As I had mentioned before, by this time, it was POURING. Our reception & ceremony locations required very little walking outside, but the rain was so crazy that even if you were running 20 feet, you'd be getting pretty wet. Somehow (with the help of a bunch of Disney umbrellas that were lent to us) our guests made it over in one piece, and they didn't look too drenched. I certainly didn't hear any complaints, anyway. Our planner was able to take Mr. L's grandparents in her suburban, and actually drove onto the sidewalk - so fortunately, they didn't have to walk outside at all!
When we walked in our venue, I first had the disappointment of seeing the all-white linens, but soon, Mr. L and I were encouraged by the staff to take a few moments for ourselves, have a seat downstairs and eat some of our appetizers, and generally - take a breath. It was probably only about 10 minutes, but I'm glad we took their advice and relaxed for a bit. Then, strangely, our Jazz Trio that we thought would play through the cocktail hour, packed up their instruments and left. Hmmm.
The other small-ish mistake that was made regarding cocktail hour was a dietary restriction - we had four gluten-free guests, and we had been told all our appetizers were going to be gluten free. However, our tuna tartare had some sort of gluten garnish that was noticed by one of our GF guests. I'm glad she said something though - we ended up getting reimbursed the price of 4 people's appetizers - which I think was about $120, so - score there! They were able to eat the other appetizers anyway, so I don't have too much guilt about it :)
As our cocktail hour was wrapping up, our DJ approached us and asked if there was a specific song we wanted our bridal party entering to. Apparently we hadn't chosen anything. As we looked at each other, a little overwhelmed at the request in this moment, the DJ said he can just play something upbeat that he usually does. Our response? "Sure, whatever is fine - okay!"
By the way...I considered not writing about these minor things that went wrong, because honestly? I don't really think about them at all when I think about our wedding day. It was only when I mentally went through the day, moment by moment, that I remembered these things even happened! But I want to give you an honest recap - full of the good, bad, and ugly!
Missed a recap?
Reception Details
The Actual Ceremony
The Ceremony that Could Have Been
Bridal Party photos
Family portraits
Time to take some photos alone!
First look
The Guys Get Ready
The Ladies Get Ready