The First Meal

I am very fortunate to have an amazing network of friends. For our wedding, my best friend from college chose not to stand at the alter with me and instead agreed to cater the wedding. Her family owns an amazing Brasilian BBQ restaurant in Torrance (if you haven't gone, go try it now!!) called By Brazil BBQ... so she and her brother - went to the earth's ends to make my day perfect with a delicious and perfect meal.

The food was absolutely delicious and having it served by the churrascaria guys while plating the rest of it gave the meal a very nice touch. We are still hearing about how delicious the food was... and although we didn't get to eat much that night, when I head back home to cali... you know where i'm going!

Here is a picture of her brother preparing the meat... this was an all day affair!

Maid of Honor Toast

Toasts aren't easy. Trust me... i know. I'm always a nervous wreck - so when my cousin/MOH agreed to do the toast I was thrilled. We grew up together and as the years passed, came to become even closer.  I know she was nervous... although she never complained. And i know she put a lot of thought into the words to say... and that meant so much to me. And appropriately, she used yellow paper to go with the colors of the wedding LOL (not sure if that was planned).

Here are a few photos from the MOH toast!

Best Man Toast

The Best Man delivered a really great toast. It was funny and heartfelt, and PG enough for my family LOL.  The Best Man is a dude who has been very close to my hubby for many years. With an age gap between them of almost 10 years, they aren't the most likely pair... but they are as close as brothers. And that's what he is... and the speech duly noted hubby's biological brother who had passed when he was only 12 years old. Trying not to get too emotional, I think the best man did an amazing job... here's a few pics of the Toast.

Welcome Toast

The welcome toast for our reception was done by my older brother. Up until this moment, he definitely had his composure... even while walking me down the aisle, we were giggling and laughing... so I was a little surprised the emotion he showed right away... suprised but definitely touched.

Older by only 3.5 years, we have been through so much - so it meant a lot for me to hear his beautiful words... people were coming up to me afterwards saying how sweet my brother was or how it was such an awesome toast.

So here are a few photos from the Welcome Toast

Our First Dance

After being introduced for the first time as Mr. & Mrs... we went from Ozzy to Zac Brown Band... Whatever it is... our first dance was awesome and I'm sure you remember our Wedding Dance Series (He Said, She Said) as well as the finale posts (His & Mine) that goes over the actual moment...

but here's our video clip ending again ... in case you missed it!


And read more Wedding Weekend Recaps!

{Sidenotes}: Running out of Something?

So as the hubby and i prepared for our grand entrance into the reception room - we were informed that we ran out of Vodka.

Yes... we RAN out... in one hour about 5 liters of vodka, b/c one flavor was left before we even got INTO the reception... 

Now, I knew we had drinkers... so i skimped on the recommended amount of wine and totally stocked up on the liquor and beer. So much so that the Bev Mo Manager asked me "how many people?... 200? oh WOW!!!" and I asked "oh wow we need more or oh wow we should have some left to take back to the hotel?"

Let the Reception Begin...

So as the cocktail hour ended... we started to line up for the big Welcoming to the reception. I gave the hubby full control of the songs to be played for this portion - so of course he picked some Guns n Roses "Welcome to the Jungle" to announce our Wedding party... It seemed appropriate to say the least.

And our little ones were probably the cutest of the group i'd have to say... Doesn't my nephew look pretty studly with two adorable gals on his arm :)

Cocktail Hour

Due to the rain, we had to bring the cocktail hour indoors. Originally we were supposed to use the beautiful atrium space here:

   But the rain made a quick change of plans and we had to move it indoors... So here are a few pictures from the "revised" cocktail hour...

Highlight: The Garter {Julianne Smith aka The Garter Girl}

Julianne Smith from The Garter Girl recently did a highlight of my beautiful custom made garter... I just had to share and let y'all know...

 Definitely go and check it out on The Garter Girl blog... there are more pics and the highlight is just so awesome! :) Be sure to leave your mark on the post so we know you stopped by! :)

Making it Official

After the ceremony, we huddled into a nice room where our Officiant/Uncle had our witnesses (BM/MOH) sign our Marriage Certificate. He also prepared a certificate for hubby and I to sign...

 Note his USMC tie...

Wish Upon a Wedding DC - LAUNCH PARTY!!!

Are ya coming? Don't miss out on a great event to mingle with Wedding Peeps - vendors and brides - as well as people who are actively involved in our DC community. You definitely want to be a part of this event!

Hope to see ya there! RSVP here! And please help us spread the word!

Posed Photos - Family & Friends

Here are some photos we took immediately after the ceremony... Just for fun to share...

Many people asked me why California... aside it being "home" for me, most of my family lives there... as you can see below by this INCOMPLETE family picture... I have a lot of family! :)

And here are some more...

Ceremony - {Candid Photos}

I just wanted to share some of our photos from the ceremony... I think they are fun b/c you can see the emotion and the excitement... It was something I had hoped that our awesome photog Jordana {Hazelnut Photography} would capture, but i was afraid i'd be too preoccupied with "looking good" in the photos... fortunately for me, the day of - all I could do was run with all the emotion. I didn't think twice about the video or photos being taken! This is gonna be a very picture heavy post :)

Here we come... down the aisle. 

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Ceremony {Our Vows & The Kiss}

After my brother gave me away, the officiant - also the Uncle who has been there for me every step of the way in my life thus far, began our commitment ceremony.

We started with:
Larry will you have this woman to be your wedded wife, to live together after God’s Ordinance, in the holy estate of matrimony? Will you love her, comfort her, honor and keep her, in sickness and in health; and forsaking all others commit yourself only to her? So long as you both shall live? (I do)

Amy Jean will you have this man to be your wedded husband, to live together after God’s Ordinance, in the holy estate of matrimony? Will you love him, comfort him, honor and keep him, in sickness and in health; and forsaking all others commit yourself only to him? So long as you both shall live? (I do) ...

At this time, our officiant/uncle said a few words of scripture from Ephesians 5:22-33: We then exchanged our commitment vows. These were vows I had carefully picked out. A little bit of old with the new...