heidzillas

well, now that you have a good idea of what the reception site looked like, there are several detailed events to tell you about!

guests filled the balcony during cocktail hour. appetizers and two bars, as well as high top tables and bench seating lined the spaced.

guests enjoying appetizers

back downstairs, carla from moonstruck productions took some detail video shots.

outside, tara and cj and the bridal party arrived on the retro rider and gathered just outside the cleveland courthouse entrance
with joseph and hannah.

i got the bridal party lined up for the grand entrance announcements and then cued the photographers, videographers and the band’s emcee.

announcements were immediately followed by the father of the bride’s welcoming and toast, best man’s and maid of honor’s toasts.

action shot of ted linczak getting the toast photos.

i realized thus far, i haven’t posted a face front photo of the great couple!

after dinner, the bride and groom headed over to their cake by cmykakes – now shown with flowers topper by blooms by plantscaping.

before they cut the cake, tara had me bring out two slices of the sheet cake that was in the back brought out to sing happy birthday to hannah and joseph who turned three on the same day.

afterwards, tara and cj did the traditional cake cutting.

post cake cutting, tara and cj enjoyed their first dance while carla of moonstruck producitons captured it all on film.

immediately following the couple’s first dance, they did a co- father/daughter, mother/son dance.

both dances were set to slideshow timing that played on a large screen behind the dance floor area.

after that, the dance floor was open for the rest of the night- and guests boogied!

a little bit softer now… (shout!)… a little bit softer now… (shout!)…

eugene ross and company definitely kept the crowd on their feet!

later in the night, cj and tara decided to head up the stairs and to the balcony area to do the bouquet toss and garter toss.

below, the band announced for the ladies to start lining up.

tara pretended that she’d toss the bouquet traditionally, but after the band counted down 3…2… 2 and 1/2…1! tara turned around and over hand threw the bouquet like a softball into the crowd. it was pretty awesome, actually. too bad every venue didn’t have this great balcony.  cj wrapped the garter around an extra flower before throwing it down to the waiting men.

after the balcony tossing, linczak photography played a slide show of the day’s photos which guests LOVED to see. while ted and rachel were tearing down the projector and screen, cj’s fraternity brothers sat tara down into a seat in the center of the dance floor and serenaded her!

once all the reception activities were done, guests went back to cutting rugs for the rest of the incredible night.

congrats again you two! it was so wonderful to help you on your wedding day after hearing so much about your plans the past few months and getting to know you both. i hope you’re having a relaxing lovely time in grand cayman!

coming up next
tara & cj – part 4: live event artist

previous post
tara & cj – vendor preview
tara & cj – part 1: ceremony
tara & cj – part 2: reception details

although it was a 50% chance of rain for the entire day, and thunderstorms tormented the area for the entire night before, the rain held off throughout the day for erin and david. they were able to do a great outdoor photo shoot throughout tremont with their photographers, genevieve and james nisly. meanwhile, i was at windows on the river setting up their reception decor before heading to st. colman’s for the 5:00 pm ceremony.

ahem, did i mention i love st. colmans?

erin’s flowers were done by hosanna designs. i love that she went with a traditional flower for the bridesmaids – baby’s breath – but in a sort of untraditional way: all by itself!

once everyone was lined up, the organist was cued and the entire bridal part was down the aisle and in their places, i snapped one more photo before heading back to windows on the river to finish the set up.

erin and david used hanging tag escort cards, complete with information on the back about a donations made to transitional house, inc. in lieu of traditional favors.

this was the entrance way as guests entered the city view room at windows on the river.

instead of a traditional guest book, erin and david had a variety of ohio postcards – including kelley’s island, the ohio state buckeyses, cleveland browns, ohio wineries and covered bridges – for guests to sign instead. the signed cards will be sent to them throughout the year.

half of the tables included floral centerpieces by hosanna designs. they were partially fresh lemons with yellow carnations and baby’s breath on top. LOVE these!!!

they were so springy and fresh. and they made me start craving lemonade…

view of one side of the reception hall.

the other half of the centerpieces were hat boxes, covered in a variety of funky yellow and grey polka dot patterns, then stacked. around each hat box was a circle of photos of erin and dave – together and as they were growing up.

erin and david selected specific growing up photos for the centerpieces based on who they had seated at all of the tables – now that’s thought! the guests at the table i was sitting at loved the photos and spun the circles around to see all the photos. we all had a few laughs when they were reminiscing about david’s favorite cleveland browns t-shirt.

on the second level of the city view room, corn hole was set up for guests to enjoy after dinner, and genevieve nisly provided a “photo booth” like station. (i vogued… looking forward to seeing how silly i looked in this week’s photobooth )

the sign read: “Head upstairs to beat someone at cornhole or get some pictures taken.”

once i had everything set up and perfect, i headed outside to greet the bridal party in the limo as they arrived. that darn rain decided to show up anyways. northeast ohio weather and i are not friends this month. i’m still pretty mad at it after last week…

guests were supposed to enjoy the cocktail hour on the outside patio – where you can see the linens placed – but it was pushed to the second level, instead.

the upstairs was packed with guests who were having so much fun chatting, it was difficult to encourage them to take their seats for dinner. and once they were at their tables, they didn’t sit for long. as soon as dave’s uncle flash, a former wmms dj, announced the new couple, guests hit their fit for a raucous standing ovation! it was really sweet.

i think erin and dave were surprised by the guests’ greeting too!

after the best moh speech i’ve heard yet – complete with a blown-up picture of the father of the bride – another great toast by the best man and blessing by deacon mueller, the bride and groom snuck over to their cake from wild flour bakery. i haven’t had it since my wedding day and it was just as delicious as i remembered. yum.

(the cake was was flanked by family wedding photos. the ones on the left were from the ’20s and ’30s!)

they didn’t want the pomp and circumstance of a bunch of guests staring at them cut cake so they did it quietly on their own, with only me…

and — action shot! — genevieve and james nisly looking on.

after that, there was a fine dinner, great conversation and really good coffee. (trust me, get some coffee if you’re at windows.)  dj john marx iii “spun” erin and david’s favorite music throughout the evening. to name a few: the announcement songs selected were “10″ by neutral milk hotel and “hoppolpiola” by sigur ros, and the first dance was to “i love how you love me” by jeff magnum. lots of radiohead and oasis was preferred by the couple as well (as indicated in their wedding invitations!)

i was so very much enjoying erin and david’s reception, venue staff and guests’ celebrating with them, i totally forgot i was technically working! thanks for a great night erin and david – i had a wonderful time helping you with your wedding day. have fun on that honeymoon. i’ll catch you on twitter when you’re back : )

oh and if you didn’t at the start of this post, make sure you check out the always amazing photo recap from genevieve and james nisly.

coming up – erin & david – testimonial from the bride

previous posts
erin & david – vendor preview
erin & david – part 1: rehearsal