Thursday, October 3, 2013

Wedding Week 3: First Dance and Cake

Good morning!

Thanks for all the well wishes yesterday! We're speeding right along with wedding week to bring you pictures of the first dance and the other post-ceremony events of our big day. Lo, look upon us shaking a tail feather on an impromptu dance floor (this first one might be my favorite wedding photo):


I preface these photos by mentioning I had made the greatest and best reception mix of all time especially for the occasion. Matthew and I are both almost too into FM Gold hits of the late seventies' and early eighties'-- bands like REO Speedwagon and my beloved Huey Lewis and the News don't have the street-cred-earning weight of saying how much I love Lou Reed or Bryan Ferry, but by godfrey, I love them just as much on the eight hundredth rotation of "Roll with the Changes" or "Heart and Soul" as I did the first time. And I ain't ashamed! 

The playlist was built around that criterion and that time frame. My dad bailed on my proposed father-daughter dance of A Taste of Honey's "Boogie Oogie Oogie" (and, honestly, disco of that calibre requires 100% commitment on the dance floor, so I'll give him a pass). I thought I would probably just have music at the reception, but no "formal" dancing. However, in a split second decision as speeches by Rob, my dad, Matthew's dad, Kelsey, Ernest, and Noah wrapped up, Matthew cued our song from the playlist and led me to the front of the room for our first dance.



What song did we choose? "September", by Earth, Wind and Fire, which goes a little bit like this:
Do you remember the 21st night of September?
Love was changing the mind of pretenders
While chasing the clouds away
Our hearts were ringing
In the key that our souls were singing
As we danced in the night
Remember, how the stars stole the night away, yeah yeah yeah
Hey hey hey
Ba de ya, say do you remember
Ba de ya, dancing in September
Ba de ya, never was a cloudy day
COULD IT BE. MORE PERFECT. IT COULD NOT. The sentimental, sweet, upbeat feeling of the song, and dancing with my Bab, made me stop worrying about looking dumb in front of everyone and just have a fabulous time with my brand new husband. He's such a cute dancer, too, that it was hard not to feel like this dance was our victory lap after months of planning.



I only almost cried three times at the wedding-- once during Matthew's dad's speech, once during my dad's speech, and once as I hugged my parents after leaving the dance floor directly after the first dance. "You know," my dad said, in the pontificating way he starts many a sentence, "It's funny, but I always thought, wedding traditions like first dance and all that were kind of dumb, and people just did them because they had to. But watching you all out there, you just looked so happy, like the definition of a beaming bride, and I thought, 'This is really nice'." Cue stifling of waterworks of an amazing proportion. That's why I especially like that last photo I posted, where my dad's looking on as I'm laughing at some complicated footwork Matthew's perpetrating. Memories!

We let Rob, as the farthest-traveling guest, be our witness as we signed our marriage certificate to make it legitimate legitimate. Here are some photos Oznur took of the happy event:



Kelsey's mom, Linda, with help from her friends Charli and Carolyn, made this wedding cake for us! I think it looks gorgeous, and the little ornaments on top were just exactly the right size! There was also a chocolate mousse flanked on the table by two sprites from Castlevania for the "groom's cake" (you knew Matthew was going to get a retro video game reference in there somewhere, right?).


As Monica, our photographer, was taking photos of the slicing of the cake and all that jazz, I got nervous over the "feeding cake to each other" part, which I was worried would look too weird, cuddly, babyish to be cute in the photos. Matthew solved this problem for me by pretending to feed me, then redirecting his fork's course straight into his own mouth. The resultant Kodak moment you see below (thanks to Matthew's cousin, Rachel):


I mean, if that doesn't deserve to be hanging over the mantle in our family home, I don't know what does. 

Did you do a first dance? If I hadn't done "September", and gone with an earlier idea of doing all forties' and fifties' songs, I think Louis Armstrong's version of "A Kiss to Build a Dream On" would have been our first dance. What song/era/reception playlist did you choose? What thought governed your choice? I have to say, the best first dances at a wedding I've been to were at my friend Caroline's, where she and her dad danced to "Nothing Can Change This Love" by Sam Cooke, and she and her husband danced to "Into the Mystic" by Van Morrison. SERIOUSLY. IT WAS LIKE IN A MOVIE. 

I think I'll do a lightening fast Photo Friday tomorrow of our honeymoon in Jamaica, then it's back to your regularly scheduled vintage posts! Bear with me, and I'll see you tomorrow for some tropical souvenir snaps. Til then!

Bonus: You know you want to stream this completely awesome reception mix. Check it out:

                                               

26 comments:

  1. You two are adorable!
    First dances are rather nerve wrecking. We had already been married for a year when we had our reception and it still made me nervous to have everyone's attention on us. After a few glasses of champagne it didn't bother me at all. I did tell my husband that I didn't want to smash cake on each others faces. It's so rude and childish. We kept it simple and made for a great photo.

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    1. Haha, I agree about the cake smash. What about my makeup? I think my "oh no you didn't" face in that picture is making that a family heirloom. :)

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  2. First of all my brother and his first wife got married one September 21, and I remember being really pissed he didn't use that song.

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    1. I righted this historic wrong! (I was so happy about the suitability of that song both to the date and to getting down) PS:"Hot Child in the City" used to be my driving around Nashville post college circa 2007 ANTHEM. I now have to go back and see the scene in Big you're talking about!

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  3. Also now I singing hot child in the city in my head, which I always equate with the scene in the movie big when they are hanging out the sunroof in the limo

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  5. Thanks for the first dance shout out lady! Loved your first dance so much!

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    1. I removed the first one because I can't spell when I type, apparently.

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    2. No prob, bob! And your music/dances selection was seriously THE BEST out of any wedding I've been to! (Did I expect anything less...? :) )

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  6. Awww....the Mister LOVES him some Earth, Wind and Fire, so it's frequently in heavy rotation around our house. You guys look so happy...and your cake is beautiful!

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    1. It's THE MOST. INFECTIOUS. SONG. You can't listen to that kind of music and not have your spirits buoyed. I love how in every picture we just look ecstatic-- we were! It was a great day.

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  7. Against my wishes ('cause I'm shy), we did a first dance, which was slow. The song was "All the Way" by Sam Cooke. I think this is an old standard song. (I like "Teenage Sonata" too, but the lyrics were not as appropriate.) I looove Sam Cooke and joked before the wedding that I wanted a Sam Cooke and Otis Redding only wedding soundtrack, which we didn't do!

    Great cake and dancing photos!

    If you can gather copies of everyone's speeches, they are really fun to read back again later. : )

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    1. I love your song choices! Maybe you can do a Sam Cooke/Otis Redding only soundtrack for your 10th anniversary! And what a good idea about the speeches, I should do that before they get lost!

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  8. That cake picture is epic. I would totally hang that over the fireplace.

    xo Ashley
    thetiniestfirecracker.com

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  9. i'm dying at matthew's moves! i can tell just by the stills that he is a fun dancer! and i think that last photo should be put on a afghan or something. it is too good!
    our first dance was "til there was you" from the music man! we had a band of elderly men who do weddings on the weekends as a hobby and it was perfect!

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    1. He kept getting down in his inimitable fashion, and I was like "I CAN'T GET THAT LOW IN THIS HOOPSKIRT". Not without practice, anyway! You are killing me with your old man music band and "Til there was you". I bet it was romantic as all heck!

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  10. Loves it! Congratulations you two cuties! Our September wedding had the same song featured during our wedding slideshow. Happy times!

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    1. Thanks! And great minds think alike, I love you used that song, too!

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  11. You two are too cute! These will be such fun pics to show the grandkids.

    The DJ at senior prom played "September," so that's always been "our song." Love those FM Gold hits, too. :-) Just bought the album Sports on LP not too long ago. It's really awesome when the whole record is awesome and not just a couple of songs.

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    1. We saw Huey and the News do that whole album at the Schermerhorn here in town a couple weeks ago, they are STILL. THAT. GOOD. It's amazing how well some of those FM hits from the seventies' and eighties' hold up a generation later.

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  12. GREAT dress! You both look gorgeous and like you had a fabulous time. That first picture is definitely a keeper. Congratulations, and so glad you seem to have such an amazing day.

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    1. I can't wait to get our photos back from the photographer, this is only the tip of the iceberg!

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