AFter the ceremony, the photographers got everyone onto the front steps of the church for a group photo. Oh and I guess I should also say, after a week of torrential downpours and freezing col weather the sun was SHINING saturday. It was quite
cold for sure, but a beautiful day nonetheless...From there we were going to take our photos beside the hall, but so many people wanted to say hello and congrats, I kep trying to round up our families and wedding party, but every time I managed to
grab FI I'd lose my parents, or Id find my BMs and then my parents would disappear! When we did finally get to the hall I first wanted togo in and see the hall all set up. After 20 months of planning, I had to let go of the reigns and let FI and his
GM and sisters set up on their own on the morning of. When I walked in I was floored it looked so amzing, everything was perfect! OUr photogs had arrived at the hall first to get lots of detail photos so I was pleased. We walked into the park right
beside our hall to take photos, the colours of the leaves and trees wehre beautiful. It was pretty nippy but the sun was shining. We walked up and down the path getting our photos and at first I was going alright, my dress having so many layers and
being so excited I wasnt feeling the cold, but after two hours I was pretty chilled so we headed back. The only bad part was when we went to take our first photos, we walked off the path and because of all the rain last week I sank into the ground,
it wasnt muddy, just soft, so I wasnt really worried but I discovered later that when I was standing, I was on the hem of my dress!!! I had all these muddy parts all along the bottom and even a few small tears in the fabric! We managed to get out the
mud with some water but the tears are something else....so sad....
We finally made it into the hall, sadly missed out on all our appetizers, although we were told they were delicious! My brothers were our MC's, so just after we arrived and got ourselves some drinks they asked everyone to sit and started the
evening. One of my borhters got up and thanked everyone for coming and then said he had just been handed a toast to read. He started reading and it was a letter from one of my oldest friends, who is currently living in Chile and was unable to come. She
said how sad they were that they couldnt be there and that she and he FI were thinking of us. So happy they had gotten to know FI during our visit last year and how all our time together had shown her that Jarrett was definitely the man for me, how
he made me so obviously happy. I was in tears, I was so surprised and it was so amazing of her to go to so much trouble. She had emailed the toast to a mutual friend who brought it to give to our MC's.
After that dinner was served, all the food was delicious and everyone had more than enough I think. After each course we had some speeches to try and spread it out, first were the MOH and Best Man, both were very nice, short and sweet, as my mom
would say. Then followed by both our parents, as usual my parents were short and sweet. FI's dad did go on for quite a while, but it was a funny speech. We actually met when I was hired at a government diagnostic lab due to a nematode outbreak. So
FIL talked about how our match was made due to these parasitic groundworms getting together and starting an outbreak...apparently the table with our old coworkers from the lab though this was HILARIOUS and died laughing....it was pretty
funny...After dinner FI and I made our speeches, I hate speaking in public so FI went first. He was really sweet talking about my best qualities, my butt being one of them apparently lol but also he said my kindness and generosity, at which point he pointed out
our favor cards which were a donation made to the Humane Society in honour of our guests! When I got up I did the thanking of people, all our helpers and friends, I realized after I had completely forgotten to thank our parents!! I went up and
thanked them after and they laughed and said of course they knew. I also mentioned that to a couple of friends who had gotten married recently and they both said they did the exact same thing, which made me feel better! I just finished my speechwith how
I had notice FI immediately when I started my new job, but that at the time he had had a girlfriend, but that it was actualy a blessing as it gave us a chance to become great friends and from there realized how much we cared about each other....And
how happy I am now to be his wife!!
Right after that we had our first dance. We did the ipod reception and it was great, although at first when the music started it sounded muffled, I thought maybe it was just a bad sound system and I really dont know anything about music
equipment, but a few of our friends and my brothers took it upon themselves to try and fix it, in the end it was my SIL who realized the plug just wasnt pushed in completly, one extra shove and it was perfect! I was a little upset at first because no one
was really dancing, quite a few couples got up to slow dance but n one was dancing to the fast songs...plusmore than half our guests left shortly after dinner, I thought they probably would as all my relatives and a lot of FIs are elderly, but in a
way it worked out well because it allowed the younger crowd who stayed to let loose and allowed us to play the type of music the older crowd would not have enjoyed. All in all it seemed like everyone had a great time, the drinks were flowing, people
we laughing and chatting, my aunts and uncles telling me how happy they were to be there at a happy occasion (they hardly see each other except at funerals these days). We even got a compliment from our bartender!! He said that he had never worked
wedding with such happy and friendly guests! So sweet!
At around 1230 we started to clear up. Thankfully the BP and a few other friends stayed to the end to help us clean up and also thankfully our hall coordinator had allowed us to leave everything overnight, we had to take everything down but
could just leae it in the corner and went back to pick it up today.I think we got the whole hall taken down and packed up in 20 minutes!
All in all it was the most amazing day. Its so hard to believe after 20 months of planning it finally over and I am married to my best friend! I cannot wait to get our pro pics but until then SIL posted a few non pros from last night so
enjoy!!!
