1. Amazing day full of love, happiness and support (Check)
2. Get Married!! (Check)
3. Eat amazing food and have some cake (Check)
4. Get the sword.
Wait.
What?
Oh yes, I said sword.
Why a sword? Well, when cutting a Croquembouche (also known as a French wedding cake) it is tradition to cut it with a sword. Well, cut isn’t exactly the right term. You have to slice it with a sword. Which is exactly what we did.
Truth be told... this was not our first attempt. Our first was a swing and miss. The second time-- nailed it.
To prevent cream puff carnage all over our dance floor, linens were placed under the cake. Good thing too, we knocked the top of that sucker right out of the park. My favorite thing about our second wedding cake? I mean, other than getting to swing at it with sword, is that no one waited for plates or forks or any form of etiquette. We all just dug right in.
The cake was made by a family friend and pastry chef! And yes, it really was *that* good.
The men from our toasts . Wouldn't Jeffy make a dapper Doctor Who?
Before our first dance, we first did our toasts. Our whole idea for the evening was that we wanted to get all of the traditional wedding stuff (food, cake, thank yous, toasts) done first, so the remainder of the evening would be open to dancing. I think it worked really well. But anyway, the toasts were touching (my father somehow made a Rod Stewart song lyric incredibly endearing), hilarious (Deborah’s brother, John, apologized for cutting the fur off of his cat and then blaming Deborah for it when they were little), tear inducing (Bridesmate Ashlea, who lives in Ohio, reminded us how distance and love are never problems) and nostalgic (Jeffy recounted how I first came out to him on April Fool’s Day– when I quickly retracted my statement and said April Fools!, he never believed I was lying in the first place).
Then, it was time for our first dance. To be honest, I think we had around 7 ‘first dance song’ contenders. We decided on “Let’s Fall in Love” as sung by Alanis Morrisette a week before because we needed to make a decision… STAT. Here’s a tip: LOOK AT HOW LONG YOUR FIRST DANCE SONG IS. Sorry for yelling that, but I really wanted to get the point across.
Seriously, y’all. Deborah and I aren’t Fred and Ginger, but we can hold our own…. for a while. This song was epically long. And, since we thought we could just dance for a wee bit and be done with everyone staring at us, we never choreographed anything out. Big. Ol. Mistake. This song draaaagggeed on. There are only so many times you can ‘spin in, spin out, spin around’.
We did have fun swirling around in our dresses though.
About two minutes through the song, we invited friends to join us on the dance floor. Deborah and her brother decided to not do a dance together because as she puts it “I feel like the two of us together is just a big awkward-fest. No one wants to watch that.” My dad and I did do a dance, and then my dad and Deborah did a dance too!
We danced to "Michelle, My Belle", which is the song I was named after. Hey! Guess who is crying in this picture? Hint: Not My Dad. Happy tears-- a reoccurring theme.
With official dances out of the way (and another round of waterproof mascara for me), it was time to get our party on.
Nothing like a break-dancing party guest to get the reception rocking!
Okay, I lied a little bit. I said all of the official dances were over. As far as Deborah knew, all the official dances were over. You see, Deborah told me eons before we got engaged that she always had wanted a “spontaneous” pre-choreographed dance number at her wedding. She thought I forgot about such things, but my mind is like a bear trap! Initially, I wanted to do Mambo! from West Side Story, but quickly realized that it would take waaaay too much time to learn. Instead, I spread the word to watch a certain music video and told party guests that if they knew the dance to step in…..
If you like it then you shoulda put a ring on it.....
Oh-a-oh-oh-a-ohhhh yeah. We did the Single Ladies dance. Two of our wedding party got a chance to learn the actual routine from the choreographer (dang you, New Yorkers!). Other guests and bridesmates knew enough to just rock it out!
Did you know Beyonce once said this was a love song about Jay-Z? He was the one 'to put a ring on it'. It makes me like the song even more.
It was fantastic! And Deborah was so surprised! Now, every time I hear that song I think of us dancing around and Deborah laughing hysterically! We danced a little more. Some slow songs, some fast songs, some fun songs– and then our fantastic DJ did something remarkable.
He unknowingly played the song that would mark the rest of the evening. Since he knew we were Broadway folk, he played a Broadway song. But not any ol’ Broadway song, he played Seasons of Love from Rent. Usually, Deborah and I think of this song as a bit of a cheese-fest. I think it comes from hearing it All.The.Time. We goofed off for a bit (interpretive dance, mayhaps?) but then the heart and honesty of the song got to all of us and everyone (pretty much) ended up in a circle.
And we sang. We sang joyously. We sang at the top of our lungs. Friends took turns singing verses and the amount of love present was.. well, I don’t really have words for it really. It was that special.
Measure Your Life In Love.
As always, each moment and gorgeous photo is from our photographer, Katherine O’Brien.
Next Up: The Rest of the Evening (aka someone splits his pants on the dance floor)
Want to read more about our wedding? Check out the past recaps:
Married and Ready to Party!
Our Ceremony, Part 2
The Ceremony, Part 1
Post-Portrait Shenanigans
Group Photos
Our First Look
Deborah Getting Ready
Michelle Getting Ready
Michelle– I love your dress! Where is it from?
Um holy crap, pre-choreographed spontaneous dance?!? OMG your reception sounds unreal amazing ladies…
We have no particular tradition that calls for a sword, nor any practical reason to have one…but methinks I will have one at the wedding anyway!! LOVE IT!!