dinner and dessert

And then it was time for the guests to enter the ballroom!

We had only two toasts, both scheduled before dinner.

My dad went first...

(I was so happy!)

followed by the best man

A bit of man love.

After grace was said, it was time to dig in.

Vegetarian tastiness...

...and food for the carnivores

The entire ballroom

And then dessert was served. You may recall that instead of having wedding cake, we opted for rose creme brulee.

It was absolutely perfect for us to have a bit of time, enjoying ourselves, and not necessarily be the complete center of attention like the traditional cake cutting

Plus, there is no possibility of the dreaded cake smash



All photos courtesy (and copyright!) of the amazing Ken Blaze.
Recap
The beginning
Getting ready
First Glance
To the Chapel
I Do
Receiving Our Guests
A little time for us
Let the party begin!
Sneak Peak

Sneak peak

Marisa Gindi, the utterly fabulous hotel coordinator, gave us a sneak peak of the ballroom before guests entered.

We were blown away.

At the entrance to the ballroom

Tall centerpiece

Closeup- all of the flowers were carnations

The menu was designed to match our invitations- this was before they were tucked into the napkins

Each table was named for a different Cleveland landmark. Calvin's dad took the photos for each location.

All photos courtesy (and copyright!) of the amazing Ken Blaze.
Recap
The beginning
Getting ready
First Glance
To the Chapel
I Do
Receiving Our Guests
A little time for us
Let the party begin!

Let the party begin!

Thanks for all who commented on my last post- I will indeed continue with the recap :-)

After taking time for our pictures, we headed for the reception in time to catch cocktail hour. (When we arrived, though, I didn't head directly for the food. I first stopped in the bridal suite to change shoes into something that was more comfortable. For those looking for a comfortable option that isn't flip-flops, I highly recommend ballroom dancing shoes.)

The cocktail hour was held in the lobby area of the Renaissance Hotel's Gold Ballroom.

Scoping out the beverages...

As a fairly last minute decision in the planning process, we decided to hire a Rick Iacoboni for cocktail hour. The Renaissance wanted an obscene amount of money to set up the area for piped music (our original plan), so it was actually cheaper to hire Rick.

The ring bearer got some time in with his dad.

I got some time with my grad school friends

And Calvin caught up with a college friends and his wife. His wife is Dutch- hence the wedding present of wooden shoes.

My "adopted grandparents" - close family friends- looked on

Guests had the opportunity to sign our photo guestbook (Tip: Mpix books with linen paper pages have the perfect texture for guests to write in any type of ink.)


The placecards- I didn't even make it over to the table where they were located!

Around this point, the amazing Marisa Gindi (hotel wedding coordinator extraordinaire, and I do mean extraordinaire) let us take a sneak peak at the ballroom...

All photos courtesy (and copyright) of Ken Blaze.
Recap
The beginning
Getting ready
First Glance
To the Chapel
I Do
Receiving Our Guests
A little time for us

The secret life of...

Following Penguin's example, I thought I'd share my own secret. (Not that it is much of a secret, if you've noticed my absence of posts.)

I'm completely, totally, 100% over weddings- planning, recapping, blogging. Don't get me wrong- our wedding turned out great, it was one of the most fun days of my life- but being married is so much better.

Writing picture-filled posts recapping the wedding takes time, and since I started working, time has been a precious commodity. And the recap posts that I have done have generated only a small amount of interest, which doesn't help my minimal motivation to post.

So there you have it- my not-so-secret secret. Please let me know if you are interested in seeing more wedding pics; if there is enough interest, I'll continue the recap.

A little time for us

Early in the wedding planning, we knew that we wanted to take some time in between the ceremony and the reception just for us. I don't generally like being the center of attention, and it was important for both of us to get a bit of a break and have a little time just for us.

First stop was a tea house on Murray Hill that we would visit when we were just friends.

And some chess- since that was how we initially got together. No, that's not a beer- I opted for iced tea.

Shortly after we arrived, my best friend and maid-of-honor appeared. She'd been planning on going to get mocha at our favorite coffee shop, but at the last minute decided that tea was what she really wanted. I hadn't mentioned anything about our plans to hit up Algebra- but there we were, and there she was.


Competition was fierce...

...and ended in a stalemate.

After the game, we ended up with about 45 minutes before the reception, so we headed to a Cleveland landmark- the West Side Market.

Before going into the market, Calvin bustled my dress

Produce

Meat- not just any meat, mind you, but Hungarian meat.

People clapped and cheered when we walked by

View from the balcony...

that was inhabited by a homeless looking President of the Association for Magyar Awareness. He was emphatically NOT Hungarian.

All photos courtesy (and copyright) of Ken Blaze.
Recap
The beginning
Getting ready
First Glance
To the Chapel
I Do
Receiving Our Guests

Receiving our guests

We're finally settled into our New York digs, which means that it is time for the wedding recap to begin again. Who knew working a real job (that involves a lot of travel!) would be so crazy?


We made it to the end of the church, and proceeded to kiss some more.

Calvin was greeted as another brother by my youngest brother. (In a bit of homage to family, my brother is wearing my late grandfather's cufflinks.)

My parents were so happy

Calvin's 93 year old grandfather was able to attend

I don't think that anyone was happier than him.

Surprise!

Instead of using bubbles or birdseed, we bought about 200 pinwheels for our send-off.

The soloist in our ceremony helped pass out the pinwheels

The weather held up, so we were able to have our receiving line outside.
Hugs all around

Close up of the pinwheel

The wind was crazy that day

Pinwheel send-off

Our super-sweet ride

All photos courtesy (and copyright) of the amazing Ken Blaze
Previously on the Dahlia wedding recap:
The beginning
Getting ready
First Glance
To the Chapel
I Do

The recap will recommence

As soon as we're done moving!

Image found here.

That's right, next week Calvin and I are moving to NYC! It's been quite a whirlwind since he received the job offer on Friday, but I promise once we have relocated to the east coast, I will post about our reception as well as the surprises we had in store for our guests.

In the meantime, anyone have any tips for surviving an inter-state move?

I Do

And then it was time for the ceremony.

First the moms:

Calvin's parents

My mom, escorted by my brothers

The bridal party:

Youngest brother Dahlia and Sister-in-law

Younger brother Dahlia and future sister-in-law

Maid of honor and best man- our two best friends in the world

Calvin is calm, cool and collected

The flower girl and ring bearer are getting ready to go

Walking down the aisle

Walking with my dad. Note that I'm looking around, instead of straight ahead. I was so taken by all of the friends and family that had joined us that I forgot to look at Calvin until I was pretty much all the way down the aisle.

Almost there...

The scene from the balcony

Lovely bridesmaids

The best man kept a hand on the ring bearer, who really was carrying our wedding bands.

Listening to the brief message from the minister

Vow action shot

Another vow action shot

After the exchange of rings

The congregation

We knew from the beginning that we wanted the service to be a worship service, which for us included offering communion to the church. At the minister's suggestion, we assisted in the serving, and asked my mother (who just graduated from seminary!) to also serve communion.

And then....



The kiss.

Shall we go?


We're married!

In the "privacy" of the back of the church...

We had to kiss a little more


Previously on the Dahlia wedding recap:
The beginning
Getting ready
First Glance
To the Chapel

*All pictures courtesy of the fabulous Ken Blaze.