Reception Recap

So it's been 45 days since we said "I Do" so let's see what I remember about the reception.

After the ceremony, we took about an hours worth of pictures with the bridal party and family. Dave and I were able to knock out our pictures before hand when we did our first look. To really try and get the party started, the bridal party and our parents entered the reception to "Yeah" by Usher. It's always been one of my favorite songs, especially to dance to. 

Grand Entrance

Dave and I made our grand entrance to Chris Brown's "Forever."  We made our way to the dance floor, where we had our first dance to "Whatever It Is" by Zac Brown Band. It's our favorite band and the perfect song for us.

 First Dance

Following our first dance, Dave danced with his mom, Susanne, to "Do I Make You Proud" by American Idol winner Taylor Hicks. I danced with my grandfather to The Judds "Grandpa" as it's a perfect song for us. Dave then also danced with Kelly to Rascal Flatts "My Wish." 

After those dances, everything else was a whirlwind. I know I tried to get around the room to speak to everyone but, boy is it tough!  But I can tell you that neither Dave or I made it all the way around the room because we had a chocolate fountain and we never saw it! lol 

Shortly after the dances, the DJ, Geoff from Soundquest DJs, called me to the floor and started talking about USC and the Gamecocks and me being a Carolina grad, etc etc.  He told me there was a surprise in the building for me....after a little "2001" music...the best mascot in the entire country walked in....COCKY!! 

It was a surprise to me that he was actually coming. I know my mom put in the request earlier in the year but I told her I didn't want to know the outcome! Cocky was a hit at the wedding with a bunch of the guests and of course, the kids! He spent a lot of time taking pictures with the guests, dancing and having a great time!  If you are a Gamecock fan or grad, and are getting married, I highly recommend you invite Cocky!!

After some dancing and a quick bite to eat ( I'm talking 2 bites of a chicken tender) it was time for the toasts and cake cutting.  The speeches by both Christie and Suzanne were amazing and really touched my heart and meant a lot to me.  Ryan's Best Man speech was so Ryan so it was a pretty funny.  Dave and I cut our amazing cake with the Marine Corps NCO sword, which was pretty awesome!
I guess when it came to the cake cutting and eating, I really never thought about the whole cake smashing. I really didn't think I would do that and I know I didn't want cake smashed all over me and on my dress.
But.. I forgot who I was marrying. Geoff asked the guests if they thought it was going to be "Naughty Or Nice" and got a reaction out of the crowd, which many thought would be naughty. And they were right. Dave reached first to smash but I got him back. Nothing too outrageous but it was fun. 

Following the cake, Dave was asked by Geoff to bring 5 guys out onto the floor who were good friends and people he wanted to thank. He asked Jeremy, Jeff, Kentrell, Ryan, and Joe Yozzo. Little did they or even we know, they were chosen to be the Village People and perform the YMCA! It was hilarious!! Cocky even got involved and tried challenging the guys with some dance moves.

We had a few other funny moments at the reception including the Flower/Garter Toss.  Dave's friend Alicia caught the bouquet and Kentrell, one of the groomsmen, caught the garter. Geoff, the DJ, then brought Alicia and Kentrell out onto the dance floor and explained that Kentrell would need to put the garter on Alicia's leg and the higher he went, the longer our marriage would last....and he'd had to do it blindfolded.  Well while blindfolder, my stepdad Joe switch seats with Alicia so Kentrell started to put the garter on Joe's foot and it wasn't until he got close to his knee when he felt Joe's pants that he ripped off the blindfold and saw what was going on.

PRICELESS MOMENT!! It was moments like this that make me so glad I had a videographer cause it's all captured!

Some of the girls from my very first clogging team also got out on the dance floor and performed one of our favorite dances "I Like It, I Love It" by Tim McGraw.  It was a hit and a chance for the to show off my dancin' shoes..my lowtop pink Chuck Taylors!

The most priceless moment and thing people are still talking about from the wedding was the groomsmen stripping on the dance floor and my grandma, yes my grandma, out there dancing with them.  There are so many pictures from this and each one is so funny. I still don't know who's idea it was but all of the groomsmen, including my grandpa, took off their shirts, kept on their ties and hit the dance floor.

Dave and I had a great time and are so thankful for everyone who came to share with us in our special day! We couldn't have had a better day and are so glad to share with you in the most important day of our lives.

Here are some other of my favorite pictures. To see more pictures from the wedding, visit http://mrandmrsdaveturner.shutterfly.com/ .

 

Coming up next.. a recap of our awesome and amazing 7 Day Cruise!

Cake Tasting

One of the things I think Dave was looking forward to the most...and I have to admit I was to..was cake tasting. We've been looking online and asking for recommendations on Facebook from friends for wedding cake bakeries in the Columbia-area and options were pretty slim. It seems there are only three or four popular places that people use.

We used one of the more popular ones for our engagement party cake... I loved the way it turned out. It was exactly what I asked for....the only problem.. the cake was VERY dry and the icing had no taste. There was some fondant on there... like the endzones, yard markers and the stars but I just wasn't pleased with it...especially for the price we paid. So after that experience, I knew I wouldn't go back there. Plus the day I picked up the cake, the baker/owner wasn't very pleasant.

So I continued to search... I heard a lot about one place in West Columbia that's pretty well known....but I wasn't pleased with the things I saw on the website... so I Googled....googled...and googled..... and out of no where, I found... Parties To Go. Carol Sturkie is the sole baker/employee who's been in business for 30 years. I spoke with her by phone last week and was pleased to talk to her and what she had to say. So we made an appointment for this past Saturday to have a consultation.

Mom, Dave and I ventured out to her bakery shop, which also happens to be out in West Columbia.. and completely fell in love with Carol. Her bakery smelt amazing as soon as we walked in. And her cake...omg! It was amazing! Her wedding cake is a cream cheese pound cake...delicious!!! I showed her what I had in mind.... I wanted this cake exactly as it is...except I wanted orange and pink..rather

than the yellow of course. I told her off the bat I didn't want it completely covered in fondant so the plan is for the cakes to be covered in butter cream icing with the dots only being done in fondant. The layers in between the cake will be done in pink.. with the majority of the circles b ein g done in orange tones and the smaller dots will be pink! And her pricing... it can't be beat!
I really can't wait to see what Carol does for us come May.

In the mean time... Dave kept talking about wanting a cake for this weekend's football tailgate. It's the weekend (other than the wedding) we have been looking forward to. Carolina and Tennessee will take to the gridiron Saturday. So after we ordered/discussed the wedding cake, Dave and Carol talked about a cake for the tailgate.. I'm not sure what the plan is or what's going to be on the cake so I guess we will wait and see.

One other thing we completed this past weekend was the ceremony planning. Mary Louise, a friend of mine and girlfriend of my college professor, will be marrying us. Dave and I had dinner with her and Dick Saturday night to kind of catch up and plan the ceremony. So that is pretty much done... Lots of things getting checked off the TO DO list... with a lot still left to do.

One other thing I hope to complete this week is to pick out the font for the invitations. The print company who is doing out invitations is in West Ashley and we are living in Summerville now... so it's like a 25 to 30 minute drive over there.

Until next time...

Moving On Up....

The last few days of our lives have been crazy! We have packed up and left our apartment in West Ashley after hundreds of problems and am now living in a beautiful place in Summerville.... moving up the interstate, a little closer to my family by about 25 minutes! It's been a transition getting used to light switches, having more space, and climbing three flights of stairs as our apartment is on the third floor. 

It's a fairly new complex...only two years old and a place we plan to call home until we buy a house.  I can't thank our friends enough for helping us with the move... I know once they found out it was the third floor, they wanted to run and hide. So a big thanks to Geoff and Vicki, Gino & Elisha, Mandy, Kentrell, Andy, my grandparents and my mom... without yall, Dave and I would still be trying to move in.

Anyways.... enough on the side note...back to the wedding.  I found a place to print our invitations finally. It's a printing company in West Ashley that did the invitations for our friends, Joe & Krystle Yozzo.  The company has a graphic artist on hand and was able to recreate the invite I made and we are in the final stages of picking out a font we are happy with.  I can't wait for the final product.

This coming weekend we are hoping to get the wedding cake planning done. I think I've found two bakeries I want to check out while we head to Columbia to see Darius Rucker in concert on Sunday.  So that's on the to-do list. We are also planning out our ceremony this weekend.  My friend Mary Louise will be marrying us.  She's such an amazing woman and has a special place in my heart.  Not only did I get the chance to work with her on the Crimestoppers board when I was in Columbia working at WLTX but she is also dating my favorite professor from college who has helped me so much.

One other thing I'm pretty excited about right now wedding-related is my first bridal shower. My matron of honor, Suzanne, is hosting it December 11th in Columbia for all my friends/family there. I can't wait to see all my WLTX girls as well as some of my sorority sisters!  Here's what the front of the invitation looks like.

I'm so excited and really looking forward to it. Now I just need  update our registries since Dave and I have been living together for almost a year and have gotten a bunch of things.

Until next time...