Our Wedding: The Dance & After Party

Posted on December 16th, 2010 by Tonia No Comments

Please, don’t steal any photos off my blog!!!!  Just ask- I’ll share.

Phew!  This has been quite the journey, reliving our entire wedding weekend here on the blog!!  I hope you’ve enjoyed the stories and photos {and if you’re planning your own eco-friendly wedding, perhaps some of our ideas were useful to you.}

This next batch of pictures was taken during the dance, which was a total and complete blast.  My family and friends all have something in common…we like to eat good food, and we like to dance to good music.  Thankfully, we happen to have a lot of really ridiculously talented musician friends, who jumped at the chance to give us the gift of their music for our wedding.

And did I mention that my brother and I play the fiddle?  We grew up playing with our family-band called Roll Up the Rug at folk dances all over the Midwest.  We were quite the popular dance band back in the day!  But then college got in the way of playing regular gigs, and busy-grown-up-life followed shortly after college, so the fiddles don’t get taken out of their cases very often these days.  My brother got up there on the mic and played a beautiful waltz for Poppy and me to dance to, and it was pretty cool to see his fiddle skills have not waned.

And then Mike and I danced to “Don’t Be Shy”…because we fricken love that song and it deserved to be played twice at the wedding!!

Our reception band was Hip Pocket…the grooviest dance band on the planet, for real.  It was so, so cool to look around {in between pulling sweet moves and simultaneously making sure not to spill my mason jar of beer} at them groovin’ out with their instruments and think “hey, I know these guys!”  Someone should have given me an “I’m With the Band” t-shirt to wear over my dress.  Someone did give me a glow-stick necklace at one point, which of course I wore for the rest of the night.

Even the Grandmas were out on the dance floor!

Also take note of the shiny bocce medal around the neck of one of the formerly mentioned champions.

Yes, the groom is air-guitarring in the background here.  He is always air-guitarring.  It is his favorite, and he does it with immense concentration and skill.  You’d swear he was shredding a real guitar- it’s almost a trick of the eyes…which, as every good air-guitarist knows, is exactly the desired result.

At this point I’m going to switch over to photos taken by family and friends again, because there were some really entertaining moments captured, which I believe you will enjoy greatly…

Somehow the Photobooth costumes and props made their way from the gazebo to the dance floor…

I call this one “Fun Revolutionary”…My cousin John was channeling his inner Che Guevara…except, happier.

“Laura Ingalls Wilder Gone Wild”

Oh dear!

After the dance ended, the night was far from over…approximately five hours far from over, for some people:

A bonfire, several frozen pizzas, and a sexy Lady Gaga iPod playlist were warming up at Cabin 11 {which was later re-named “Club 11″ by its inhabitants.}  Mike and I joined the party and were instantly handed a cocktail and a slice of pizza.  I love my cousins.

Did someone spill something??

Just way too much fun, that’s what that is.  I didn’t want the night to end…but then again, we were exhausted and soooo ready for a tiny bit of peace and quiet.  Reluctantly, Mike and I snuck out of Club 11 together, leaving the cousins to party on.

My feet were K.I.L.L.I.N.G.ing me at this point {even though my shoes were very sensible, sweet vintage t-strap heels, found on Etsy} so Mike gave me a piggy-back-ride {pretty challenging while wearing a huge fluffy wedding dress!} and we made our way through the dark, quiet resort down to the lake where our private cabin was waiting.

It was a beautiful walk.  Mist was rising off the lake.  The moon was almost full and the stars were unbelievably bright in the clear, black sky.  The air had that crisp autumn bite to it, and it seemed like the earth was breathing in and out with us.  Everything was quiet, and we were alone- husband and wife.

Our cabin was filled with goodies that had been left for us by little elves.  :)  Champagne, chocolates, etc.  We just couldn’t believe the biggest and best day of our lives was OVER.  It felt sad and amazing at the same time.  Best of all, we were married & all filled up with the love that everyone had radiated out to us all weekend long.  It doesn’t get any better than this– thank you, everyone, who came and ate, danced, partied, and made our wedding all that it was.  We love you!!

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