Wedding Recap: Our Entrances

Phew...We are FINALLY up to our reception! Need to catch up on what happened so far? Be sure to check out my Wedding Recaps Page to catch up on everything leading up to the reception!

Now here's where the fun really starts!! Once everyone found their tables and were seated, it was time for our parents, our Bridal Party, and finally US to be introduced! First our parents were introduced to the party!!

Mom and Dad

The In-Laws

Our Bridal party got very creative with their entrances!

Mal and Mike with a sign saying "Congrats Laura! RIP Chris" Har HAR!

James and Smith getting creative with PROPS

Our siblings did a tango, followed by a dip, and then a switch off of the bouquet. I didn't see it at the time, but watching it on the video, it was pretty impressive!

RTowers

RTowers

 

While everyone entered through a side door leading onto the dance floor, our entrance was a bit of a special surprise. Our sweetheart table was actually on a turnstile table. This was something that our venue just added last year and was not a feature when we booked the space 2 years ago. Like with our martini bar, I was worried about this entrance, but was told by many friends to just "own" it and either do it and do it well, or not do it at all. Well, we decided to just own it and live-it-up because when else will we get to have an entrance like this??

Waiting "backstage" in our Bridal Suite for our introduction:

When they announced our names, it slowly started to turn...

 and turn....

 and turn....

and turn...

almost there!!

We're there!!

A quick kiss...

We then walked out onto the dance floor...

High-fived our Bridal party..

We walked up and down the entire dance floor, and then it was time for our first dance!!

Wedding Recap: Our Reception Space

As Cocktail Hour was ending, Chris and I were taken downstairs to see the room where our reception would be held. Everything looked great and just how I imagined it would look.

We took some pictures before our guests started to file in: 

 

 

Finally, it was time to hang out in our Bridal Suite before being introduced as husband and wife! This was the last time of the day Chris and I had to ourselves.

Whoops! Camera man will be edited out for our album

One of the things I loved about our suite was that we had a tv screen where we could watch everything that was happening in the reception space. We could watch our guests come in and mingle, which was nice since we weren't out there, and I suffer from severe FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out)!

Hanging out in the Bridal Suite before the chaos of our reception begins!

Sand Castle Meeting

Last Wednesday evening we had two-month out meeting with our venue, The Sand Castle, to discuss everything for our wedding day!!!

Source: Main Entrance to our venue

I just love walking in there, I get so excited every time we go for meetings or events. We met with Mohamed, who is our banquet manager. First, we went over the menu and made all our selections for cocktail hour, appetizers, and main course choices. The Sand Castle has their kitchen on site so they  make everything to order that night. After our chosen appetizers are served, our guests will have their choice of the following 7 entree options:

Pistachio Crusted Rack of Lamb

Served with Roasted Garlic and Rosemary Sauce

Grilled Filet Mignon

Served with Bordelaise Sauce

Roast French Breast of Chicken

Stuffed with Provolone, Ricotta, Sun-Dried Tomato, Served on a Bed of Sautéed Spinach, and served with Madeira Sauce

Pan Seared Porterhouse Pork Chop

Served with Sweet Cherry Pepper

Parisian Potatoes and Cherry Wine

Pan Seared Atlantic Salmon

With Oyster Mushrooms, White Wine and Cream Sauce

Pan Seared Striped Bass Mariciara

With Shrimp and Kiwi Mussels

Vegetarian Special
Portabello, tricolor peppers, eggplant marinated and grilled over an open flame

I think I'm going to order either the salmon or striped bass that night, I can't decide!

Then we picked the design for our cake. Again, our cake is provided through our venue and included in our package, which is really great. However, this does mean that we had to pick from a selection of cake options as far as the design goes. Luckily, I've never really had an image in my head of how I wanted my cake to look. To me, as long as it tastes great...I'm good! Plus they had some really great designs to choose from so we had no problem picking one out.

I will tell you all...that after the very heated and popular Wednesday Wedding Poll where we asked "Which filling you would prefer?", we decided on the French Cream filling for our cake. Not only did French Cream beat out cannoli in the poll (20 to 17), BUT there will be cannoli served for dessert, so people who love cannoli cream will still be able to get their fix, and people who hate cannoli can still enjoy our cake. Hopefully a win win for all!

Source

We will meet with Mohamed again on May 12th. On that day I have to give him evvverything we will need on hand that day: menu cards, place cards, toasting flutes, cake topper, picture frames, etc.etc. Ahh!!  So much for procrastinating up to the last minute. This gives me a clear deadline that's NOT my wedding day, which is definitely a good thing for me seeing as I'm a perpetual procrastinator. But so far I'm feeling good about having everything ready by then. So now we just have to have our final meeting with our photographer, musical director at the church, and florist...oy! Meeting, meetings galore!

Source

Monogram and Bridal Showcase

How cool is this monogram? I found this on the Knotty Bride, who found it here at the Wedding chicks. [I believe the promotion to get it free has ended]. I have the complete file of this image to use as I please for invitations, or any D-I-Y wedding things I may decide to do. I love it! I'm thinking of seeing if I can get a stamp made of it, but haven't thought about what I'd do with it beyond that!

Speaking of stamping, I really want to get back to embossing. A fellow blogger at "She Said Yes" did an Embossing 101 post a few weeks ago and I loved it. My mom, sister, and I used to emboss soooo much when we were little, but honestly I had forgotten all about it. I emailed my mom right away and told her to get out the embossing tools because we're going to use it somehow for the wedding. How? I just haven't really thought about that yet....

This month is quickly filling up with wedding showcases and events to attend! Aside from my plans to attend the Long Island Bridal Extravaganza on September 20th with fellow bride and friend, Kerry; Chris and I got an invitation in the mail yesterday for something that I'm very excited about:

I came home to a very pretty invitation in our mail that really looked like a wedding invitation. Both our names were written in calligraphy on the envelope. I was completely confused, my first thought was "Oh goodness another wedding?? Who's wedding is this?? We've already received the invitations to all our friend's upcoming weddings! Who am I forgetting?" After I opened it, I soon realized it was an invitation to a showcase at our venue!  

Sand Castle
cordially invites you to attend their Bridal Showcase
on September 29, 2010, 7:00pm
proudly presenting
our most prestigious event professionals of:
Music Entertainment, Photography & Videography, Floral Design,
Hair & Make-up, Invitation Design,
Limousine Services, Hotels and Cigar Rollers

Also featuring: 

Raffle Prizes, Vendor Discounted offers,
Menu enhancements and many more surprises.

Please join us for an evening filled
with entertainment and unique ideas.

I'm very excited to go to this! I love any excuse to visit my venue. Every time I'm there, I fall more in love with the place, and get completely recharged on my planning. Plus, it might get my butt into gear on invitations, hair & makeup and flowers, which are haunting me! Unfortunately, I really don't remember enough about last night's dream to go into detail, but I do know it involved my wedding, and my hair not being done in time. Clearly, I have some things on my mind and it will be nice to have someone else steer me in some direction for the next steps of my planning.