Show Us Your Life - Wedding Reception and Honeymoon

It's that time again. Time for Kelly Korner's Show Us Your Life. This week is all about wedding receptions and honeymoons! Woo hoo! I had an absolute dream reception and honeymoon, and I cannot wait to share them both with you.

First of all, I must tell you how blessed we were to have SO many friends and our church family help put together a reception that was beyond what I had envisioned! I could never thank those people enough, and I could never name them all here because there were so many. But, you know who you are! Thank you!

A family friend made the gorgeous bride's cake as well as catered ALL the other food at our reception. Let me just tell you that one of the most common comments about our wedding was how fabulous the food was. Carla did an amazing job, and I trusted her with ALL of it!

The Bride's Cake
I brought a picture from a magazine of the cake I wanted, and Carla made it even more beautiful! I LOVED it!

The Groom's Cake

Russ's aunt made this awesome groom's cake. His mom brought the candy that was spilling out of a nice bucket beside the statue of bully. We had more people ask us where we got the CHOCOLATE bulldog! It is not edible, and we borrowed it from a church member. I thought that was so funny! Go dawgs!

My sister feeding the groom his cake!

One tradition our photographer has is having the maid of honor feed the groom his cake. I didn't realize that - which is why I was standing there so lonely! Ha! I immediately called my brother over to feed me!! We got a picture of that too!

The Father of the Bride Cake

Because we were married on our parents' anniversary, my mom planned an anniversary surprise for my dad. There is a story behind the "cake." Long story short...he ADORES croquembouche. This is a French dessert made from pastries filled with creme! A good family friend drove all the way to Memphis to pick this up for us. She ended up riding in the back of their SUV holding on for every bump and turn so the "cake" didn't mess up! Thank you so much Stocktons! There were also Father of the Bride business cards that were hilarious!

I don't have too many pictures of the food, but I think these show just how fabulous the food was! And, Carla made sure she fixed us up a lovely basket with samples of most everything! Yummy!!!

Although the food was delicious, the most important part of our reception was the visiting we were able to do with our friends and family! I only wish I had pictures of everyone that was there! It was so much fun! We had an awesome band made up of a few church members. They played songs by James Taylor, Jimmy Buffet, and the like. Ahhh...I wish I could do it all again! We had so much fun!

Kelly , Jennifer, me, Rachael, and Jamie

Close college friends - Rachael, Jimbo, Jennifer, Jaysen, Aaron, Kelly, Adam, Becca, Whitney Anne, Judson, Marcee, Kendall, and Matt

Russ and I rode away in a precious horse-drawn carriage. My sister made the going away sign for us. Isn't it cute!? Big Dan was our horse's name, and this was his first carriage ride. So - needless to say - it was interesting. Russ's parents live downtown, so we just rode to their house. Oh - and YES, I still have my dress on! It looks like we started the honeymoon early! Ha!

I hope you enjoyed our reception! Now, what happened next was....

Russ and I drove to Starkville the night of the wedding and stayed at Hotel Chester on Main Street. We left early Sunday morning for New Orleans where we boarded our cruise ship headed to the Western Carribbean. So much fun! And it was incredibly relaxing after the chaos of wedding planning.

Inside our room - notice our food from the reception already out on the table!

When we got to our room, our luggage was already sitting outside the door! Talk about room service! We immediately headed to an open area to watch as we set sail for the Carribbean!

Russ on our balcony

Taking a break from the sun on the balcony

We were scheduled to make three stops: Cozumel, Jamaica, and Grand Cayman. We weren't able to stop in Grand Cayman because of a hurricane in that area. And boy did we feel those waves when we were traveling around it! Russ actually spent the last day and half of our honeymoon over a toilet! Fun fun!

Near the port in Cozumel

Russ on Passion Island in Cozumel

Nights on the ship were wonderful! The boat was lit so beautifully, and we could walk around or just sit and visit with nothing but the waves all around us! The boat is so big that you don't even realize you are actually RIDING on the waves!

Me during a walk around the ship

One of the many great experiences was our sit down dinners. We were seated at a table full of honeymooners. We were all married on June 4. Many days on the ship, we would spend time visiting with them as we saw them around. One day we all headed down to an art auction just to see the ridiculous amounts of money bid on certain items! They were all very nice, and we keep in touch with most still. We exchanged addresses on the boat, and we exchange Christmas cards with them each year. One couple actually lives in Canton.

Russ and I at one of the sit-down dinners

All the girls

The guys

What did you do for your honeymoon? What was your reception like? I would love to read about it! Just link up to Kelly's Korner and tell us all about it!