mrs. cupcake's wedding blog

Sunday, September 20, 2009

One Year

One year ago today, I married my best friend.

This first year of marriage has been simply wonderful. Perfect? Not at all. But wonderful? Yes, yes, yes.

I'm thankful each day for this amazing guy who puts up with me, takes care of me, makes me laugh, and even laughs at my terrible jokes.

Forever? Yes, please.

Sunday, September 13, 2009

Love is All About "We": All Good Things Must Come To An End

All photos below by The Wiebners. We purchased a disc of all unedited images from our wedding day, so some post-processing has been done by me for the purpose of sharing the photos with you. Click on any photo to enlarge.

After the good ol' traditions and wedding rituals were checked off of our list, there was little left to do but catch up with good friends...

... take a few last spins on the dance floor...

... capture some memories on camera...

... and savor every possible moment with all of the amazing people surrounding us.

Oh, and remember our friend Beth who caught the bouquet? She and some friends had a little fun with said bouquet in the photo booth, and needed to tell me about it.

She caught a glimpse of their pictures while the photo booth attendant was holding on to them...

... and this was the result of their shenanigans:

Before we knew it, it was time for one last round of photo booth pictures and our "last shot" with the Wiebners.

The day seemed to go by in a flash, yet so many incredible moments were squeezed into that one teeny, tiny day — moments with loved ones who came from near and far to support our love and share in our happiness; moments with each other where we felt every bit of stress and worry simply melt away as we looked into each other's eyes and could do nothing but smile.

There were planned moments, unplanned moments, and moments I never could have imagined I'd be lucky enough to experience. They are all moments that I will remember forever, and I'm so fortunate to have been able to relive them with all of you.

Perhaps in the future, we will look back on our wedding day as just a miniscule blip in time compared to the magnificent lifetime we have vowed to spend together. We can only hope for so much, but regardless of what other wonders our future holds, I believe I will always look back on our wedding day as one of the most wonderful days of my life.

Our day may have been over, but it was not the end at all.

It was only the beginning.

Monday, September 7, 2009

Love is All About "We": Traditions and Tasty Surprises

All photos below by The Wiebners unless otherwise noted. We purchased a disc of all unedited images from our wedding day, so some post-processing has been done by me for the purpose of sharing the photos with you. Click on any photo to enlarge.

The dancing at our wedding would not have been dancing at all without a little traditional Philadelphia Mummer's Strutting. When that familiar string band sound started wafting from the speakers, my family couldn't jump to their feet quite fast enough... Mr. Cupcake's family (who mostly live in Central PA and New York state) and many of our friends, however, looked on with confusion :-) It is definitely a Philadelphia thing!

Not sure what I'm talking about? Check out the video of what went down here.

Look! It even got my hubby back on the dance floor! {guest photo}

{guest photo}

While some of us were dancing up a storm, many guests were still having a blast with the photo booth... a.k.a., one of the best wedding decisions we ever made. It was so wonderful to see our guests having such fun with it, and having some good laughs over the resulting photos.

The memo board I made with foam core and satin ribbon (a smaller scale version of the "guest book" memo board I whipped up) held some photos while they dried on their cozy little mats that I made.

I almost made it through the whole reception without any wardrobe malfunctions, but then my bustle decided it couldn't handle one more slick Cupcake dance move. DOC Jenn and MOH Nicole came to the rescue with some safety pins, and I was as good as new!

Pretty soon, it was time for the bouquet toss. This was one silly tradition that I was set on having... if for no other reason than a great photo opportunity :-) Mr. Cupcake and I both agreed to forgo the garter toss, but the bouquet toss was a definite in my book. However, we only have a small handful of single female friends and family members, and I had always hated being called out as one of the single ladies, so I didn't want to put any of our guests through the same thing. Instead, I asked the DJ to call ALL the ladies onto the dance floor. While KT Tunstall's "Suddenly I See" played, I tossed my little toss bouquet with all my bridal might...

Check out the determination and anticipation on those faces!

Our friend Beth, who can just barely be seen in the far left of the above photo, somehow managed to grab the bouquet. We got such a kick out of this because Beth is, perhaps, the most competitive person we know... the friend who always jumps at the opportunity to host a game night. It was not shocking at all to me that she was the big winner :-) She's already married with a beautiful little girl, but hopefully that bouquet will bring her some sort of good luck! If nothing else, it made for an excellent story ;-)

We then had a little treat in store for our guests, a detail that came together in the week before the wedding...

Along with the Mummers, Tastykakes are another Philadelphia tradition, so we couldn't resist a little late night snack of some Peanut Butter Candy Cakes, Krimpets, and Chocolate Cupcakes. (Because really, "nobody bakes a cake as tasty as a Tastykake.") Thanks to Mr. Cupcake and his parents who bought out the Tastykake supply at a few local grocery stores, we were prepared for some ravenous guests.

And really now, you can't serve all that chocolatey and icingy goodness without milk!

I think they were seriously on the table for maaayyybe five minutes. We definitely had some Tastykake-lovin' guests who were NOT going to let that delicious sugary goodness go to waste!

As if the Tastykakes weren't enough, the Desmond also put out some fresh baked cookies and delicious chocolate covered strawberries. Mmmmmmm....

Sunday, August 23, 2009

A Bee's Life: Cupcake Edition

Mrs. Cupcake's blogging story:

I used to think blogging was really, really weird. I thought blogs were just journals of random thoughts and innermost feelings that people would broadcast across the interwebs. I didn't get it, and I never bothered to really look into it any further. I had no idea that there were blogs out there that were actually focused on specific topics.

When my best friend was planning her 2006 wedding, I designed her invitations and a bunch of other paper products for her wedding; we spent lots of time trying to find inspiration online, but never really knew where to look. There were only so many times we could scour The Knot and our overpriced wedding magazines. We managed to pull off some great details, but it was a lot harder to find unique ideas than we thought it should be!

Fast-forward to 2007, when Mr. Cupcake and I were engaged and my brother and sister-in-law were also in the process of planning their own wedding that was to take place that summer. My mom and I were visiting them in Brooklyn one weekend in the spring, when Kim and I were talking weddings. It was then that Kim spoke the five words that changed my life: "Have you heard of Weddingbee?" That may sound over-dramatic, that it "changed my life," but it is absolutely 100% true!

I remember grabbing Kim's laptop, typing in the URL, and immediately getting sucked in. While everyone was napping that afternoon, I poured over as many archives as I could. At the time, Mrs. Bell Pepper was planning her elegant Philadelphia wedding, and seeing all of her amazing details made it all just "click" for me. My eyes were suddenly open to all of the amazing possibilities that were out there for brides-to-be who just wouldn't settle for the norm, and I finally found the inspiring, creative, and non-snarky brides that I could relate to.

I came to know and adore Bell Pepper, Snow Pea, Kiwi, Onion, Lovebug, Pumpkin, Hibiscus, and ALL of the bees who were writing about their weddings at that time. I loved the diversity in each post, and I got pieces of inspiration from each bee in a different way. Each day, I refreshed Weddingbee religiously, waiting for the next post to show up. Eventually, Weddingbee lead me to other wedding blogs like Perfect Bound (where I found the idea for our cut glass votives) and Style Me Pretty, and suddenly, blogs were "it" for me. I don't think I ever visited The Knot again.

I admit that I initially started writing my own wedding blog for the sole purpose of using it to apply to Weddingbee. I was unhappy with my job at that time, and starting my blog was something that really excited me and got me inspired. I had always loved to write — if I hadn't been an art major in college, I definitely would have been an English major — but I had never written anything like this. It was weird at first, just writing to no one (yet, anyone) about my ideas and our relationship, but eventually I stopped feeling so hesitant and found my voice; after a short while, my brain was overflowing with ideas for posts — posts that I wanted to read, but they were nowhere to be found out there, so I wrote them myself. At the time, I didn't know anything about HTML and I had one of the basic Blogger templates gracing my blog, and only Mr. Cupcake and my best friend knew about it. I'm pretty sure no one else ever read it.

I applied to Weddingbee about a year before our wedding date, knowing that only bees with 8 months until their wedding could blog on the site, but I was too anxious to wait! I figured if I got turned down, it would give me time to improve and reapply again. I had just started my current job when I got an email from Mrs. Bee on October 14, 2007, telling me that I had been accepted! I was elated, but I couldn't jump up and down because it was only my second week on the job and I didn't want to freak any of my new co-workers out :-) I covered my mouth and quietly squealed to myself, sent an email to Mr. Cupcake and my best friend saying "I am gonna be a bee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" and called my mom and Kim on my way home from work to tell them my exciting news.

Mrs. Bee sent me the list of characters that were currently available for me to choose from, but I couldn't decide... none of them really seemed to "fit" me. On a whim, I emailed Mrs. Bee and asked if there were any chance that she'd be adding a cupcake character on the site, and she said that they were, in fact, going to make the next batch of bees dessert-themed. I had never been called "Cupcake" before, but for some reason, that name just spoke to me! She reserved the name for me, and it was settled — I was Miss Cupcake. I wasn't supposed to be introduced on the site until January 2008, but Mrs. Bee emailed me again in early December to see if I'd want to start early since things were a little slow on the blog before the holidays. Of course, I jumped right in, so I was blogging on Weddingbee for over nine months before our wedding. I can't believe I had that much to say! But indeed, I did. To date, I have over 180 posts on Weddingbee. And I swear, I really do have a life outside of blogging ;-)

It is pretty safe to say that blogs — in particular, Weddingbee — shaped our wedding. Reading other bees' stories prepared me for just about everything; seeing how everyone personalized their own day helped me to formulate my own style; and blogging about our details and getting feedback from all of the amazing readers helped me solidify so many decisions. There is no community more wonderful, helpful, and kind than Weddingbee. There just isn't.

Since starting to blog on the 'bee, I have met an amazing 24 bees in person (that number will jump to 29 this Friday, when I attend D'orsay's wedding with several other bees!). I have met some wonderful readers whom I have come to know through their own blogs, on Twitter, and on the boards, and I am consistently inspired by and learning from all of these amazing women (and a few boybees, too!).

I realized that even after our wedding, I still had a lot I wanted to say that wasn't related to weddings, so I started a personal blog. After a while of not really telling anyone about my interest in blogging, I now share my blogger status more freely. I have really found my voice, and I've learned a lot about myself through blogging. I'm a little sarcastic, pretty goofy, and frequently neurotic; I'm a little (okay — a lot) obsessed with pop culture and good design and I am trying to be a real "grown-up" even though I don't always want to be. I've come to embrace those qualities and quirks with the help of readers who have been so receptive to the things I've had to say. So, thanks :-)

In terms of advice for bee hopefuls — I'm certainly no authority on what makes a great bee, but I think it's really about being yourself, and having a point-of-view that may be refreshing to a lot of readers. I love a good sense of humor and a bride who doesn't take herself too seriously. Not all of the bees are DIY queens, or seamstresses, or event planners. They're just brides, just like you, with strengths and weaknesses, just like you. If you're just starting to blog, tell the story of you and your fiancé so your readers can really get to know you — they want to know more than just what your invitations look like and what your color scheme is. Write focused posts on different topics (in other words, posts with to-do lists or those that cover several topics at once can be a little overwhelming to read... break the details down into individual posts), and get your readers involved. One of the greatest things about Weddingbee is the great dialogue that occurs as a result of each post — be sure to ask questions, ask for opinions, and ask readers to share their own stories.

I love this place (obviously... I'm still here 20 months after my first post and 11 months after my wedding!), and I am so grateful to be a part of this community. Thanks for caring about what little ol' me has had to say all this time!

xoxo,
Cupcake

Love is All About "We": And We Danced

I know you readers often hear apologies from us bees for falling off of the face of the Weddingbee earth for a period of time... I never thought it would take me over 3 months to get back on the recap bandwagon, but now I totally understand how it happens! Life has been extremely busy lately, and I guess I needed to take a breather from writing about our wedding. Sifting through the photos, choosing the "right" ones that will help me tell our story, and racking my brain to remember all of the moments I want to share with you all — it's safe to say I put a lot of pressure on myself and it has caused me to procrastinate. But I am back, vowing once and for all to finish these recaps before our one year anniversary (which is just around the corner on September 20... how did that happen?!?). I hope a few of you out there still remember me after all this time... :-)

Anyway... where were we? Ah yes... we cut the cake, said a few words of thanks to our guests, and the surprise groom's cake that I had ordered on the sly was presented to my hubby. Getting everyone on the dance floor to ogle the Red Sox hat cake and sway along to "Sweet Caroline" was the perfect way to really get the dance party started! From that point on, the DJ kept the good tunes a-flowin', so it was time to put on my dancing shoes. I take my dancing very, very seriously, people.

I found these satin-ish (read: fake satin) teal flats online for $22.95 and ordered them a few weeks before the wedding; they weren't the comfiest, but I added some Dr. Scholl's gel pads and voila — extremely cozy dancing shoes!

Mr. C isn't the dancing machine that I am, so he spent some time chatting and catching up with other non-dancing guests, while I took on the responsibility of keeping the dancing guests happy. It's a tough job, but somebody's gotta do it!

(I'm really quite shy on the dance floor. Can't you tell?)

I think our guests had an okay time. Clearly, though, I really had to DRAG them onto the dance floor and force them to have a good time...

Well, maybe not :-) They seemed to do a pretty good job of getting out there on their own.

My dad, whom I have mentioned is quite the dancing machine himself (that must be where I get my slick moves! ;-), told me the next day that he hadn't danced that much or felt that sore in years! I think that's a pretty good indication that he enjoyed himself.

Momma Cupcake, who is no stranger to the dance floor herself, did a wardrobe change so she'd be more comfortable cutting a rug...

... and thanks to her cousin, our evening continued to be captured on video.

I have to say, there is nothing better than seeing your closest friends and family members dancing, laughing, having fun, and reconnecting with one another. It made all of the planning, stressing, over-thinking and preparing totally, undoubtedly, 100% worth it. Times 7 million.

Oh, and not to worry — my groom did make a few appearances on the dance floor!

Thursday, August 13, 2009

The Non-Negotiating Bride

Recently, Mr. Cupcake had a job interview (sidenote: please cross your fingers he gets this one!), and the recruiter who helped him get the interview prepped him with some questions beforehand. He told Mr. C to have a few examples in mind of times that he negotiated, in both his former job and his personal life, to get a lower price on a big-ticket item. We were brainstorming together, and he mentioned the wedding. When I really thought about it, though, I realized that we/I did not really do much negotiating — if any — when it came to our wedding.

Maybe it's just my personality, but when someone tells me that something costs $X, I don't really debate it. I don't try to negotiate the same service/product for a lower price, although I could certainly see negotiating a slightly different service in order to get the price down. But it never really occurred to me to haggle with our vendors to get their prices down. If someone's prices seemed too high for what their services were, or they quoted too far outside of my budget range, I simply went elsewhere.

Perhaps I have a soft spot for vendors and their pricing since I work in a creative industry, and often work with brides and other people planning special events. I have experienced the other side of things, and I know how disheartening it can sometimes feel when a client wants the same great product but for a fraction of the cost. It can make me feel like my time, talents, and resources are not valued, and that is discouraging. I'm not saying that every vendor experiences that feeling — but I've certainly seen that side of things!

Maybe we missed out on some great deals by not negotiating services and products for our wedding, but I guess we'll never know. I've come to realize that negotiating is just not my nature, and it actually makes me feel pretty darn uncomfortable.

Have you negotiated with any (or all) of your wedding vendors? Have you reaped a lot of rewards (or extra savings) by haggling over prices, or has your negotiating it ever backfired?

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

On Newsstands Today... The Cupcakes' Wedding!

Lookie lookie what popped up on newsstands today...

It's our wedding, in Brides Philadelphia and Brides South Jersey!

This is one of the two different covers for the Fall/Winter 2009 issue we are in

Brooke & Nick at the Desmond... that's US!

We were so flattered, thrilled, and surprised when we heard a few months ago that our photographers, The Wiebners, had submitted our wedding photos for consideration to the magazine, and that we were chosen to be included in their Real Weddings feature!

Once we got word of the exciting news, I filled out a loooong questionnaire for Heather, the lovely writer who worked on our piece, so she could put together the article. We didn't know until we received a copy of the magazine that our spread would be a whole three pages. Woohoo! Heather included so many great details in the piece, and the photos look so lovely all collaged together. What a magnificent keepsake this will be.

Click on the images below to get a better look at our spread! And be sure to pick up a copy if you live in the Philadelphia/South Jersey area :-)

PS - I still owe you all my last few wedding recaps, and I promise they're coming soon... sorry for being a slacker bee! Life has taken a turn for the busy lately, and I was in a wedding-recap-slump for a little while, but I'll be back on the wagon soon :-)

Monday, May 11, 2009

Love is All About "We": A Surprise for My Groom

After we cut the cake, we had planned to say a few words of thanks to our guests. While we didn't write anything down ahead of time, we knew that we just wanted to express to everyone how amazing it was to have them all there, in one room, supporting our relationship and celebrating with us.

I took a moment to thank those of our guests who were attending the third wedding for my immediate family in just 15 months! Brother and SIL Cupcake got married in June 2007, Momma and Stepdad Cupcake got married in February 2008, and we were celebrating our wedding day in September! It was a busy, busy 15 months for our family and close friends.

Admittedly, I had an ulterior motive for saying our words of thanks at this time... it gave the staff a few minutes to take our cake back into the kitchen for cutting, and replace it in the ballroom with a little surprise I had put together for Mr. C.

When we finished thanking our guests, the sound of Neil Diamond's "Sweet Caroline" began playing. Mr. Cupcake had no idea that I had anything planned.

Here it comes....

He sees it....

And it clicks!!

My surprise for Mr. Cupcake was a Boston Red Sox hat cake, made by the spectacular Suzy of Cakes by Suzy (whom I found thanks to Weddingbee reader and former Real Weddings subject Rebecca!).

Mr. C grew up in Central PA without a "home" sports team to admire, so he somehow became a Red Sox fan at a young age. He has since also become a Philles fan now that he lives in Philadelphia, but he'll always have a special place in his heart for the Red Sox.

Despite his love for the Sox, he had never been to a Red Sox game at Fenway Park (or even been to Boston). Last Christmas I surprised Mr. C with Red Sox tickets, and in June we took a weekend trip and experienced the magic of Fenway Park together. We always travel well together, but this trip was especially fantastic and we still talk about it constantly. During the 8th inning of every Red Sox home game, "Sweet Caroline" plays in the ballpark and everyone sings along. Considering that Mr. C also loves Neil Diamond — well, let's just say he had some happy tears in his eyes when he got to be there in person for all of this.

Obligatory "point at sign and smile" shot... we are cheesy { photo by Mrs. Cupcake }

{ photo by Mrs. Cupcake }

Mr. C's love for the Red Sox combined with the meaning behind that trip for us made this cake a no-brainer for me! I had toyed with the idea for months, and finally a few weeks before the wedding I decided I couldn't NOT do it — I contacted Suzy and went for it, and she was awesome to work with. I didn't have time for a tasting so I trusted Rebecca's recommendation that the spice cake was delicious, I sent Suzy some requests and photos for reference, and let her do her thing. It turned out even more amazing than I had hoped! (As an aside — you all know I'm obsessed with Sweet Jazmine's, but alas they do not make cakes in special shapes so they couldn't help me out with this surprise.)

Alongside the hat is a baseball, some Red Sox shoelaces, and a game ticket. The shoelaces actually have a cute story behind them: one Christmas when Mr. C was a kid, MIL Cupcake put some Red Sox shoelaces in his Christmas stocking. However, they fell to the bottom of the stocking and he never saw them, until the next year when he pulled them out and his mom exclaimed that they were from the year before! Every Christmas since then, Mr. C has pulled and out and put back the very same pair of Red Sox shoelaces in his Christmas stocking. It's a silly little tradition, but I love the sentimental meaning behind it!

The game ticket is something I laid out in Adobe InDesign and emailed to Suzy — she printed it out on fondant with edible ink (who knew?!?), and it has the date of the game that we attended.

The Groom's Cake is not really a well-known tradition in the Northeast as this seems to be more of a Southern tradition (although it seems to be a growing trend elsewhere), so I made a little sign that sat in front of the cake with a description of the tradition. I also made a sign with a photo of us at Fenway Park last June that explained the meaning of the ticket and shoelaces.

Mr. Cupcake was totally caught off-guard and LOVED the surprise! He was so excited, he couldn't stop smooching me :-)

I think my Mr. Sensitive even got a little teary-eyed (again)... imagine that ;-) Hehe.

His mom was in on the whole plan and had sent me a photo of the shoelaces so Suzy could make replicas out of fondant!

Again with the smooching... sheesh.

Perhaps my favorite part of the Groom's Cake: the paparazzi that it attracted.

I love this photo... that's my "Yup, I did this just for you!" face.

In case you're wondering, here's how the whole thing unfolded as seen on home video (and what a great transition it ended up being to get everyone back on the dance floor). Please don't mind how horribly annoying my voice sounds at the end of my little speech. I don't *think* that's what I really sound like... or is it???

Sunday, May 10, 2009

Love is All About "We": Mingling, Impromptu Dancing, and Cutting the Cake!

In between my dance with my dad and Mr. C's dance with his mom, dinner courses was served to our guests to keep the evening flowing. While we had promised ourselves that we were actually going to eat at our wedding, we admittedly ate fairly quickly so we could mingle with our guests.

It was delicious!

We did our best to talk to as many people as possible, but it is really hard to make sure to visit with everyone! We were so glad that we had had some time during our cocktail hour to chat with our guests as well.

It was so fun to see everyone showing off their photo booth pictures while we made the rounds; renting that photo booth was maybe the best decision we made for our wedding day!

Some of our friends were getting creative with the photo booth — they wrote messages for us on napkins to hold up in the booth :-)

Overall, the chatter and laughter that could be heard throughout the reception was so heartwarming and wonderful.

Our timeline for the evening was set up so that our parent dances would be between the meal courses, and then we'd cut the cake at the end of the meal and before dancing would begin; this way, once everyone was on the dance floor, there would be no interruptions in the flow of the fun :-) However... we have some extremely enthusiastic friends and family members who were apparently ready to get their grooves on already, and the impromptu dance party broke out before we ever intended. But I am NOT complaining... it was wonderfully spontaneous and fabulous to see everyone having so much fun!

I have this "signature move" that came to be known as "the Brookie dance" in college. It was inevitable that it would make an appearance.

There it is!

My new in-laws were on the dance floor and noticed that the groom wasn't dancing... they beckoned for him to get his butt out there.

I took matters into my own hands and escorted him onto the dance floor myself!

We hated to interrupt the fun, but we still had a cake to cut! Our guests cleared the dance floor for just a few minutes so we could dig into that lemon poundcake deliciousness from Sweet Jazmine's. Om nom nom...

After I listened to a little tutorial on what to do (while Mr. Cupcake seemingly wanted nothing to do with a tutorial and just wanted to cut into that thing already)...

We dug in! Harry Connick Jr.'s A Wink and A Smile played as we took the knife to that glorious creation.

There was no cake smash for us — we lovingly fed each other cake the way that newlyweds should!

Sealed with a kiss :-)

It looks like I'm disgusted at something in the below photo... but believe you me, there was absolutely nothing disgusting about that cake. I'm sure I'm just saying something smart-assy with a mouthful of cake. I'm klassy.

Our cake was served to guests with our little cake flags (one of my favorite easy DIY projects!) and with fresh strawberries and vanilla ice cream. The flags said "love is sweet" on one side and our names and wedding dates on the other side.

{ guest photo }

Sunday, April 26, 2009

Love is All About "We": Toasting and Twisting

Sorry for the brief hiatus in posting these last few weeks... lots going on in the land of Cupcake. (Shameless self-promotion: I started an Etsy shop for my photo booth posters! End of shameless self-promotion!) Now, let's get back to some wedding deets, shall we?

After our first dance, we sat down at our head table with our parents, my brother and his wife. We had gone back and forth about a head table for a while — we didn't want a sweetheart table so we considered sitting at a long table with our bridal party, but we also wanted them to be able to sit with their spouses and other friends, which they couldn't do if they were sitting with us. We also weren't really fans of having one long table at the end of the dance floor for the bridal party, because it's harder to talk to everyone at the table that way. Sitting with our parents and siblings at a round table was the perfect solution. We're fortunate to be close with our families (and they even all get along with each other! Imagine that!), so it just made sense.

Mr. Cupcake's best man, Ryan, was the first up to make a toast once we were all seated. Ryan is typically shy around new people and probably isn't a huge fan of public speaking, but he did such an amazing job.

See? We're already laughing!

Amidst the jokes and ribs at Mr. Cupcake's expense, Ryan managed to say some beautiful things about our relationship and how Mr. C used to talk about me when we first started dating. He confided in Ryan early on that he thought I was "the one."

Ryan and Mr. C worked together for years before Mr. C quit his job to move closer to me over 3.5 years ago. They were best friends before working together, but having that day-to-day camaraderie brought them even closer. When Mr. C moved away, Ryan said it felt like losing his own arm. *Tear* He said some really wonderful, heartfelt things about Mr. C and it was nice to hear how genuinely happy he was for us.

Just as Mr. Cupcake was wiping away his tears, Ryan lightened the mood by making us all laugh one more time — he said "I'm very happy to see two of my friends getting married for better or for worse... Nick couldn't do any better, and Brooke couldn't do any worse." Everyone erupted into laughter :-)

He finished off by saying, "to Nick and Brooke: I hope your love is modern enough to get you through each day, and old-fashioned enough to get you through a lifetime together." Awwwww....

Cheers!

Next up were my fabulous best friends — maid of honor Nicole and matron of honor Kelli. They gave a wonderful toast together, and Kelli was up first. She was a little nervous and couldn't even have any champagne to calm her nerves, being only a few weeks away from giving birth! But she did well regardless of the lack of alcohol ;-)

They had to get in a few jokes at my expense.... like how they trusted that I knew Nick was the one for me because I'm "always right." (yes, they know I am as Type-A as they get!)

But mostly, they talked about our wonderful friendships... Kelli reminisced about how I introduced her to her husband (thankyouverymuch), saved her from the roommate from hell in college, and shared with her a healthy obsession with So You Think You Can Dance. Nicole thanked me for being the first person to visit her when she moved to a foreign country, taping seasons of Project Runway for her while she was away (this was pre-DVR days!), and having a week-long sleepover with her in 8th grade during an extreme snowstorm.

They said how Mr. Cupcake was the perfect fit for me — the one who would make me laugh, and the one who would hold me when I cry. (Although Mr. C looks like the crier in the photo below... I don't know what's happening there!)

I was so honored to have these ladies by my side on our wedding day and it meant so much to hear their heartfelt toast.

After the toasts, the food started being served, and in between courses we had a few more important matters to take care of...

Time for my dad and me to cut a rug! We chose to dance to "My Girl" by the Temptations. My dad is a big fan of Motown, and I remember him singing this song to me when I was a little girl.

Although I'm proud to say that my dad and I can both work it on the dance floor, we didn't plan anything specific for our dance. I didn't want any choreography to stress us out!

We still got in a good spin, though :-)

Mr. Cupcake watched from the sidelines in approval (and doesn't our cake look rad in the background?)...

... while we enjoyed our moment in the spotlight.

MIL Cupcake enjoyed our performance!

Mr. Cupcake was up next with his mom. They had searched long and hard for a song that wouldn't make them cry (they are both a little emotional!). In addition, MIL and FIL Cupcake had been preparing for our wedding day by taking dance classes, so she wanted something that she and Mr. Cupcake could dance the swing to. The song they chose was "Love Me Like a Rock" by Paul Simon. It was absolutely perfect! Here is the best video version I could find... the song starts at 0:35.

They had practiced a few times (including once in the hallway just a few moments earlier). I was really proud of how well they did!

Brother Cupcake looked on approvingly as they made their way across the dance floor.

They got a rousing round of applause when their dance was over.

I went up and gave them a big hug...

And saw that Mr. Cupcake was still tearful even after getting through the dance tear-free! Below I am saying to him "are you still crying?!" He couldn't help it, I guess :-)

Below, you can see Mr. Cupcake and his mom talking to one of our servers in the background. Apparently, she came up to them after their dance to let them know that in her ten years working at the Desmond, that was the first time she ever saw a mother and son really dance!

MIL Cupcake was REALLY excited to hear this :-) All of their practice had paid off!