Beach Bliss: The Reception

{First of all, thank you all so much for all your well wishes and "happy anniversaries" yesterday! You are the best friends a girl could have. We had a wonderful evening out without the baby and enjoyed a fabulous dinner and sampled some local beer. Then we went straight home to snuggle with Noah and hit the hay! Now... continuing with the wedding recaps - the reception.}

Once we prepped and the ceremony was over, the bridal party posed for a few pictures (those will come later!) and in the meantime, all the guests headed inside to enjoy cocktail hour. While they sipped on beer and wine, guests had a chance to write down some mementos for us newlyweds, take a favor and were then instructed to enjoy themselves while touring the aquarium.

Once the guests had their hands on some favors and had some libations, it was time for them to find their seats....

and then it was time to introduce the wedding party...

and finally, Kevin and I!

The crowd went wild. Literally!

Once we were seated, we were able to relax for a few minutes, enjoy our food and watch our guests have a good time. 

As you can see, our reception took place inside the aquarium. This was by far my favorite feature of our venue and one of the main reasons we chose this location. It made for an amazing celebration and we took some awesome portraits while our guests were finishing their meals. You'll have to wait to see those though. ;)

As we were enjoying the little food husband and I got to eat that night, my sister and friend Katie got up to make a toast followed by Kevin's dad who somehow didn't get caught on camera. They were beautiful, sweet, funny and heartfelt toasts made by our family. 

So far, it had been an amazing night. All of our closest friends were all in one room celebrating our love with us. It was heartwarming to look around the room and see them enjoying themselves.

Later on in the evening, our coordinator told us that if we were going to cut the cake, we had better do it while the guests were still seated. We hoped doing this during dinner would lessen the confusion and I'm glad it worked. Instead of folks rushing to catch a glimpse of the bride and groom, everyone was able to sit comfortably and watch then have the cake passed out to them by our waitstaff!

Our caterers provided the cake and they didn't disappoint. The bottom layer was white chocolate raspberry, the middle was chocolate grand marnier and the top was key lime. All the flavors were delicious and I think the crowd agreed - we had nearly no leftovers!

After we fed each other and smooched a little bit, it was time to dance!!

(to be continued)