Our Wedding Day: The Reception
If you're just catching up, I've been recapping our wedding, which happened on Friday, July 12 in Bend, OR. Click here for previous posts.
After we walked back down the aisle as Mr. and Mrs. Moe (to the tune of All You Need is Love), we tucked into the hall while Jenn and Kristin bustled my dress and then we headed back out for family photos.
Meanwhile, everyone else enjoyed cocktail hour on the patio next to the pond. Our bartenders brought our signature drinks (brandy manhattans and gin & tonics) out to guests after the ceremony ended to signal the start of the evening. I wanted people to simply enjoy the scenery, maybe play a game of corn hole (the beanbag game) and mingle a bit before dinner.
After photos, we signed our marriage license with my grandfather and had a few minutes to mingle with guests. Looking back, I wish I had got a few more photos with specific people on the patio, but as everyone always tells you, the night simply flies by.
After cocktails, everyone headed inside for dinner and we were announced as Mr. Peter and Mrs. Lauren Moe!
Dinner
When the manfriend and I first discussed ideas for dinner at our wedding, we both agreed we wanted to have food we really enjoy at our wedding. We settled on one of our favorite meals - burgers + sweet potato fries.
As we worked with local caterer Tate & Tate to develop our menu, we also added black bean burgers (for vegetarians or those who don't eat beef), roasted and marinated veggies, build your own side salad and rosemary fries. The food was amazing when we did our tasting and many people commented that they enjoyed it at the wedding - two thumbs up!
My stomach still wasn't feeling great (I'm sure the boning in my dress didn't help), so I ate slowly and managed to enjoy most of what I put on my plate. After we finished dinner, Pete and I had enough time to make the rounds to most of the tables and chat with everyone for a bit.
And then it was time for the cake, toasts and dancing!
Our fathers both had speeches prepared, then Kristin and finally Pete's brother Jon. All of the speeches had me teary, but Kristin had me crying. That girl has been through a lot of miles and fun memories with me and had written a truly heartfelt speech.
As we listened to the toasts, all I could think was how incredibly blessed Pete and I are to have SO many amazing friends and family members filling the room. We are lucky.
We played nice with the cake. No frosting on the face other than a small wipe on his nose...
For our first dance, Pete and I danced to Keith Urban's Making Memories of Us.
For the father-daughter dance, we danced to Louis Armstrong It's a Wonderful World.
And the mother-son dance was to Rod Stewart's Have I Told You Lately.
Finally, the DJ kicked it up a notch and we got our dance on. Pete and I are both big dancers, so this was a key part to our night. While people were slow to warm up, we wrapped up the night with a dance floor of sweaty people.
Evie, our flower girl, was none too shy to get her dance on.
As the party was wrapping up, I finally kicked off my heels and whipped out my own camera. As a social media and photo addict, I was shocked I didn't taken any photos prior to 10 pm. I guess I was a bit busy...
Needed a photo with the bros
At the end of the night, Pete's parents drove us back to the hotel. I devoured some of the snacks we had in our room (dancing makes you hungry!) and then we headed out on the town.
As you can probably tell, we were completely exhausted, but wouldn't miss the chance to hang out with friends we didn't get much time with during the reception.
It got a bit chilly in the evenings in Bend, so I totally rocked my chambray shirt with my wedding dress out to the bars.
We got several double takes and fun comments like "Oh! Did you just get married??"Yep, sure did! Nothin' like hitting up the dive bars in your wedding dress.
After an hour and a half or so, I was so tired I could have fallen asleep on the bar. As much as we wanted to hang out, it was time to hit the hay.
I'll be sure to do a few more posts that are wedding related, but for the most part, that's a wrap! Let me know if there's anything else you want details on.
After we walked back down the aisle as Mr. and Mrs. Moe (to the tune of All You Need is Love), we tucked into the hall while Jenn and Kristin bustled my dress and then we headed back out for family photos.
Meanwhile, everyone else enjoyed cocktail hour on the patio next to the pond. Our bartenders brought our signature drinks (brandy manhattans and gin & tonics) out to guests after the ceremony ended to signal the start of the evening. I wanted people to simply enjoy the scenery, maybe play a game of corn hole (the beanbag game) and mingle a bit before dinner.
Pete and I got family photos and I also got a few with my high school group.
With my grandparents Jean and Art (who married us)
After cocktails, everyone headed inside for dinner and we were announced as Mr. Peter and Mrs. Lauren Moe!
Dinner
When the manfriend and I first discussed ideas for dinner at our wedding, we both agreed we wanted to have food we really enjoy at our wedding. We settled on one of our favorite meals - burgers + sweet potato fries.
As we worked with local caterer Tate & Tate to develop our menu, we also added black bean burgers (for vegetarians or those who don't eat beef), roasted and marinated veggies, build your own side salad and rosemary fries. The food was amazing when we did our tasting and many people commented that they enjoyed it at the wedding - two thumbs up!
My stomach still wasn't feeling great (I'm sure the boning in my dress didn't help), so I ate slowly and managed to enjoy most of what I put on my plate. After we finished dinner, Pete and I had enough time to make the rounds to most of the tables and chat with everyone for a bit.
The tables set up in four long family style rows down the length of the hall because I liked how it looked for another wedding I'd seen. With the number of people coming, it required us to have a head table, which I wasn't fond of at first, but worked out just fine and probably allowed people to see us a bit easier.
And then it was time for the cake, toasts and dancing!
Our fathers both had speeches prepared, then Kristin and finally Pete's brother Jon. All of the speeches had me teary, but Kristin had me crying. That girl has been through a lot of miles and fun memories with me and had written a truly heartfelt speech.
As we listened to the toasts, all I could think was how incredibly blessed Pete and I are to have SO many amazing friends and family members filling the room. We are lucky.
We played nice with the cake. No frosting on the face other than a small wipe on his nose...
For the father-daughter dance, we danced to Louis Armstrong It's a Wonderful World.
And the mother-son dance was to Rod Stewart's Have I Told You Lately.
Finally, the DJ kicked it up a notch and we got our dance on. Pete and I are both big dancers, so this was a key part to our night. While people were slow to warm up, we wrapped up the night with a dance floor of sweaty people.
Evie, our flower girl, was none too shy to get her dance on.
When Michael Jackson comes on, Kristin gets this look in her eyes and the moves start flowin'.
As the party was wrapping up, I finally kicked off my heels and whipped out my own camera. As a social media and photo addict, I was shocked I didn't taken any photos prior to 10 pm. I guess I was a bit busy...
Needed a photo with the bros
Love these guys
At the end of the night, Pete's parents drove us back to the hotel. I devoured some of the snacks we had in our room (dancing makes you hungry!) and then we headed out on the town.
As you can probably tell, we were completely exhausted, but wouldn't miss the chance to hang out with friends we didn't get much time with during the reception.
Husband
It got a bit chilly in the evenings in Bend, so I totally rocked my chambray shirt with my wedding dress out to the bars.
We got several double takes and fun comments like "Oh! Did you just get married??"Yep, sure did! Nothin' like hitting up the dive bars in your wedding dress.
After an hour and a half or so, I was so tired I could have fallen asleep on the bar. As much as we wanted to hang out, it was time to hit the hay.
I'll be sure to do a few more posts that are wedding related, but for the most part, that's a wrap! Let me know if there's anything else you want details on.
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