doing all their pictures, since we agreed Groom had not seen Bride prior to the wedding, but I argued that I didn't think so, that they'd probably taken all the pictures but the few that they'd be in together (and given how quickly they appeared at the reception, I think I was right). Reception was in a hotel ballroom, very fancy, overlooking some water, very nice. They had plenty of drinks and appetizers on hand, but the set up was very awkward for us - they'd reserved tables for family and wedding party but did so with name cards. What was unclear was whether there were name cards for everyone - so we were wondering around looking for our names, without finding them. Maybe we missed them, maybe they weren't there. Either way, we finally sat down by ourselves a big table in the back that had no namecards. We were pretty much by ourselves the rest of the night, since the bridal party was sitting together and the only people we knew besides the bride and groom were in the bridal party (and of those we knew, we only liked two of them). Very awkward and unpleasant - either have seating for everyone or make 'reserved' signs for the family. We wondered aloud if they'd received our RSVP or if we were inadvertently crashing.
As I said, the bride and groom showed up quickly (about an hour after the ceremony, which is good, since the getting to the reception site took about 25 minutes). However, they just hung around talking for about forty minutes before dinner was served, and they never left the spot they were rooted too - right by the bridal party tables. So we were pretty much sitting there by ourselves with nothing to do. I was bored out of my mind and Jason suggested we leave, but I insisted we stay and eat dinner, since they'd paid for our dinners, and besides we hadn't seen them to congratulate them. Finally dinner was announced, but the staff wouldn't serve it until the couple sat down, so they could be served first. It took about thirty minutes for them realize that (just a snafu, but a very boring and hungry one). By this time, we've been at the reception for almost two hours with nothing to do. I appreciate that the bride and groom had a lot of people to talk to and that their bridal party are probably the most important people in their lives, but they'd been with them all day - it would have been nice to mingle with other guests, you know?
Finally dinner gets served and it's standard hotel fare, which in this case was pretty meh. Not bad, not cold, just not very good. But no biggie - they had this great music playing all throughout dinner - famous love songs and I really enjoyed that a lot.
However, dinner gets eaten quickly and it's now after 9:00, and none of the big reception events have happened yet, and we haven't yet gotten to talk to the couple. I have a raging headache and Jason is getting antsy. Although the tables around us are full, we are the only people at our table, so we're talking to each other. I love my husband, but I can talk to him at home without freezing to death. Jason suggests going to their table, wishing them well and leaving, but I don't want to do that, because it seems rude. So we sit and sit and sit and FINALLY they start making the table rounds. They finally get over to us and we hug them and congratulate them, and look at their rings, and that's it, they've moved on (though we managed to get an extra invitation in to take them to dinner when they get back from their honeymoon). Finally we leave at 9:30, having missed the cutting of the cake, the first dance, the toasts, but being eternally greatful to be going home.
I'm glad we went and saw them married, but wish we'd skipped the reception. I know lots of people hate receiving lines because they take so long and you only get a couple seconds with the bride and groom, but I would have appreciated that a lot more. Bride and groom had put a lot of thoughtful touches for their guest's comfort into the reception, but left out that part about interacting with them. I know it's hard, because there are so many demands on your time, and you also want to enjoy the day, but it sucked not to get to spend any time with them since that's why we were there. Things could have been a little better organized in that sense - like having the toasts as dinner is served or as dinner is winding down, or the first dance right after they came in, or in going around to the tables instead of hanging out with their friends in the bridal party. Also, some better order with the seating would have been nice.
But all in all, it was a beautiful wedding, with two people who clearly love and adore each other joining their lives, and that was a beautiful thing to watch, and we felt priviledged to be there.
Wedding ceremony- Started only 15 minutes late, and that was clearly to accomodate the folks who arrived a little late. There were candles and an archway, but little else - the Baptist church was a typical church, and while not ornate, didn't need much decoration. Anyway, the candle light was beautiful, and once the couple entered, they dimmed the lights.
Music was standard processional music, nicely played by a piano player and an organ player. There were, count 'em, EIGHT attendants on each side. Oy and vey. Too many, imo, but I understand that they had a lot of people that were close to them they wanted to include, so whatever floats their boat! The bridesmaids were wearing that tea length/cocktail strapless dress that is nude, with the black lace overlay. A good choice for the various body sizes. One thing (that again, only I would notice) that made me giggle was that a lot of the girls looked like they'd been tanning to avoid matching the underdress color, and six of the eight bridesmaids had very distinct tan lines. (Good for the bride for not bitchily suggesting they eliminate them for her pics!)
The bride is a lovely girl with a great figure that is getting a bit pear shaped, but boy does she know how to dress herself. She was wearing a strapless (and very well fitted) dress that fitted down to the hips, then gathered in fullness to a long cathedral train (without being a mermaid or trumpet dress - a more natural line). It was a lacy/chiffon overlay (wrapped at the top) embroidered with flowers and crystal in ivory. Her hair was pulled back in a sleek, but full look, and she opted for a waterfall veil (two layers) with pencil edging that perfectly came to a point just before her train started.
The groom looked great, very happy, and clearly had not seen the bride prior to her entrance, because he was straining for a look of her and the awe and grin on his face when she came up the aisle were great to watch.
I liked the ceremony - it wasn't the typical 5 minute Southern Baptist deal. They must've liked our ceremony, cause they structured theirs in a pretty similar way (and given that we wrote ours ourself, albeit with some influece from the Catholic and Episcopalian ceremonies, I think it came from ours) with a declaration of intent that made folks think that the preacher had lost his place. They used the same scripture reading that we used (and got from Cathy!) - Colossians 3:12-17. That's such a great passage, you know? Preacher did a good job of speaking for just a few minutes (about 10) and gave a nice sermon. Then they exchanged traditional vows and rings and Grooms's brother/best man sang (and was amazing!) "There is Love" which is a song I adore and that's when I started crying.
There was no receiving line (more on that later), instead the preacher invited us to go on to the reception, while the bride and groom had a brief photography session. Jason was afraid they'd be doing all their pictures, since we agreed Groom had not seen Bride prior to the wedding, but I argued that I didn't think so, that they'd probably taken all the pictures but the few that they'd be in together (and given how quickly they appeared at the reception, I think I was right). Reception was in a hotel ballroom, very fancy, overlooking some water, very nice. They had plenty of drinks and appetizers on hand, but the set up was very awkward for us - they'd reserved tables for family and wedding party but did so with name cards. What was unclear was whether there were name cards for everyone - so we were wondering around looking for our names, without finding them. Maybe we missed them, maybe they weren't there. Either way, we finally sat down by ourselves a big table in the back that had no namecards. We were pretty much by ourselves the rest of the night, since the bridal party was sitting together and the only people we knew besides the bride and groom were in the bridal party (and of those we knew, we only liked two of them). Very awkward and unpleasant - either have seating for everyone or make 'reserved' signs for the family. We wondered aloud if they'd received our RSVP or if we were inadvertently crashing.
As I said, the bride and groom showed up quickly (about an hour after the ceremony, which is good, since the getting to the reception site took about 25 minutes). However, they just hung around talking for about forty minutes before dinner was served, and they never left the spot they were rooted too - right by the bridal party tables. So we were pretty much sitting there by ourselves with nothing to do. I was bored out of my mind and Jason suggested we leave, but I insisted we stay and eat dinner, since they'd paid for our dinners, and besides we hadn't seen them to congratulate them. Finally dinner was announced, but the staff wouldn't serve it until the couple sat down, so they could be served first. It took about thirty minutes for them realize that (just a snafu, but a very boring and hungry one). By this time, we've been at the reception for almost two hours with nothing to do. I appreciate that the bride and groom had a lot of people to talk to and that their bridal party are probably the most important people in their lives, but they'd been with them all day - it would have been nice to mingle with other guests, you know?
Finally dinner gets served and it's standard hotel fare, which in this case was pretty meh. Not bad, not cold, just not very good. But no biggie - they had this great music playing all throughout dinner - famous love songs and I really enjoyed that a lot.
However, dinner gets eaten quickly and it's now after 9:00, and none of the big reception events have happened yet, and we haven't yet gotten to talk to the couple. I have a raging headache and Jason is getting antsy. Although the tables around us are full, we are the only people at our table, so we're talking to each other. I love my husband, but I can talk to him at home without freezing to death. Jason suggests going to their table, wishing them well and leaving, but I don't want to do that, because it seems rude. So we sit and sit and sit and FINALLY they start making the table rounds. They finally get over to us and we hug them and congratulate them, and look at their rings, and that's it, they've moved on (though we managed to get an extra invitation in to take them to dinner when they get back from their honeymoon). Finally we leave at 9:30, having missed the cutting of the cake, the first dance, the toasts, but being eternally greatful to be going home.
I'm glad we went and saw them married, but wish we'd skipped the reception. I know lots of people hate receiving lines because they take so long and you only get a couple seconds with the bride and groom, but I would have appreciated that a lot more. Bride and groom had put a lot of thoughtful touches for their guest's comfort into the reception, but left out that part about interacting with them. I know it's hard, because there are so many demands on your time, and you also want to enjoy the day, but it sucked not to get to spend any time with them since that's why we were there. Things could have been a little better organized in that sense - like having the toasts as dinner is served or as dinner is winding down, or the first dance right after they came in, or in going around to the tables instead of hanging out with their friends in the bridal party. Also, some better order with the seating would have been nice.
But all in all, it was a beautiful wedding, with two people who clearly love and adore each other joining their lives, and that was a beautiful thing to watch, and we felt priviledged to be there.