Hey!  No need to steal these pretty photos taken by Generation Photography.  If you ask me, I’m sure I’ll be happy to share.  Thanks!  

Dinner was a delicious buffet catered by my Nonno’s {nickname for “grandpa” in Italian} favorite local restaurant, Pine Baron.  They were so flexible with us- allowing Poppy to customize the menu with his own recipes, even though they normally only allow wedding groups to choose from a set catering menu.  It was so cool to eat familiar and much-loved recipes that evening, and added to the comfortable and laid back feeling of the wedding.  

Pine Baron even prepared a separate gluten free version of the meal for a few of our guests who are allergic to gluten, and a vegan version for our veggie friends and fam.  I can’t rave enough about how accommodating they were.  They even helped us with things like the tent rental, deciding where/how to arrange the tables, and what color napkins to go with!   

Check out those cute, mis-matched vintage plates, baby!!  I loved this element of the wedding…they were all different and all from thrift-shops.  My mom and a few of our friends collected them all summer long, washed them, and brought them to the wedding.  Anyone want to avoid plate-rental fees at their wedding?  I’ve got plates.  Lots and lots of plates.  Holla’ at me, I’ll hook ya up.  

My Poppy is kinda famous for his salads.  He and my mom have a huge garden and make the most delicious salads from the greens they grow.  I was so happy that salad was such a large part of our wedding meal.  Crisp, spicy, nutty, yummy greens!!!  

My favorite photos of the whole wedding were taken during the toasts.  Joe and Tony captured our reactions and emotions during every single one of the speeches.  So many people got up during dinner to share stories and give us their blessing…and one brave {and slightly crazy-in-a-good-way} group of friends even performed a song and dance for us!  The toasts had us laughing and crying at the same time, it was a wild mix of emotions, to say the least.  

My brother made a sideshow/movie for us and played it after dinner while we all drank coffe and ate the delicious bunt-cakes made by Mike’s mom.  He did a great job on it…so many happy memories flashed on the tent wall.  It was fun to look around and see everyone’s faces as they watched.  

“That was so crazy when Jesus showed up.” -My cousin Jim [in the foreground holding the Bud Lite, which he brought from his own cabin– we definitely did NOT serve Bud Lite to our guests! This was a classy wedding!! Come on now…] when he saw this photo.

And with that, we move on to the dancing…