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]

The Wedding Day Part III - The Reception

Where was I? Heading to the reception!

Jesse and I drank champagne and had a good time to ourselves in the ten minute drive to the reception venue, the Sturbridge Host. Our venue that weekend included another little event: a Harley Davidson convention. Yes, there was leather and motorcycles everywhere you looked! No bother, though, it just added a little hard-edged ambiance to the weekend.

When we arrived at the decidely raucous and busy hotel, we waited for the rest of the wedding party to take photos while the guests enjoyed the cocktail hour. And so we posed for the portraits with family and bridesmaids and groomsmen. Our photographer, Channing Johnson, really captured some great moments throughout the day and I couldn't recommend him enough! We've seen all the photos by now, but we are awaiting some high-res digital copies to share. So, these photos are (still) all from his preview.

I love this photo of the girls and I as we're getting ready to seriously pose. In order from L-R: Kelly, me, Amber, Erica, Jiscilla, Christy. Seriously, these are the five people in the world who I have the best time with (besides my husband!). As you can see, Amber was being a wise-cracker! (Is that the phrase? Ha.)

The boys had their own sneaker shot. Jesse, as a groomsmen's gift, had his friends at Nike make six pairs of custom purple/black/white sneakers - and the date "08.08.09" is etched on the side, as well. They quickly changed after the ceremony from their dress shoes to the sneakers!

Also, I don't think there will be another instance of men dressed in purple looking so badass. Right?

Afterwards, the lovely reception coordinator Lise guided our party to a private cocktail room for some drinks before being introduced into the ballroom. We all got to snack and relax a bit after the whirlwind of events, and gather ourselves for what lay ahead.

We then were lined up outside the ballroom with both of our parents leading the procession. Our DJ, the AMAZING JJ Surma introduced us while the Foo Fighters song "Everlong" played. Then, Jesse and I were introduced and it was kind of emotional to waltz in with my new husband and hear the clapping and hooting and hollering. Then, Jesse and I began our first dance - to Death Cab for Cutie's rendition of "Earth Angel." (Don't worry, it's on the wedding album, I'll post it soon!)

Then we sat down for a scrumptious dinner - it was incredibly delicious. Do people care about the food? I know I don't particularly, because if I read something, I'm not effin' eating it, am I? So, I'll skip to the next part: the speeches!

One of Jesse's Best Men, Brian Diaz, gave a heartfelt speech about Jesse. At the ceremony he had been tearing up, too. Those dudes have been friends for a while in the music industry. It's also nice to see a cynic who hates purple be so happy for his best friend! Then, my co-Maid of Honor Erica made nearly everyone cry with her nostalgiac speech about witnessing our reltionship's first days - replete with a quoted e-mail from me!

And then my father gave a speech about me and Jesse, and I got teary for that one too! How could I not? Oof, I will not even attempt to re-hash it here, suffice to say I loved it.

After the speeches, we continued eating until the cake-cutting. My mother's best friend, Nilda, made us a lovely vanilla and red velvet cake with buttercream frosting. She's a professional baker, and it was her wedding gift to us! I was adamant about having real frosting instead of that fondant stuff - I just learned that while it's edible, you're not supposed to eat the fondant. You simply lift it off the cake and eat the cake. WHAT? That makes no sense. Cake without frosting makes no sense, and thus, our delicious, delectable, and entirely edible cake --

Yes, I forbade any cake-to-face smashing.

Now, after dinner and cake, it was time for the "special dances." My father and I danced to The Beach Boys' "God Only Knows" and Jesse and his mother danced to Pete Seeger's "My Only Sunshine." It was two lovely, serene moments before the dance party really started...

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