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Once we arrived back at the hotel after sneaking out of our reception, we had to rush, since we only had a half hour head start on our guests! Mr. Cola helped unlace my dress, we changed, emptied both of the ice machines on our floor, and scrambled to clean up the bridal suite for our after party.Luckily one of my bridesmaids was texting me with updates as to how close the charter bus with everyone was, so by the time they arrived, Mr. Cola and I were ready to continue the party!
Our after party outfits were so typical of us--I was all dressed up in a nice dress and he was wearing a tuxedo t-shirt (which I bought for him, and he was very excited about) and shorts. I was even wearing 4 inch heels, while he went barefoot for most of the evening!
(I'd meant to shorten this dress to above my knees, but ran out of time. Oh well, after enjoying our open bar all night, I doubt anyone noticed it was too long!)
One of my friends, who owns his own bar and restaurant, started mixing drinks for everyone, and we got down to partying.
(We had a counter full of liquor and mixers, plus several buckets on the floor full of beer and ice. I still can't believe how many half gallons of booze we emptied that night!)
(I took this last photo from the second story of our suite, oh, 10 minutes after the pizza was delivered. It sure didn't last long!)
(Showing off our new bling.)
(My sister swiped some of the mustaches from our fauxtobooth). And yes, it was so hot with all the drinking people in our suite that we turned the temperature down to 63 degrees so the AC would blast!)
(One of my favorite photos from our after party, since my sis and I never got a chance to pose together in our fauxtobooth.)
At around 2:30 in the morning it was time to call it a night, which I'm sure our neighbors in the hotel appreciated. Everyone trickled back to their own rooms (some, I suspect, continued partying for a while), and Mr. Cola and I could finally retire upstairs in our suite and rest our feet. And spend a good 45 minutes trying to untangle my hair and get all the bobby pins out (over 50 of them!).This picture was taken towards the end of our after party, you can see that my curls were still going strong. What you can't see is that the under-layer of my hair was a giant tangled mat. I was SO tired, but couldn't go to bed that night until all the tangles were out!
Are you planning to continue your wedding night with an after party? I highly recommend it--it was the only time all evening that we got to spend with some of our closest friends!
Next up, my final wedding event recap (so sad!), our Sunday luncheon.
Miss any wedding week details? Catch up here:
- I packed an emergency bag that saved my dress- We had a crazy 4 days prepping for house guests and stuffing favors- Shopping for a ton of wedding flowers to arrange ourselves- Mr. Cola drinks a 40 and I have a night out on the town for our low-key bach parties- A day of DIY'ing flower arrangements- I kicked off our official recaps with my #1 wedding tip
- We began the weekend festivities with a sunset cruise for our wedding party
- We rehearsed our quick and easy ceremony
- I panicked, but we got our rehearsal dinner decorations set up just in time
- Our families met for the first time at our rehearsal dinner under the trees- What went wrong on our wedding day, and my tips for future brides
- My bridesmaids and I got our hair and makeup done in the hotel suite
- I put on my wedding dress and became a bride
- The guys watched the World Cup, then got ready in 10 minutes
- Traffic delayed our decorations getting to the venue, and I almost ruined our first look
- We got to see each other for the first time on our wedding day at our first look
- We took some time for bride and groom pictures in the park
- I gave you a behind the scenes look at our family, friends and DOC setting up our venue
- Arriving at our venue and getting ready for the ceremony to start
- Everyone walked down the aisle
- Excerpts from our ceremony, and reading the vows we wrote for each other
- I interrupted our officiant, we exchanged rings, and with a kiss we were officially married!
- Wedding party and family portraits, and my thoughts on missing pictures
- Our guests enjoyed cocktail hour while we took a few more photos
- Everyone ate a delicious dinner, and our siblings gave beautiful toasts
- We didn't practice, but we had a very special and wonderful first dance as husband and wife
- I showed you some disposable camera pictures, which were totally worth it to include on our tables!
- I found a target and tossed my bouquet at her
- Mr. Cola finally managed to find my garter under my dress and tossed it
- We fed each other cupcakes, and our guests swarmed our 6ft tall cupcake tower
- We stole some private moments together that our photographers documented- All our guests had some fun taking pictures in our DIY fauxtobooth- We enjoyed the rest of the evening with our guests- I showcased all the pretty details from our wedding, part 1 and part 2- We snuck out of our reception and away into the night(All photos in this post are personal, taken on either my camera or Bridesmaid H's camera)
The sun had long set. 
We’d dined, danced, and enjoyed the evening, but it was over much too quickly. At least for us it was. Our guests, however, got to continue drinking and partying for another half hour. See, we didn’t actually do a send off. As much as I love the photos of guests waving flags, ribbon wands, or sparklers as the couple departs their wedding reception, we had a plan, and needed to stick to it. Because we were having an after party in our hotel suite right after the reception, we needed to get a head start on our guests. So we snuck out of our reception a half hour before the charter bus was coming for everyone. We wanted the party to continue for everyone else, while we had time to change, get ice and set up everything for the after party. But that didn’t mean we couldn’t still get a few cute departing photos! Our DOC slyly gathered my bag, shoes and all the stuff we needed to take with us, and inconspicuously ushered us out the back of our venue and around to the front.
We hopped into the limo, the driver opened up the sunroof for us, and we were off!
It was about a half hour ride back to our hotel from our venue, and I must say, it was an amazing part of the night for both of us (I know, I know, I’ve said that about almost every part of our wedding!). We just cuddled in the back of the limo, and quietly recapped our wedding the whole way back to the hotel. Going over all the love we felt that night, how fun it was to see everyone, the highs (so many!) and the lows (so few), we just talked and reminisced, and it was wonderful. The drive felt like it was only a few minutes long, and we soaked up all the emotions from the day and just held on to them. It was a perfect end to our reception. But that wasn’t the end of our night, we still had an after party to get ready for! What are your plans for departing your wedding reception?
Miss any wedding week details? Catch up here:
- I packed an emergency bag that saved my dress- We had a crazy 4 days prepping for house guests and stuffing favors- Shopping for a ton of wedding flowers to arrange ourselves- Mr. Cola drinks a 40 and I have a night out on the town for our low-key bach parties- A day of DIY'ing flower arrangements- I kicked off our official recaps with my #1 wedding tip
- We began the weekend festivities with a sunset cruise for our wedding party
- We rehearsed our quick and easy ceremony
- I panicked, but we got our rehearsal dinner decorations set up just in time
- Our families met for the first time at our rehearsal dinner under the trees- What went wrong on our wedding day, and my tips for future brides
- My bridesmaids and I got our hair and makeup done in the hotel suite
- I put on my wedding dress and became a bride
- The guys watched the World Cup, then got ready in 10 minutes
- Traffic delayed our decorations getting to the venue, and I almost ruined our first look
- We got to see each other for the first time on our wedding day at our first look
- We took some time for bride and groom pictures in the park
- I gave you a behind the scenes look at our family, friends and DOC setting up our venue
- Arriving at our venue and getting ready for the ceremony to start
- Everyone walked down the aisle
- Excerpts from our ceremony, and reading the vows we wrote for each other
- I interrupted our officiant, we exchanged rings, and with a kiss we were officially married!
- Wedding party and family portraits, and my thoughts on missing pictures
- Our guests enjoyed cocktail hour while we took a few more photos
- Everyone ate a delicious dinner, and our siblings gave beautiful toasts
- We didn't practice, but we had a very special and wonderful first dance as husband and wife
- I showed you some disposable camera pictures, which were totally worth it to include on our tables!
- I found a target and tossed my bouquet at her
- Mr. Cola finally managed to find my garter under my dress and tossed it
- We fed each other cupcakes, and our guests swarmed our 6ft tall cupcake tower
- We stole some private moments together that our photographers documented- All our guests had some fun taking pictures in our DIY fauxtobooth- We enjoyed the rest of the evening with our guests- I showcased all the pretty details from our wedding, part 1 and part 2(Unless otherwise noted, all photos in this post were taken by the very talented photographers of Shoot Me Now Photography)
In my last post you saw part one of all our wedding day details (and if you missed it, go check out part one first). Now, here is the second half of one of my favorite posts I've put together, with lots of pretty picture overload!Just like in part one, feel free to click on any of these for a larger view, and I’ve included the links to the original tutorial or inspiration posts at the bottom. Enjoy!
Photo 1: over 6 foot tall cupcake tower, Photo 2: our first dance, Photo 3: carving at our buffet dinner, Photo 4: choose your favor table, Photo 5: short DIY centerpiece and pre-ceremony refreshments, Photo 6: our rings with one of my something old items, Photo 7: DIY bride and groom chair signs, Photo 8: ceremony details, Photo 9: cocktail hour cheese table and bridesmaid purse bouquet, Photo 10: LED luminary escort cards, Photo 11: pictures in the park, Photo 12: signed stones from our memory stone guestbook, Photo 13: DIY programs, Photo 14: DIY laser cut wedding invitations and our first look, Photo 15: groomsmen suits, Photo 16: a stolen moment, Photo 17: our ceremony site waiting for guests to arrive, Photo 18: my bouquet and dress details, Photo 19: tall DIY centerpiece, LED lanterns, and DIY programs, Photo 20: our DIY bridal suite sign, Photo 21: bridesmaid purse bouquets at our ceremony, Photo 22: close up of centerpieces, Photo 23: my DIY shoes and more dress details, Photo 24: our venue at nightAnother detail that I didn't have anything to do with, but I thought was really a great touch, was all thanks to our photographers. They provided a digital photo frame, which they placed on our guestbook table about halfway though our cocktail hour, loaded with all the (unedited) photos from earlier in the day. So our guests got a little peek at us getting ready, having our first look, and got to see our ceremony though our photog's eyes.
Our DOC snapped a few photos from the digital photo frame for us (although it's sort of funny that we didn't receive either of these photos in the final set from our photogs!):
(Hee hee, I was so excited about drinking my rum and COLA after our formal pictures, I didn't even know I was being photographed!)
(personal photo)
(personal photos)
And my framed signs for the buffet:
(personal photo)
Miss any wedding week details? Catch up here:
- I packed an emergency bag that saved my dress- We had a crazy 4 days prepping for house guests and stuffing favors- Shopping for a ton of wedding flowers to arrange ourselves- Mr. Cola drinks a 40 and I have a night out on the town for our low-key bach parties- A day of DIY'ing flower arrangements- I kicked off our official recaps with my #1 wedding tip
- We began the weekend festivities with a sunset cruise for our wedding party
- We rehearsed our quick and easy ceremony
- I panicked, but we got our rehearsal dinner decorations set up just in time
- Our families met for the first time at our rehearsal dinner under the trees- What went wrong on our wedding day, and my tips for future brides
- My bridesmaids and I got our hair and makeup done in the hotel suite
- I put on my wedding dress and became a bride
- The guys watched the World Cup, then got ready in 10 minutes
- Traffic delayed our decorations getting to the venue, and I almost ruined our first look
- We got to see each other for the first time on our wedding day at our first look
- We took some time for bride and groom pictures in the park
- I gave you a behind the scenes look at our family, friends and DOC setting up our venue
- Arriving at our venue and getting ready for the ceremony to start
- Everyone walked down the aisle
- Excerpts from our ceremony, and reading the vows we wrote for each other
- I interrupted our officiant, we exchanged rings, and with a kiss we were officially married!
- Wedding party and family portraits, and my thoughts on missing pictures
- Our guests enjoyed cocktail hour while we took a few more photos
- Everyone ate a delicious dinner, and our siblings gave beautiful toasts
- We didn't practice, but we had a very special and wonderful first dance as husband and wife
- I showed you some disposable camera pictures, which were totally worth it to include on our tables!
- I found a target and tossed my bouquet at her
- Mr. Cola finally managed to find my garter under my dress and tossed it
- We fed each other cupcakes, and our guests swarmed our 6ft tall cupcake tower
- We stole some private moments together that our photographers documented- All our guests had some fun taking pictures in our DIY fauxtobooth- We enjoyed the rest of the evening with our guests- I showcased all the pretty details from our wedding, part 1(Unless otherwise noted, all photos in this post were taken by the very talented photographers of Shoot Me Now Photography)
(I'd meant to shorten this dress to above my knees, but ran out of time. Oh well, after enjoying our open bar all night, I doubt anyone noticed it was too long!)
(We had a counter full of liquor and mixers, plus several buckets on the floor full of beer and ice. I still can't believe how many half gallons of booze we emptied that night!)
(I took this last photo from the second story of our suite, oh, 10 minutes after the pizza was delivered. It sure didn't last long!)
(I totally love that my bridesmaids put back on their "getting ready" purple hoodies I'd decorated for them!)
(Showing off our new bling.)
(My sister swiped some of the mustaches from our fauxtobooth). And yes, it was so hot with all the drinking people in our suite that we turned the temperature down to 63 degrees so the AC would blast!)
(One of my favorite photos from our after party, since my sis and I never got a chance to pose together in our fauxtobooth.)
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