Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Wedding Recap, Part IV

After the ceremony, M., our bridal party, family & I all headed over to the barn on the conservancy's property for our formal pictures.  Everyone else made their way to our cocktail hour. 

Looking back, and M. & I are both torn about this decision, I do wish we had done a first look & taken all formals prior to the wedding.  Neither of us made it to the cocktail hour and with the exception of maybe 5 pieces of shrimp, we didn't get to enjoy any of the appetizers we selected - all of which we were told by guests were delicious.  Actually, in all honesty, the cocktail hour was the part that we got the most positive feedback on - the food, the setting, the atmosphere - and we were the only ones at our wedding completely isolated from that.  Ideally, the plan was for us to take pictures as quickly as possible so we could spend at least 15 minutes at our cocktail hour.  We did get the pictures done super fast, but never made it over there.  And, that is one thing that we look back on with disappointment.

M. still stands by the fact that he wanted to see me for the first time that day when I walked down the aisle.  He says that no one could ever prepare him for the feeling he had when he saw me walk down the aisle, it was indescribable.  I agree, it was definitely surreal as I walked down the aisle on my dad's arm & saw M. standing there, waiting for me.  So, choosing that was our compromise, but neither of us was totally happy about it.

So, back to the cocktail hour . . . we had a spread of fruits, veggies & cheeses, crab dip, artichoke and goat cheese bites that were breaded & coconut encrusted shrimp.  We also had a great surprise for everyone, which was made even better since it was a very hot day outside - snowballs from a local snowball stand.  This was one thing I was most excited about everyone seeing.  Snowballs in the summertime are a great custom here in Maryland, and if you lived in my neighborhood, the one place you went to was the Woodstock Snowball Stand.  My friends & family & I all spent many a summer afternoon sitting on the grass infront of the stand, enjoying an ice cold snowball.  We had them come & serve up three flavors - blue raspberry, watermelon & wedding cake.  It was a hit!  And a really affordable, small detail that was greatly appreciated.

The cocktail hour was held in the Honors Garden at the Conservancy.  When I dropped by for my site visit in the summertime, all the grass & plants were dying due to extreme heat & a drought.  I have to admit, I was worried that it would continue into the fall, but we were fortunate that everything was green & blooming!















So picturesque . . .















Part of our spread.  Our caterer provided floral arrangements for all the serving tables, one less thing for us to have to worry about!






















Let's not forget the cocktail napkins I worked so hard on!  I was so thankful when one of our guests commented on our great literary theme & asked us about the significance of the quotes.  All our work paid off!















The hit of the cocktail hour - the Woodstock Snowball Stand.  I seriously think everyone had one.

What also excited me about this was that we were able to be environmentally friendly here.  Instead of using their styrafoam cups & plastic cups, we bought plastic cups made from corn that are biodegradable & compostable.  We also served all the treats with bamboo spoons, also biodegradable.  And you can see the appearance of our blue mason jars, which I was so happy to use.






























Finally enjoying my cold treat.  I had a little taste while waiting to be introduced for our reception - which took wayyyy too long.

By the way, totally unrelated, but I love my dark fingernails.  I originally had them painted pink but went back to the salon on the wedding day to have them painted this deep red color.  It felt so much more like me than the pink did.






















So, cocktail hour flew by for us all.  I wish it had been a cocktail 2 hour!

Next up, the reception.

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