I had no idea what to expect from our wedding reception.
Of the many, many weddings I’ve been to they’ve almost 100% been weddings in Southern Baptist or other conservative churches. Only a handful had dancing and I think maybe one had alcohol (oooh, those Episcopalians!). Considering we planned to have both alcohol and dancing I didn’t know what to expect.
I did know that the dinner part of the reception would go well.
We had cake and cupcakes from Muddy’s Bake Shop, my favorite bakery in Memphis.
We had BBQ from Central BBQ, my favorite BBQ place in Memphis. We tried to get as much of the good stuff as we could. Those ribs went fast because everyone loved them.
I remember immediately after the wedding my best friend’s parents told me they were leaving early. I asked, “You are not staying for dinner? It’s BBQ from Central.” They changed their minds quickly and stayed because they knew the food was going to be delicious. That made me happy because I knew the comfort food we picked was perfect for our guests. Who doesn’t love BBQ?
After dinner our besties gave their toasts.
They both did an awesome job and we felt so lucky to have great friends stand up for us and say such nice things.
Then Kepa finished the toasts by giving one in Maori and in English which made all the moms cry. It was a wonderful performance and a great way to end the important moments before all the silly fun started.
After toasts and cupcakes the dancing began.
This is what I was really worried about. My friends don’t really dance, the weddings we go to rarely have dancing, and Kepa’s friends just don’t dance. Maybe not ever.
In the end I had nothing to worry about!
We danced! We laughed. We laughed and danced and everyone seemed to have a good time.
I danced with my husband.
I danced with my brothers.
I danced with my friends.
Kepa danced with my mom.
And my little brother danced with Kepa’s mom. A lot. It was funny.
It was a really great time. There were a few dance circles. There were slow songs. There were some awkward moments when the “wrong” song came on because people kept messing with the playlist. One song came on like 10 times. There were some hiccups but a fun dance party did occur.
Everyone didn’t dance. I’m pretty sure there is nothing that could have made some people dance. Some people just aren’t dancers.
However, we had entertainment for everyone else in the form of a photobooth.
Nothing like some halloween props, alcohol, and a camera to get everyone acting silly.
I’m so glad we had the photobooth. It got off to a slow start as no one really knew it was there but once I told people and they found it. We ended up with a ton of amazingly funny photobooth photos.
Kepa and his mates ended up singing the New Zealand national anthem while taking photo booth photos which was very loud and very entertaining.
People slowly trickled away as the night got colder (oops) and in the end it was down to us and our core group of friends including the bridal party. It ended a lot like it began.
I didn’t know what to expect from the wedding reception but I should have expected a great night. Because that’s exactly what it was – a really great night. I wish there were big parties like this one every night because I loved our wedding reception!
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Photos by Amy Hutchinson.
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