our wedding: reception details + dancing!

Almost done with all the wedding posts (brace yourself, this is a LONG one)!  Next up is the reception details. While everyone grabbed a cocktail and found their seats, we were hiding out in our photobooth.  Super cheezy, but this was such a magical moment. The ceremony had just finished and we were on a gnarly "holy smokes we are married" high.

After we left the booth we met our guests walking out to one of our favorites, M83 "Midnight City"

and now to the actual details of the reception: 

I loved the way our tables turned out.  Laura Miller Design found the perfect beaker-ish vases and filled them with the most gorgeous peonies.  

I purchased several lanterns to scatter on the tables from here, and then the tables were covered with votives. 

I would have never thought I cut myself out for such a crazy project when I decided to do my own table numbers. I actually saved it for last thinking it would be the easiest project of this entire wedding.  Ha, I was so wrong.  I purchased table numbers from here, which were one sided, glued them so that the number would show on both sides, cut them down, and then embossed a heart stamp on each side.  I didn't like any of the place card holders I had found anywhere, and finally scored some I liked here (had a few coupons which made the price much better). 

We had a friend (several actually- thanks again for all who made the trip!) who came all the way from NY for the wedding and it happen to be her birthday so we made sure there was a little something at her place setting to acknowledge her day.  We found this adorable notebook from here, which was a great reminder of the city where her friends are awaiting her to come back. 

The menus were made by minted, again incorporating our invites ~ and I had each white napkin rolled up and tied with a navy and white striped ribbon ( I can't tell you how much navy & white striped ribbon I purchased for this wedding!  every width, every material...).

Because embossing the escort cards, cocktail napkins, table numbers...etc. wasn't enough- I decided to emboss the place cards as well. Minted helped design and print the cards, and we came up with the "save room for the good stuff".  After coveting so many gorgeous champagne flutes that we couldn't afford, I ended up falling in love with our white polka dotted champagne flutes that I paid almost nothing for.

We were moved by all the thoughtful prayers, stories told and speeches that were made.

and then we hit that dance floor and never left except to cut the cake (our first dance song):

get ready for an onslaught of dance pictures...because that's all I wanted to do at my reception is dance.

{our first song we danced to with our bridal party}

cut the delicious susiecakes cake!  we go there all the time for a slice on chestnut street:

oh, we also showed a slideshow in between the dancing!  you may or may not notice the glow sticks have emerged... 

went back to dancing with the best man...

dance. dance. dance.

threw the bouquet with a glow stick around my head...classy bride, I know.

and then things got really cray...apparently the guys felt shirts were optional at this point- yep, that's my husband:

the famous SHOUT came on and we all got "a little bit softer now".  

and then it was time to say good-bye and we had a few treats ready to go:

The blankets were put out earlier in the night, put in a basket, added a white frame and wrote in gold marker "warm up" and then added the striped ribbon- for the popcorn bags (I make popcorn stovetop almost every night of the week so we thought only fitting to give popcorn as a snack to go).  I designed the "popped with love chris and carlee" labels and had then had them printed to keep the navy and white striped bags closed. 

I wanted to give out personalized matches with the sparklers but didn't want it to just be a monogram or our date, so Chris came up with "light 'em up!" and I loved it.  We had them printed on white books with gold text. 

the night ended with us running through a sea of sparklers (managing to rid ourselves of any glow sticks and putting back on shirts).

Wow, what an incredible time we had.  We will cherish this day forever.  Again, this day would not have been the same without our amazing friends & family and all the vendors who helped bring our ideas to life.

Thanks for letting me share the details with you all.

xoxo

*wedding posts recap*
style me pretty 
style me pretty gallery
welcome to bodega bay
bridal party gifts
girlie details
our first look
ceremony
welcome to the wedding venue
reception details

*all photos gem photo, except the champagne flute and matches