The Wedding Day - Part IV - The Dancing & Finale

After Jesse and his mother danced, DJ JJ kicked off the PARTY with some 50s and 60s music - which we had requested, along with some salsas and meringues to make it a latin-infused night. The first people out on the dance floor? The bridesmaids, of course! But it only took about .5 seconds until family and friends joined right in.

Some of my favourite moments on the dance floor:

Claudio being the first guest to dominate the dancing!

After the bouquet was thrown to my choice song of "Just a Girl" by No Doubt, all the ladies and I started skanking - as you can see by this picture of Erica (doing a talented job of skanking and not spilling her vodka soda!)

Tony requesting "Cotton Eyed Joe" --- I then saw Jenna, who was seated, jump up at the FIRST note of the song and pulling her boyfriend Keller to his feet as well, exclaiming "I LOVE THIS SONG!"

My college besties Dawn, Marion, and Katy constantly making circles around me on the dancefloor. I love those girls.

Getting to schimmy down a dance line with my grandmother.

Jesse falling to the ground during the hushed part of "Shout!"

Seeing my best friend Rick to the side and demanding he dance because he wasn't allowed to refuse the bride! And, wouldn't you know it, he stayed on the dance floor the rest of the night!

EVERYBODY shaking their hips to the latin music. There was not a lot of sitting going on at the reception, and that's all I wanted!

Celeste & Galea getting down to Michael Jackson as a circle formed around them, then me egging Justin Smith to get in on it, as he pulled out a solo dance number, and then Augie & Justin Pierre recreating the knife fight scene from the "Beat It" video in said dance circle. It was wild, and hilarious.

Enjoy the photos - all by Channing Johnson, of course!

As I'm sure you've noticed, in some of the pictures everybody's dressed up like it's mardi gras! Well, that's all my mother's doing - in latin weddings there is usually a final "hurrah" at the end of the reception. It's called a "murga" and EVERYBODY has to dance, wear some form of hat/mask/beads. My Panamanian family passed out all the masks, and then all of a sudden tons of balloons were floating around. Jesse and I had bought special masks before the wedding, and you can see us putting them on here.

Emily pointed out how very Eyes Wide Shut this picture is. Creepy. But wasn't at the time!

My grandmother, the best.

After the murga ended, it was time to go home - and there was a collective sigh of disappointment. We said bye to family and friends, and some continued to have some fun in different parts of the hotel. I'm told that includes the lake, as well. All in all, Jesse slept very easily that night, completely happy. And married.

[Earlier: Rehearsal Dinner, Wedding Day - Part I, Part II, Part III]