Mike and Kerry's Wedding Recap: The Reception

Catch up on Mike and Kerry's wedding here:

Mike and Kerry's Rehearsal/Rehearsal Dinner

Mike and Kerry Get Ready and their Ceremony

Mike and Kerry's Cocktail Hour

The reception tent was set on the North Lawn on the farm, out the back doors of the Barn. As guests exited the Barn, they walked passed a table filled with buckets of different sized flip-flops to dance in!

 

Each bucket had a beautiful framed sign (again from Two Cardinal Day on Etsy) indicating what size the flip flops were!

Mike and Kerry had their own sweetheart table with "Mr." and "Mrs." signs, and it also held Kerry's throw bouquet for the bouquet toss.

Table centerpieces consisted of 4 mason jars: two with floating candles and two held these gorgeous floral arrangements.

The parents, Bridal Party, and finally Mike and Kerry were all introduced to the party which was a blast! Each pair had some really unique dance entrances. Our entrances were kicked off by Kate and Nick running through a huge red banner they made that said "Congrats Mike + Kerry"

 Then it was time for their first dance which was to All of My Days by Alexi Murdoch.

After the first dance, we danced a bit and then it was time for Alyssa and Billy's beautiful speeches and our amaaazing home-style dinner! The chef for the evening had his own separate tent attached to our tent, which was used for on-site grilling and preparation. Guests were treated to macaroni and cheese, grilled salmon, pulled pork, cornbread, beef brisket, butternut squash ravioli, grilled vegetables, chicken Milanese, beet salad, pasta salad with basil and sun-dried tomatoes, and other side dishes for dinner! This was some of the BEST food I had ever had. I WISH I had a photo of the food, but I clearly was way too enthralled in my meal to think to take a picture of it all! (Bad Blogger!)

Once I was done stuffing my face, it was absolutely time to DANCE! I don't think we all stopped dancing once throughout the night. It was very humid out, but that didn't stop anyone. This crowd was there to have an amazing time, and we were going to dance the night away, no matter how hot or humid it got!

Kerry added this beautiful studded sash
to her wedding look for the reception!

 

 Chris had magic feet in his shoes! He was dancing up a storm!

 

Have you ever heard of Hawaii 5-0? This was intense and so hilarious! A bunch of guys made a long line on the dance floor. Then some bold guests literally body surfed over them, while they pushed them down to the end...

 Finally the groom jumps in for some Hawaii 5-0!

For the parent dances: Kerry danced to Stand By Me by Ben E. King and Mike danced to In My Life by the Beatles.

Mike and his Mom

The end of the night brought the cake cutting! Mike and Kerry opted for 18 individual cakes - with 4 different flavors spread throughout them! After they cut their cake, each table got their own cake, and they encouraged us to go from table to table to try other flavors on other tables! It was such a neat idea and it looked even more stunning than I ever imagined!

How neat is this cake spread?!

After MUCH more dancing, Kerry did the bouquet toss for the single ladies: which her bridesmaid Amanda caught! The DJ ended the night with Time of Your life, from Dirty Dancing, which mixed into the remixed version of Time of Your Life by The Black Eyed Peas. It was an awesome end to an awesome night...though I'm pretty sure we convinced the DJ to play a few more songs before the night was through.

Overnight guests were shuttled back to the hotel, (but Chris and I stayed back much later to help them collect their things and actually ended up riding back with them and some others in their LIMO, wahoo!) Once back at the hotel, the party continued downstairs where leftover beer was brought back from the wedding!

Congrats to the newly married Mike and Kerry and thank you so much for letting Chris and I be a part of your special day, it meant so much to us and we love you both!!

Friday Find: Some People Are Just Lucky

Happy Birthday to Kerry!! I didn't get my act together to finish the post on Mike and Kerry's reception so that will be for Monday.

Need to catch up on their wedding so far?? Check these out:

Mike and Kerry's Rehearsal/Rehearsal Dinner

Mike and Kerry Get Ready and their Ceremony

Mike and Kerry's Cocktail Hour

Today's Friday Find is this brilliantly amazing and I mean amazing, commercial for a Swiss Bank! Can you just imagine waking up to this?! I can't say I'd be too upset:

Chris and I will be visiting my family in Pennsylvania and I am soooo anxious and excited to get home!

Happy Friday everyone!

Mike and Kerry's Wedding Recap: Cocktail Hour

Mike and Kerry had their cocktail hour and reception at the Queens County Farm - the last and only remaining farm in Queens. Cocktail Hour was held in the Barn, which Kerry decorated with the perfect amount of personal touches and beautiful candle lighting.

Once inside the barn there was sooo much to take in! For their card box, Kerry bought a plain wooden box at Michaels. Her dad sanded, stained, and varnished it, put a nob on the top and painted their initials and date to the front. He's quite the handy-man!

All of Kerry's signs were from Two Cardinal Day on Etsy (the same place she bought her marriage certificate).

Our place-cards were attached to an envelope which held a card stating that in lieu of gifts, a donation had been made to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. These donation cards held the same theme as their invitations and tied their whole look together!

 

Furthering on with her theme, Kerry opted for a fingerprint tree instead of a guest-book. She had seen so many of these trees online and was very close to purchasing one of the many options on Etsy. Then she remembered how amazingly artististic her bridesmaid Amanda is! She asked her if she could paint a custom fingerprint tree to match the farm. Amanda visited the farm a few times to scope it out, and make some sketches of the surroundings.

 The week before the wedding, Amanda delivered this beautiful painting to Kerry's apartment:

Amanda should be very proud of her work! Kerry and I are trying to convince her to open her own Etsy shop!

Kerry put out green stamp pads on the table, next to a basket of hand wipes for guests to add their fingerprints and clean the ink afterward. Chris and I were quick to add our thumbprints to the painting!

 

After the wedding, the filled tree looked amaaazing. I don't have a picture of the finished product but once I get one, I'll be sure to share it.

Cigars and matches were placed out on the tables during cocktail hour. Many guys took these and held on to them for later during the reception!

Here are Kerry's straws in action again at the bar!

Each cocktail table had different sized hurricanes and candles holders with pictures of Mike and Kerry's engagement shoot. But the best part of this picture is their signature drink: Pumpkin Spice Ale with a Cinnamon Sugar coated rim! I'm not normally a beer drinker - but this was all I drank all night!

During the hour, we were treated to live music by two musicians who performed mellow Dave Matthews Band music. Mike and Kerry are long-time DMB fans, and this was yet another great personalized aspect for them!

It was great to catch up with friends we haven't seen in awhile!
James and Maria:

Rich, Julie, Timmy, Anna, Katie and Michelle:

Anthony, Corinne, Chris, Juan and Meg:

 With some of my fellow bridesmaids!

Next up: We were led out to the tent for the reception to begin!

Mike and Kerry's Wedding Recap: Getting Ready and the Ceremony

Congratulations to Kate V for winning my Crown Card Giveaway from last week! Yes, Kate happens to be a good friend of mine...but I swear this wasn't rigged for her, and as a loyal follower, she has very fairly been trying to win one of my giveaways for quite some time now! So congrats Kate! Normally, this is where I tell you to send me your address...but I'll just give them to you at one of our lunch dates! Thanks to all who entered...I have some more giveaways lined up in the coming weeks!

Now for the real task at hand: The morning of Mike and Kerry's wedding started around 8:00 for us girls. We got up, had breakfast downstairs, and our hair lady arrived at 9:00am. Remember Terry and Sandra from my wedding day? These fabulous ladies were back again for Kerry's wedding!
Sister to the Groom, Julie, started it off by getting her hair done first.

Kerry put together a great basket of munchies for us to snack on while getting ready, complete with honey and jams from the Queens County Farm!

Also in this basket, and in all the out of town bags were these door hangers, ordered from non other than Laura at Thoughtfully Designed!

Sandra arrived to start on make-up at 10:00am and Dana was first to get started!

Our premmade up faces!

 Kerry gets all beautified!

 Alyssa gets her hair done

 Lindsay is all smiles!

Kate gets her makeup done

Kerry and Dana

DanaS

Kerry's look coming together!

Kerry's gorgeous Headband was ordered from The Novelist on Etsy! If you are remotely looking for a wedding day headband, you MUST check out this shop!

 Finishing touches on makeup:

Our mimosa drinking straws!! (These will also appear later at cocktail hour!)

Kerry ordered the straws from Party Fairy on Etsy, and made the tags herself using Word. With the help of a few bridesmaids, they cut them out individually, used continuous glue line, and adhered them to the barbershop straw.

Kerry

Kerry also ordered this beautiful personalized marriage certificate from Two Cardinal Day on Etsy. It was officially signed by the Maid of Honor and Best Man and is a beautiful and official reminder of their wedding day. Right now, this is beautifully placed in their living room!

Before she got in her dress, Kerry was given a gift bag that Mike had given to the MOH the night before. Inside were two fragrances: Fendi and Marc Jacobs: Oh, Lola!

Then it was time to get in her gorgeous J. Crew dress....yes, those are pockets!

 Her mother (doesn't she look gorgeous??!!) helps her with her pearls:

Kerry's Dad comes in to see her for the first time, so cute!

Kerry's parents presented her with a ring before heading off to the church. The ring was her grandmother's  engagement diamond in the center with Kerry's mother's diamond earrings on the side. Together, these diamonds made a three-stone ring in a filigree setting for Kerry to treasure forever. It was such a gorgeous and personal addition to her wedding day attire, and perfect for her "something old".

 

Of course, I've got to sneak a picture in here of me with the bride! Kerry chose this gorgeous green color dress from J. Crew. There were three different dress styles that we had to chose from. We also were each gifted with matching J. Crew earrings and bracelets from the Bride!

The dresses combined with these vibrant, bright, bridesmaid bouquets was an amazing combo! When it came to flowers: Kerry was a girl who knew what she wanted, conveyed what she wanted perfectly, and got exactly what she asked for. I should have brought her with me to my flower consultations!!

 And here's the Bride's gorgeous bouquet:

Then we all piled into the limousine to head off to the church!

DanaS

DanaS

DanaS

 We arrived at the church for the ceremony with about 10 minutes to spare. 

We ushered Kerry into the church, blocking her from view of everyone else before she made her grand entrance and the ceremony began:

DanaS

DanaS

 

After the ceremony: married and all smiles!

DanaS

Me and the Hubs - it was so fun to both be in the wedding party!

 These boys have been friends since Elementary school!

Chris, Mike, and Chris

She's a married Lady!

 And he's a happy, married man!!

 The couple is whisked out of the church for some pictures before we head off to the reception!!

AMAZING picture:

DennN

 Next up: Cocktail Hour and Reception at the Queens County Farm!