Showing posts with label james and maria. Show all posts
Showing posts with label james and maria. Show all posts

Thursday, October 4, 2012

James and Maria's Wedding Part 3: The Reception


Catch up here on James and Maria's Ceremony,

Now, it's finally time for the reception, which was a blast and a half for 4 hours straight! The bridal party members were introduced, followed by the newly married couple as they walked onto the dance floor and shared their first dance to Jason Mraz, "I Won't Give Up."

After that, we sat down to listen to Joanna and Chris give their speeches to the couple. Despite some pre-speech nerves, they both delivered touching and heartfelt speeches, and did a great job.

As we were eating dinner, their friend Jon serenaded the guests to Tom Petty's "American Girl." I was super impressed!!

Here's a snippet of his performance

After dinner, the dance floor got moving and groovin' for awhile:

Then it was time for the happy couple to cut the cake:
 
James really likes cake, but I think he likes his wife even better!
The cake was delicious!! They had white cake with chocolate pudding and cannoli cream filling! If you ask me, you can't go wrong with those two flavors individually and especially put together.

Maria danced to "My Wish" by Rascal Flatts with her father.

James danced to "Because You Loved Me" by Celine Dion with his mother.

And then there was a special surprise dance later in the evening that James had arranged with the DJ. He called his sister to the dance floor to dance to "I'll Be There" by Faith Hill. She was so surprised and cried throughout the entire dance...which made me, and practically every other female around me, cry during the entire thing as well. It was very sweet, and you could really tell how close these two siblings are.


After the tears were wiped away and makeup refreshed, we danced some more!


 With my in-laws!

Near the end of the night, Maria and James tried their hand at playing the drums, and some serious rocking and dancing ensued!

Then, out of nowhere, James's dad (who used to play in a band) came out and totally rocked the house with his drumming!
 


Check it out here

Jame's sister, Vanessa, came up and took a crack at the drums as well!

At the end of the night, these cuties were playing "Mr. and Mrs." at the sweetheart table. It was so. precious!! Perhaps we have a future Mr. and Mrs. on our hands...

Congratulations to James and Maria!! All I can say is, my legs were sore for two days after their wedding because I danced so much. We saw them last weekend all tan and refreshed after they returned from their honeymoon in Antigua. (Jealouuusss) We couldn't be happier for you both, and look forward to a lifetime of memories to come! 

Wednesday, October 3, 2012

James and Maria's Wedding Part 2: Cocktail Hour and Personalized Details

In case you missed James and Maria's ceremony, catch up here. These two put blood sweat and tears into their wedding, and it really showed from start to finish.
http://www.eastwindlongisland.com

After I checked into my amazing room at the EastWind Inn & Spa, I quickly changed and headed over to the cocktail hour with my in-laws, and 4 of our friends. We arrived for cocktail hour and had a plethora of food options before us. Somehow, I was running around the whole cocktail hour, I don't even know what I was doing, but I hardly got any pictures of the great food!! Total blogging fail :(

I did get one picture of this great spread. I had beet salad (one of my favoritest things ever), cheeses, seafood salad, the freshest blackberries and raspberries I've ever seen, pasta, and I hear there were mini sliders (but I got distracted and forgot to try them):

The couple had picked three signature drinks and each one had a cuter name than the last:

  • Honeymoon Helper
    Malibu Rum, Midori Sour, Vodka, Pineapple Juice, Sprite, Sugared Rim
  • Altered State
    Captain Morgan Rum, Orange Juice, Lemon Juice, Ginger Ale
  • The Eternitini
    Pomegranate Liqueur, Vodka, Pink Grapefruit Juice, Lemon Wedge, Sugared Rim
Kerry and I opted for the Eternitini for starters. It was shortly after we got our drinks that we discovered we were wearing the exact same bracelet (a gift from her when I was bridesmaid in her wedding), the exact same shoes, and almost wore the exact same dress. We didn't plan a single aspect of that...so, we're obviously twins now!
I got to know this pretty lady, Danielle, at Maria's bachelorette party. I think I'll always remember looking over at the stage where the band was playing at Jenk's Bar and seeing her up there front and center dancing next to the lead singer!
We then entered for the reception. I'll recap the full reception tomorrow because I have a TON of pictures, but first, I want to highlight some of their special elements. We grabbed our placecards from the table in the main entrance to the building.
Above the mantle in the main lobby was a sign with their last name and wedding date. I'm contemplating purchasing a sign like this for myself now...with our last name of course ;)

Each place at the table had a menu card, where we had a choice of Grilled New York Sirloin, Chicken Papu, Fillet of Salmon, Petite Veal Chops Milanese, Portabella Napoleon or Pasta Primavera Grill. After our caesar salad and penne alla vodka, we were served our main entree. Chris ordered the sirloin and I ordered the chicken papu and both were really great!
The centerpieces were simple but elegant and fit in perfectly with the ambiance of the room. The table numbers were written over various song lyrics to love songs.

At each seat were also little favor boxes. These were filled with two of the most amazing chocolate truffles I think I've ever tasted. I'm not going to lie....at the end of the night, some of the people at our table had forgotten to take their favor boxes. I swooped up as many as I could grab and probably left with about 6 of these boxes stuffed in my purse. I'm so that girl. But I'm glad I did because we had truffles to enjoy for the rest of the week!
James and Maria's sweetheart table with MR. and MRS. signs

Maria and her Maid of Honor, Joanna, made the card-box a few days before the wedding! There's their personalized name sign again!

The cake had a beautiful white cascading flower, and was positioned near their sweetheart table until it was time to cut the cake.

The room had a long, large dance floor which fit everyone perfectly and comfortably. Their DJ also had a live drummer play along with the songs! I have heard of this option with DJ's before, but never saw it in actual practice. It really added to the excitement and energy of the room. More on that tomorrow!

Next Up: The Reception!!

Tuesday, October 2, 2012

James and Maria's Wedding Part 1

I am FINALLY getting to James and Maria's wedding from September 8th! The day after James and Maria's Rehearsal/Rehearsal Dinner, we found ourselves back at the church for their wedding day! Their was one of those amazing moments in time that I will never forget. Seeing Chris standing up there with James made my heart swell at how much we care about these two, and I'm so excited for all that is to come for them in their future.

It was a humid day...but gorgeous, and despite tornado warnings in Queens (WHAT?!) they were able to beat the rain and the wind for everything! It all worked out for the best, and the rain didn't start until we were all tucked away at the reception.

Everything about the ceremony was beautiful. When we walked in we were given programs, a tissue pack for our "tears of joy," and a small thing of bubbles for their exit later on.
The ceremony started and we waited in anticipation for Maria as her bridesmaids and James's groomsmen walked down the aisle, as well as their Junior Bridesmaid, ring bearer and flower girl.

Then we finally got our first look at Maria, and she looked gorgeous! Her gown fit perfectly and showed off her amazing hourglass figure.

The ceremony was beautiful and Tommy and I took those gifts to the altar during mass like no other! (However, I don't like how I look in the pictures so you don't get to see them.)



The bridal party and their significant others then took a party bus out to to the reception! 

James had these on the bottom of his shoe
Maria's shoes said "I do" on the bottom, I love these!!

We headed over in the party bus to the beautiful Bayard Cutting Arboretum in Great River for the Bridal Party to get some pictures before the reception.
 
 


Next up: Time for Cocktail Hour and the Reception!

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

James and Maria's Rehearsal Dinner

On Friday September 7, Chris and I rushed off after work to James and Maria's rehearsal at the beautiful St. Barnabas church in Bellmore, New York.

When we arrived, the first order of business was to sign the marriage license.
MOH, Joanna, and BM, Chris, sign the marriage license
And then the rehearsal began. Maria walked down the aisle with a cute little flower to hold as her bouquet.
 


The rehearsal dinner was right down the street at Paddy's Loft, where we all gathered for great drinks, food and fun!
Maria and her cousins
James and the Groomsmen
Maria and her bridesmaids, Jr. Bridesmaid and Flower girl
With James's Family
The happy couple, about to be newlyweds!

  Next up: The wedding!