7 Quick Takes Friday - August 31, 2012

Tomorrow, Collin and I celebrate eleven years of wedded bliss! In honor of our anniversary, I'm treating y'all to quick takes of some of my favorite wedding memories. Aren't you lucky?

--- 1 ---

These were my "wedding tennies." I flatly refused to wear heels; I wanted to be comfortable on my wedding day and not spend the entirety of my dance with aching feet. My mother bought a $10 pair of white canvas shoes at Wal-Mart and decorated them with beading, lace applique, and tulle. They were so comfortable!

--- 2 ---

These were the centerpieces on our reception tables. My mother borrowed the rose bowls and mirror tiles from a friend of hers whose daughter had recently married, so they didn't cost us a thing. She decorated them with tulle and I bought white floating candles shaped like roses to put in them. We had little wedding bell favors on all the tables as well.

--- 3 ---

My wedding dress! It was $250, and I paid $50 dollars for alterations. It was actually my second choice because I couldn't afford my first choice, but I was still pretty happy with it (and even happier with the price!).

--- 4 ---

The first song we danced to as man and wife was Elvis' "I Can't Help Falling in Love With You," but this is what I consider to be our real wedding song:




The deejays played Don McLean's "American Pie," but Collin and I and all of our friends spontaneously started singing the Weird Al lyrics instead -- and each one of us knew every single word by heart and were singing in unison, complete with dramatic gestures. It was quite a performance.

My, my this here Anakin guy
Maybe Vader some day later, now he's just a small fry
And he left his home and kissed his mommy goodbye
Saying, "Soon I'm gonna be a Jedi."

--- 5 ---

Our cake was actually made of styrofoam. Only the top was real cake. See, we had a dessert reception with cheesecakes and a topping bar, so wedding cake would have been rather redundant, and I'm not a big fan of buttercream cake frosting. We did save the top to eat on our first anniversary, but it was disgusting. :P

The topper is a blown glass blue rose. I couldn't find a topper I really liked anywhere, and then I ended up getting the rose as a shower gift and thought it was perfect.

--- 6 ---

These glasses were my favorite wedding gift, given to us by my best friend and college roommate, Rose. They're called "Arthur and Guinevere" goblets. A funny story about these - Rose had purchased and shipped the glasses to us weeks in advance so we could use them at the wedding reception. I unpacked them immediately after they arrived, and it's a good thing I did, as the company had accidentally sent us two Guinevere goblets! I called the shop and explained that our wedding was not, in fact, a same-sex union, so I'd need an Arthur to replace one of the Guineveres. :) They were aghast at the mistake and sent us an Arthur right away.

--- 7 ---

This is a big group shot with Collin's entire family (siblings, parents, and maternal grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins). For whatever reason, we hadn't had time or hadn't been able to take a picture with them before the ceremony, so we did it after -- and it ended up being one of my favorite group shots of the whole day! Collin's grandparents used it for their Christmas card that year.

For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!