It is almost 2 weeks after the wedding now. Everything was terrific and everyone seemed to have a ton of fun which is great! We had many people tell my parents that we
"really knew how to throw a party".
Well, we got married November 16, 2002 at the South Mountain Grille in front of a fire place. How romantic huh? There were also windows in the backdrop and it was snowing and people said how beautiful it looked behind us.
Time: 3:30 PM Reception followed in the same spot.
We included some of our favorite people in our wedding party.
My crew is:
Maid of Honor: Amanda Bleau--my cousin and friend, she's more like a sister really
Bridesmaids: Melissa Tetro--my best friend from college, Bethany Asher--a good friend, Marcie Giardina--Jamie's sister
Jamie's crew:
Best Man: Matthew Giardina--Jamie's uncle Groomsmen: Michael Romano--Jamie's best friend, Matthew Rice--my brother, Craig Giardina--Jamie's cousin
Reading a poem to start the ceremony was my aunt Sheila Bleau. She will be reading "What is a Soulmate" by Emily Matthews. She did a wonderful job even after being so nervous about it! We also asked Jamie's aunt Pati Giardina. She read the words to Bruce Springsteen's song "If I Should Fall Behind". She heard it at a wedding she went to recently and shared it with me. It's really nice!
The festivities were casual. We are NOT fancy people by any means and we wanted a different but relaxed environment. The ceremony and reception took place at South Mountain Grille in front of a fireplace which I hoped appeared real romantic. We basically "wrote" our own ceremony which I love the idea of that! Creative flow from me!!
The girls dresses were the same, just in two different colors. Amanda's was a light blue and the other girls is light butter yellow (that ended up being the wrong yellow ordered by the store so it is brighter than it was supposed to be. Oh well). More summery than anything but still pretty. They were made by the same woman who did the alterations on my dress and I know they looked wonderful.
The guys were in black tuxes with vests, no ties. The shirts had that collar that has no fold over (real techinical term huh?) and the button in wore black vests with a silvery look to them. Pretty nice sounding huh?
My mom wore a beautiful (can't describe) dress in celedon green and my dad wore a black vest. What can I say, he likes black and it looked great with the other guys vests. Jan, Jamie's mom, wore I a very nice bergundy pant suit.
Missy did my hair in an upside down french braid with curls at the top with pearl hair jewels and it looked great! And I did my own makeup (scary huh?). Don't worry I got a "makeover" done and I dragged my mom with me so she could study it too! Actually she got a make-over done too so I am sure we looked good! =)
There were a lot of people we wanted to invite but didn't have the room for. South Mountain downstairs is fairly small so it would be tough to have many more people than we invited.
I am excited!! We did the invitations on my parents computer and I think they came out great! =)
I am excited to show off the invitations so here they are:
The following is a list of a vendors we used:
*Cake -- Morningside Bakery -- hmmmm mmmmm good!! It was all gone...including our top layer (which we weren't happy about!)
*DJ -- A1DJ Services AKA Russ Davis...He came recommended by South Mountain and our photographer said he was good too. He has great equipment and is very helpful! He did an extraordinary job
*Photographer -- Sandy McNay -- his prices seem pretty reasonable and I have heard good things about his work. He is real friendly and extremely willing to work with us. Black and white and color photos too, just like we wanted! He took a ton of pictures!
*Justice of the Peace -- Richard Bentley...he seemed a little odd but friendly. He letting us come up with our own ceremony! It's great! Wish we had had someone else though!
*Flowers -- Marskandiser in Lee. She is so friendly, does a good job and also came recommended. The prices are fabulous too! The flowers turned out great and we got a bunch of compliments on them
*Seamstress -- Jan Greiner, she is is helpful and great! She did alterations on my dress and made my MOH and bridesmaids dresses. She did a great job and the dresses were beautiful on all the girls!
We were very pleased with absolutely everyone except for the Justice of the Peace. He didn't do parts of the ceremony in the right order and missed and important part where we were going to give a single red rose to our mothers. He also wanted to charge us for the rehearsal that he wasn't even there for!
