I promise I won't go into too much detail of the wedding night. ;-) But there are a few things I want to tell you about happenings after we left the reception and then tell you about the Day After Brunch.
Since we were on a budget and didn't have a lot of available time off due to having both just started new jobs, we were unable to have a full honeymoon. But that was ok with us, so we decided to book a really nice high end room at the Hampton Inn at Phillips Place. The major advantage to this hotel was that it is in a lifestyle center that also includes one of our favorite restaurants, P.F. Changs! The original plan was to wear my wedding dress and Jay's tux to dinner, but after our sprint through the rain we were feeling a little like drowned rats by the time we got to the hotel and got checked in. So, we decided to change into our jeans before dinner. It made it a little less dramatic but MUCH more comfortable. After a wonderful dinner we headed back over to our hotel room, and were warmly greated by one of the bell hops in one of those lovely but unexpected ways. When we got up to our room we realized that it had been raided by little wedding fairies! Flowers from the wedding were everywhere, on the night stands, by the jetted tub, on the bathroom counter. There were cookies from the wedding and cake as well. It was wonderful and made us feel so special and loved by our friends. And we had a wonderful evening.
Meanwhile, after we left the reception, my wonderful friends pack up everything and cleaned up. Dan got back from dropping us off, just as the girls were finishing up packing the cars (perfect timing!) ;-) Like I said before, amazingly the rain stopped when it was time to carry everything out. At this point, Shannon and Dan took a bunch of the stuff from the wedding over to the hotel. They knew we had dinner reservations at a certain time and convenced the front desk to let them raid our room. :-) The bell hop who greated us so warmly was the one who had escorted them to the room and was slightly surprised when he saw us because he knew how close we had come to catching them all in the act. Hehe. After everything was dropped off at the house, almost all my girls went out for dinner, exchanging emails and phone numbers in order to stay in touch. It was amazing to see all these women who are so important in my life getting along and creating new friendships!
So, Shifra headed off after dinner. My mom stayed at our apartment with the Cali girls so that she could have them back at the airport by some ungodly hour like 6am. And then she was gracious enough to host our Day After Brunch.
This is a tradition that has cropped up in the wedding culture due mostly to the fact that most couples live together before marriage (or have at least done the deed before the wedding night) and are often not in a rush to get off to their honeymoon. With people all spread out over the country and world now, weddings are often times the only time that you have to spend with such a large concentration of your friends which is how the concept of the Wedding Weekend came to be in our western culture.
I had asked mom to simply grab a couple dozen bagels and some cream cheese for the brunch because I certainly didn't want to burden her any more then she already was that weekend! Well, when we got to the house we were greated not only by My mom and brother, dan and shannon, and jessica, but by the smell of fresh baking biscuits, eggs, sausage, gravy, and grits. A true southern style breakfast! It was amazing!
After gorging on her wonderful breakfast, we decided we should open all the wedding presents. Apparently we opened the one from my mom's mom before the pictures started being taken because that's what is drapped over our laps. I always love when she gives gifts of things she's made. She is an accomplished crochetter and also makes these yarn crafts. It's amazing what she can do and I only hope I can become as accomplished as she is.
Since we were on a budget and didn't have a lot of available time off due to having both just started new jobs, we were unable to have a full honeymoon. But that was ok with us, so we decided to book a really nice high end room at the Hampton Inn at Phillips Place. The major advantage to this hotel was that it is in a lifestyle center that also includes one of our favorite restaurants, P.F. Changs! The original plan was to wear my wedding dress and Jay's tux to dinner, but after our sprint through the rain we were feeling a little like drowned rats by the time we got to the hotel and got checked in. So, we decided to change into our jeans before dinner. It made it a little less dramatic but MUCH more comfortable. After a wonderful dinner we headed back over to our hotel room, and were warmly greated by one of the bell hops in one of those lovely but unexpected ways. When we got up to our room we realized that it had been raided by little wedding fairies! Flowers from the wedding were everywhere, on the night stands, by the jetted tub, on the bathroom counter. There were cookies from the wedding and cake as well. It was wonderful and made us feel so special and loved by our friends. And we had a wonderful evening.
Meanwhile, after we left the reception, my wonderful friends pack up everything and cleaned up. Dan got back from dropping us off, just as the girls were finishing up packing the cars (perfect timing!) ;-) Like I said before, amazingly the rain stopped when it was time to carry everything out. At this point, Shannon and Dan took a bunch of the stuff from the wedding over to the hotel. They knew we had dinner reservations at a certain time and convenced the front desk to let them raid our room. :-) The bell hop who greated us so warmly was the one who had escorted them to the room and was slightly surprised when he saw us because he knew how close we had come to catching them all in the act. Hehe. After everything was dropped off at the house, almost all my girls went out for dinner, exchanging emails and phone numbers in order to stay in touch. It was amazing to see all these women who are so important in my life getting along and creating new friendships!
So, Shifra headed off after dinner. My mom stayed at our apartment with the Cali girls so that she could have them back at the airport by some ungodly hour like 6am. And then she was gracious enough to host our Day After Brunch.
This is a tradition that has cropped up in the wedding culture due mostly to the fact that most couples live together before marriage (or have at least done the deed before the wedding night) and are often not in a rush to get off to their honeymoon. With people all spread out over the country and world now, weddings are often times the only time that you have to spend with such a large concentration of your friends which is how the concept of the Wedding Weekend came to be in our western culture.
I had asked mom to simply grab a couple dozen bagels and some cream cheese for the brunch because I certainly didn't want to burden her any more then she already was that weekend! Well, when we got to the house we were greated not only by My mom and brother, dan and shannon, and jessica, but by the smell of fresh baking biscuits, eggs, sausage, gravy, and grits. A true southern style breakfast! It was amazing!
After gorging on her wonderful breakfast, we decided we should open all the wedding presents. Apparently we opened the one from my mom's mom before the pictures started being taken because that's what is drapped over our laps. I always love when she gives gifts of things she's made. She is an accomplished crochetter and also makes these yarn crafts. It's amazing what she can do and I only hope I can become as accomplished as she is.
And yes, that would be another GIGANTIC Madori Mamosa in my hands! Jessica is a very bad influence on me. Hehe!
That hand gester is either, "I think my dad got us drinking glasses" or "someone bring me some more alcohol right now!"
Wow that's a big bag from Bed Bath and Beyond! And a word of caution! Native American dream catchers are to be hung by the WINDOW and not over your BED no matter how pretty they look there! Trust me, I learned the hard way! If hung over they bed, they attract every bad dream in the county! Not good!
Yay! The sheets we've been wanting! And the hostess set for our dishes! And the beautiful Asian trivit we registered for!
My gorgeous Irish husband!
I need to say a big, huge, very late, first anniversary THANK YOU to everyone who was involved in making our wedding so special! We could not have done it without you all, and even if we did, it wouldn't have been the same! You guys rock!
Next Up: How to have a wedding on a budget!
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