saturday, september 19 was a perfect weather day. an outdoor tented wedding perfect kind of weather day luckily! the entire event was on the grounds of the holy assumption orthodox church just down the street from the ceremony at st. joe’s.
an arch served as a focal point for the guests tent entrance and including fanned out candle jars that later in the evening lit the way back into the tented area from the restrooms.
when i made it over to the tent from the ceremony, my day’s assistant, tara was just finishing up the table placesetting along with the favor cards. in lieu of traditional favors, amber and zach made a donation to the veterans of foriegn wars in honor of their 4 grandfathers who all served. the favor cards included a buddy poppy.
tara and i spent the next couple of hours working on all of the rest of the tables set up and decor before guests started making their way into the tents. the night before, zach and his family hung all of the lighted swag around the dance floor and outsides of the tent.
one of the best things that was done before the reception was a perimeter bug spraying in the woods that were near the back of the tent. to doubly insure guests were pest-free all evening, citronella torches lined the tent walls that were open.
the guest favorite at the party was the cake, cupcakes and other special cookies and sweets made by cookie bey. the bride even tracked down tara and i to make sure we tried a few special treats - the oreo “cookie dough” truffles were YUUUUUUUM.
the guests definitely could not have gone hungry with a special buffet including handmade halupki (cabbage rolls) and pierogies!
they didn’t go thirsty either, adult beverages were also highly enjoyed by guests
no dry mouths in the crowd with a stock like this!
since tara and i were buzzing around the event all evening, i didn’t get a chance to take a ton of photos but i did get this great dancing shot of amber and zach that shows the pretty bustle i helped with
i’m getting pretty handy at those if i do say so myself!
what i loved about amber and zach’s reception was that it was fun for all - young or old – everyone felt like one big happy family. i didn’t want to have to ask guests to take their seats for announcements and toasts because they were enjoying each other’s company so much. after dinner, dj flash gordon kept a huge majority of the guests dancing their tails off on the dance floor well through the night.
at the end of the night, it was sad to have to start cleaning up and have the last song play as i’m pretty sure the bride and groom, their wonderful bridal party and all the friends and family would have stayed well into the evening hours because so much fun was had.
instead they headed to the afterparty while we cleaned up. i had to get an aftermath shot of the linens - a behind the scenes look you don’t often see of the work that goes into cleaning up a huge wedding!
amber and zach: you guys were a HOOT to help throughout your planning process and on your big day. i’ve never seen a bride and groom throughly ENJOY their day with their families and guests as well as you did. i hope you’re loving your trip via one way ticket to vegas and let me know where you ended up after that! congratulations and devin and i look forward to some married couple double dating in the near future!
to get more of a peek at amber and zach’s big day, check out the teaser of photos their photographer, rob rife, just blogged! i love the expressions captured – it was so them!!!
and a special “thanks!” to tara for making the trip out to marblehead to help me and being such a trooper for our extended day of set up and doc-ing and clean up
previous posts:
amber & zach: vendor preview
amber & zach – part 1: ceremony
by heidzilla
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