our wedding day: reception (part 1)

Emily
Apr 8, 2024
4 min read

welcome to the reception series!! tonight I'm sharing about what's in my mind "part 1" of the reception -- cocktail hour, dances, dinner, toasts, + cake cutting -- and then tomorrow I'll get into "part 2" which is all about all the fun NYE / midnight countdown / getaway things :)

even though it's not in chronological order, let's start with the cake cutting because they're some of my favorite pics :)

Justen and I did a cake tasting at one of our favorite bake shops / cafés in Durham called Mad Hatter (such a cute place for yummy brunch food and a great study spot if you're in the area!). we tried four flavors and honestly didn't like any of them so we asked to try a basic vanilla and really liked it! I think our cake was a vanilla "white lace" / buttercream / vanilla custard (neither of us remember for sure, lol).

we (I) struggled with cutting the cake, and I ended up dropping some of it right as we were being photographed haha

we ate little pieces of our cake as we were cutting it, but we actually didn't get a chance to eat a slice at our wedding which is one of my regrets!! there was so much going on that night and so many people to talk to and things to do that we either forgot or didn't get served -- it's all kind of a blur.

thankfully we requested to have the top layer of our cake saved before it got cut and served, and my parents were able to put the cake in our freezer while we were on our honeymoon!

I'm salivating while writing this... 😂

I think our tentative plan is to eat the cake on our 1-year anniversary! if we don't get hungry for it beforehand, haha.

the reception (in order this time)

okay, let's back up and go through the beginning of the reception from the top...

after post-ceremony family photos, Justen and I snuck away for a pre-arranged private dinner in the bridal suite of Market Hall (our reception venue). we had just finished some last minute extra photos outside of the venue -- not planned but honestly are some of our favorite couple photos of the whole wedding. we were STARVING and so out of it.

by the time we got to the bridal suite, we were in a complete daze. it was this weird moment of non-stop stimulation all day and then BOOM, quiet. neither of us talked much and we just sat there in this exhausted, dehydrated, giddy, about-to-eat-my-arm state.

because we took some extra photos we ended up only having 15 or so minutes to eat before we needed to head down for the reception welcome. I remember feeling really anxious about our timeline, and although our planner kept reassuring me that we had plenty of time to eat, I was hyper aware that we were taking too long and things were getting delayed.

we ate maybe a third of our food before we went downstairs, and that's one of Justen and I's big regrets! we tried so hard to make sure we had time to eat, and that time was quickly eaten away (no pun intended, lol). we were served a second plate later in the evening, but we were greeting our guests and the plate got taken away before we could finish it 🥲

I'm clearly writing this as we're about to eat dinner and am hungry, lol. but it was honestly really sad to not get to enjoy our food fully. we did have a full meal at our tasting, though, so we knew how amazing the food was (brussels, mac and cheese, bistro steak, mediterranean chicken, a winter greens salad, etc.).

alright, ANYWAYS, we made our entrance after everyone was seated, had our first dance, and listened to my parents' welcome and blessing.

later on during dinner we had my maid of honor (my baby sister!) and Justen's best woman (his sister Krysten!) give hilarious and heartfelt toasts 🤍

then my Dad and I had our first dance, and Justen and his mom had their first dance.

something that I didn't notice until after we danced was that the bustle of my dress had come partially undone!! I remember frantically trying to fix it with my mom and some bridesmaids while Justen and his mom had their dance 😂

and then ... the dance floor opened!!

dancing to Footloose with one of my childhood besties from summer camp!! we were given a very specific list of songs we could pick for the band, and I last minute requested some favorites that weren't on the list, and the band played all of them!!!

we had SO much fun. the band was absolutely amazing, and they only got better as the night went on, which I'll share more about TOMORROW!!! so pumped for part 2 of the reception, some of my favorite photos of the whole wedding :)

much love,