Wedding Recap 4: The Reception

Well, I'd been holding out for our professional pictures before posting the wedding recap finale, but I still don't have them. So I guess you'll just have to put up with one more wedding post when they DO come in! For now, I'll take you through our reception.

After taking lots of glorious pictures around Ann Arbor we headed into the Michigan Union.

The Union is a gorgeous Art Deco style building (which worked great for our 20's/30's vintage look!) right in the heart of Ann Arbor. Those big windows on the second floor nearest the camera are where we were going to party the night away! We were in the Pendleton Room, which is a stunning little number that seats about 100. I personally like it better then the main ballroom as it's got great details and a fireplace at one end.

We decked it out in copper and cobalt blue, with accents of gold and orange. You could see the blue ceiling floods from the street which just added to the anticipation! But once you got inside, this is what you saw:

Well, that's what you saw if you were my awesome friend Samara and got there before the room filled with people! I'm glad she got this picture, because we didn't arrive until later.

Our short centerpieces. There were tall ones on some tables as well. Also check out my DIY table numbers!

While we were taking pictures our guests enjoyed drinks and hors d'oeuvres (shrimp tempura, bruchetta, and california rolls to name a few) and listened to Ron Newman play some gorgeous piano. Then we made our entrance! After the DJ announced us and our party into the room we went straight into our first dance. I thought it ended up running very smoothly, and I love our song (Call Off the Search by Katie Melua). I didn't even trip on myself!

I love this photo of my parents watching our first dance.

After that came dinner. London broil, asparagus, garlic russet potatoes... crap, I'm making myself hungry. So as dinner was finishing the party started! We did the father/daughter and mother/son dances. And we also included an anniversary dance:

"Anyone who's been married less then a day, less then a day go sit down..."

We did all the cheesy stuff, cut the cake, threw the bouquet, all of it. In the midst of the dancing my mom noticed some people who hadn't been there before... crashers! My dad grabbed one by the scruff of the neck and threw him out the door! His friends followed meekly behind... There was a big cheer and the party continued on. I actually think that's quite the compliment that people would want to crash our party!

Shortly after that, we must have been partying too hard because suddenly the music stopped! Instantly our friend Rick ran over to the (now vacant) piano and started playing chopsticks! It was hilarious, and the music came back on shortly thereafter. Apparently in their anger at getting tossed, our crashers got into the electric box outside and flipped the power off!

After the reception started winding down some of our friends accompanied us to Bar Louie, which is a really nice bar/lounge up the street a ways. We had a few more drinks and I chowed down in a most un-ladylike fashion on some french fries. There was actually a bachelorette party there and she came over and got a picture with me in my dress.

Then Brian and I went back to our beautiful hotel room and had some of the great champagne and strawberries my Grandparents ordered for us and PASSED OUT. Truly, we could not have hoped for a more amazing and perfect day. It's been almost 2 months now and I can't think of it without grinning like an idiot. I think our friends and family had fun too, and I'm so grateful that we were able to start our marriage off on such a happy note!