mrs. cupcake's wedding blog: April 2009

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.

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!

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.

After our sneak peek at our beautiful reception space, we snuck out of the ballroom while our guests started making their way to their seats. We lined up with our parents and bridal party for our grand entrance and really didn't care that we had just spent the last 45 minutes or so chatting with our guest — it took none of the excitement away from the fact that we were about to be introduced as husband and wife :-)

Since this post contains lots of pictures of us swaying back and forth, I've added in some musical interludes for your enjoyment!

First up: our parents and bridal party enter the ballroom to applause and the sound of the Bay City Rollers — a special request by Mr. Cupcake himself! He made very few requests throughout the planning process, so I couldn't deny him this request. And you know what? It was an awesomely fun song to get things started.

Momma and Stepdad Cupcake

Daddy Cupcake

FIL and MIL Cupcake

Brad and Chrissy

Jeremy and my cousin Michele

Mr. C's Uncle Kevin and my cousin Coleen

Brother and SIL Cupcake (John and Kim)

Matron of Honor Kelli, Best Man Ryan, and Maid of Honor Nicole

Once our parents were at the head table (where they would sit with us) and the bridal party was standing at the end of the dance floor, the DJ transitioned into one of our favorite songs... "Gimme Some Lovin'" by the Spencer Davis Group. You may remember this song from the awesome scene at the end of Notting Hill when Hugh Grant and his friends pile into their car to speed through London to get to Julia Roberts' press conference. Mr. Cupcake is a big fan of old school Steve Winwood, and we both get a little pumped up when we hear this song.

We had nerdily requested that the DJ let the beginning of the song build up a little to get people excited :-) But let's be serious — I don't think anyone was more excited than us. As the music started to build before the "HEY!", The DJ started to announce us as "the new Mr. and Mrs. Nick and Brooke Cupcake" and we made our way out of the shadows and through the ballroom doors. I honestly don't think I could ever really explain that moment, the feeling of hearing our names and then walking through those doors hand-in-hand to see everyone we know and love, up on their feet and cheering for us. It was the most heartwarming feeling ever — and it was spectacular.

As you can tell, we were all smiles!!

Before our first dance song began, we had an impromptu little twirl on the dance floor as we sang along with Stevie Winwood.... "and I'm so glad you made it... so glad you made it..."

{ photo by SIL Cupcake }

Then, it came time for our first dance — the song we chose is the namesake for all of my recap posts :-) The song is "We" by the one, the only — Neil Diamond. We had been torn for a while over what song to choose, but ultimately, Neil's crooning won the prize. (C'mon... if Mrs. Strawberry can admit to loving Neil, how can I deny it?) "We" is light-hearted, wouldn't make us cry, isn't too long, has a perfect slow-dance tempo without being dreadfully slow, and it is just very "us"! Old soul-ish, not-too-serious, goofy, schmoopy, madly in love "us." (Or, shall I say, "we"?)

The dance floor lighting that we had sprung for definitely made a difference, and I was really glad we had decided to make that addition. An abstract peacock feather pattern was projected onto the floor and added a warm glow around our dancin' feet :-)

{ photo by SIL Cupcake }

While many couples choose to do a choreographed first dance (and I took dance for years and certainly wouldn't have objected), Mr. Cupcake was more comfortable doing the standard "sway" move; we decided that we didn't want any added pressure on our first dance. We had taken a few dance lessons so he would feel more comfortable on the dance floor (while all eyes were on us), so we weren't worried about stepping on each other's feet and we could enjoy our moment!

Mr. C sang along to Neil...

... and made me giggle. No surprise there!

At one point, he gave me a very quick spin — so quick that not even a speedy Wiebner could catch it with their camera! Alas, our guests still cheered us on and I said over the music "that's what we learned in dance class!"

It gave everyone a good laugh :-)

Finally, as the song came to an end, my new husband romantically dipped me!

And we sealed it with a kiss for good luck (and a happy marriage).

mrs. cupcake's wedding blog

Sunday, April 26, 2009

Love is All About "We": Toasting and Twisting

Monday, April 6, 2009

Love is All About "We": A Grand Entrance (and A First Dance)

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