Porcupines Pick Their Person- The Fun Continues!

 All photos copyright of Klose Photography*

We took a little break from dancing the night away like straight-up fools for some civilized behavior, starting with the father/daughter & mother/son dances.

We also took the time to get the wedding cake cut! I was really excited about our mini wedding cake and cake bar. I'm normally not a cake person, but Providence Divine Cakes in York, PA is seriously delicious. We chose to cut our cake closer to the end of the night. I've only ever known the cake to be saved until the tail-end of weddings, but have since learned that people usually cut the cake right after dinner. Who knew?

 

Mr. P looked a little nervous when I held up that giant knife (I've actually never seen such a giant knife in my life)

 The bottom tier of our "mini wedding cake" was rainbow and the top- yet to be eaten- is funfetti

 We had a cake and cookie bar of assorted flavors, which all together cost less than a SINGLE wedding cake since all I wanted was simple/homemade looking cakes, and nothing with elaborate fondant

The flower and garter toss was up next, which I went back and forth on what to do about for some time. I knew I wanted to toss the bouquet, but wasn't so sure about the extremely awkward act of having your husband reach up your dress like a straight-up creep to get the garter. In the end, Mr. P. convinced me to do the garter toss for tradition's sake. When it came time for the garter toss I suddenly realized I had never put my garter on! My DJ announced that it was about to begin, and Bridesmaid Roomie booked it like hell to the bridal suite to find the damn thing. We literally pulled it right up my leg a moment before I plopped into the chair.

  Yes, that person looks like me because my little sister caught it, and looks extremely alarmed to have done so...

 And, then, after explaining to Mr. P where a garter is...

...he tossed it, and my sister's boyfriend caught it! (I swear- NOT rigged.)

 

Look at our flower girl in the background looking scarred for life, yikes!

We still had another hour or so until it was time to wrap it up, and we definitely made the most of the rest of the evening on the dance floor, including a little bride/groom DJ session, yet to come!

Do you plan to include traditional aspects like the bouquet/garter toss and parent dances into your wedding?

• I become the BK Bride
• The pimple of death threatens to ruin our day 
• We exchange presents  
• We don't rehearse, but we laugh
• I puke, but the show must go on!
• We get ready to wed
• I wave at our first look 
• We take the formal pics 
• We get signed, sealed, delivered
• I have a minor nervous breakdown as the ceremony begins
• We get all married up  
• The choreographed first dance surprises everyone! 
• Traditions get the party started right 
• We dance like the apocalypse is coming

Porcupines Pick Their Person- Dance until You Drop

All photos copyright of Klose Photography except where noted*

When I last left off, our reception was off to a fun start thanks to a giant challah and a festive horah. We were served dinner and then the party quickly got underway.

I knew we had a lively crowd, but I wasn't expecting to have as much fun as I did at our reception. I thought there would be too much going on to stop and enjoy myself. I'm glad I was wrong and that it turned out to be the most fun I've had at a wedding, which is how I think it should be since it is was our wedding and all.

 

 

I was worried about the kids being able to stay awake, but just look at this little guy making himself comfortable, untucking his shirt, and looking extremely suave late into the night

Entertaining themselves by making their ties fly over the air vent 

Picture courtesy of Bridesmaid Roomie

 A quick stop for a cute pic - photo from my college suitemate

Belting out our sorority song

 Mr. P's friends/family from Colorado even got me to Tebow after a torturous football season of Mr. P. yapping my ear off about the Broncos' chosen one (too bad, so sad- that didn't last long)

After working up a sweat (hence my dead hair that ended up in a ponytail throughout the night), it was time for a little breather for the cake cutting, bouquet toss, and garter toss. But, first, a little hydration...

I love this picture for many reasons, but mostly because that is Mr. P's beer, not mine, and my work wife is doing the same thing in the background

Did you have a lot of dancing at your reception or was it more laid back?

• I become the BK Bride
• The pimple of death threatens to ruin our day 
• We exchange presents  
• We don't rehearse, but we laugh
• I puke, but the show must go on!
• We get ready to wed
• I wave at our first look 
• We take the formal pics 
• We get signed, sealed, delivered
• I have a minor nervous breakdown as the ceremony begins
• We get all married up  
• The choreographed first dance surprises everyone! 
• Traditions get the party started right

Porcupines Pick Their Person- My Favorite Traditions

*All photos copyright of Klose Photography

One of my favorite parts of weddings are the traditions during the receptions. Whether they are religious, cultural, or just plain-old inside jokes amongst family and friends I think they are what give weddings their personality. Otherwise receptions all sort of blend together in a mish-mosh of food, dancing, and champagne toasts.

After we had our first dance we "officially" started the wedding with the ceremonial blessing over the challah, a delicious sweet braided bread. The short prayer is said before we start the meal.

I have no idea why my dad bought the world's largest challah, but he did, and it was hilarious

My dad was also provided with a teeny-tiny butter knife to cut the challah, which had me and Mr. P. dying in our seats

Then it was time for the Maid of Honor and Best Man speeches- my sister and Mr. P's brother

My sister has some seriously random, warped memories of our childhood that made me crack-up

 

Mr. P's brother's speech was a perfect mix of funny and heart-string pulling tales

This picture really sums up our relationship in a nutshell. Mr. P is the emotional one, and I am always the weirdly awkward, funny one trying to keep it light. I had no idea I was making weird faces throughout the night, but there are tons of gems like this.

My all time favorite Jewish wedding tradition at weddings is the hora! I have little to no idea what version we used at the wedding- it was such a blur. I've included the below version of Hava Nagila only because I love cheesy, mildly ridiculous renditions of the song, and you've just gotta love those video fades going on!  (Sidenote: Hava Nagila was the song Aly Raisman used in her floor routine at the Olympics! Go Team U.S.A!)

In a nutshell the song speaks about rejoicing and being happy, and it isn't particularity religious. The bride and groom get lifted up in chairs as everyone dances around them.

 

You get bounced up and down a few times, and at one point I actually slipped right off the chair. I jumped off before it was lifted too high but, needless to say, my facial expression speaks volumes for how scary it gets up there. I also really didn't want anyone to fall over from a hernia.

After the hora it was time to eat some dinner so that we could get the rest of the night going!

Do you plan to incorporate traditions into your wedding reception? What is your favorite wedding tradition?

• I become the BK Bride
• The pimple of death threatens to ruin our day 
• We exchange presents  
• We don't rehearse, but we laugh
• I puke, but the show must go on!
• We get ready to wed
• I wave at our first look 
• We take the formal pics 
• We get signed, sealed, delivered
• I have a minor nervous breakdown as the ceremony begins
• We get all married up  
• The choreographed first dance surprises everyone!

Porcupines Pick Their Person- The Real First Dance

*All photography copyright of Klose Photography

Since we had our first look before the ceremony we were able to enjoy our cocktail hour with family and friends. It was a whirlwind of hellos, pictures, and skipping the bar line (bride bar line privileges were the best). Before we knew it it was time to line-up and start the party!

We walked in to "Umbrella" by Rihanna, a college favorite with a very random story

Parting the crowd with my peacock umbrella

We went right into our first dance

Now, I know I said our first dance was going to be to "Look After You," by the Fray, but although that was a part of our first dance song- it wasn't our REAL first dance. You see, Mr. P's name is a part of a very popular Rick Springfield song that you may all have enjoyed a time or two after some cocktails at happy hour. (Just spelled without that tricky extra "i" everyone sticks in their).

Over time it has become "our song." At any party, bar, or wedding that we go to, when the song comes on, our friends start the odd semi-circle around us and we all sing along like the fools we are. Obviously you all must have sensed by now that I'm not normal, and a choreographed dance had to happen! Even though I was never the type to plan our wedding in my head while we were dating- I was ALWAYS planning this dance that my dancer sister was able to choreograph for our simple non-dancer brains.

 We worked with our DJ to have the two songs scratched together so that it sounded like a mistake in the middle of our first dance

 

The well known line of: "Where can I find a woman like that?" ...

Then it was time to get everyone up to join in 

 And, join in, they did...

 

Then we moved right into the second song of the night, "Party Rock Anthem" by LMFAO

It got our wedding off to a great start...

And, because I like to embarrass myself on the interwebz I have the raw footage of our first dance to share with you all starting at the choreographed portion. We didn't have a videographer at our wedding so Mr. P's brother was nice enough to record this.

 

Do you plan to have a choreographed dance at your wedding or do you prefer the traditional route? What do you think of our first dance?

• I become the BK Bride
• The pimple of death threatens to ruin our day 
• We exchange presents  
• We don't rehearse, but we laugh
• I puke, but the show must go on!
• We get ready to wed
• I wave at our first look 
• We take the formal pics 
• We get signed, sealed, delivered
• I have a minor nervous breakdown as the ceremony begins
• We get all married up 

Porcupines Pick Their Person- Ceremony Certified

Our ceremony was a great combination of the story of us and the Jewish traditions important to our families and Mr. P. I've mentioned that even though I was raised Jewish, I don't necessarily consider myself a religious person. But, Mr. P and I wanted to incorporate traditional rituals into our ceremony.

We started with the ritual of sharing a sip of wine from the kiddush cup. Like most brides would be- I was paranoid about spilling the red wine onto my white dress. As the ceremony began we realized the wine was missing! I was secretly really excited that we would have to fake drink the wine (no spills possible!), but at the least moment one of the coordinators at Riverdale seemed to pop-up out of nowhere with the wine. Major agita- but, I didn't spill!

Nervously holding the kiddush cup

A few weeks before our wedding we decided to include the temple's cantor into the ceremony who was going to be available that day. The cantor usually works with a Rabbi to help sing the prayers of a ceremony or service. She has an absolutely beautiful voice, and sang the prayer of the Seven Blessings in Hebrew, which translated is:

     

You are blessed, Lord our G-d, the sovereign of the world, who created everything for his glory.

You are blessed, Lord our G-d, the sovereign of the world, the creator of man.

You are blessed, Lord our G-d, the sovereign of the world, who created man in His image, in the pattern of His own likeness, and provided for the perpetuation of his kind. You are blessed, Lord, the creator of man.

Let the barren city be jubilantly happy and joyful at her joyous reunion with her children. You are blessed, Lord, who makes Zion rejoice with her children.

Let the loving couple be very happy, just as You made Your creation happy in the garden of Eden, so long ago. You are blessed, Lord, who makes the bridegroom and the bride happy.

You are blessed, Lord our G-d, the sovereign of the world, who created joy and celebration, bridegroom and bride, rejoicing, jubilation, pleasure and delight, love and brotherhood, peace and friendship. May there soon be heard, Lord our G-d, in the cities of Judea and in the streets of Jerusalem, the sound of joy and the sound of celebration, the voice of a bridegroom and the voice of a bride, the happy shouting of bridegrooms from their weddings and of young men from their feasts of song. You are blessed, Lord, who makes the bridegroom and the bride rejoice together.

You are blessed, Lord our G-d, the sovereign of the world, creator of the fruit of the vine.

The Rabbi worked in some of the story of how we got together in the ceremony, which got a few laughs from our family & friends. Then, we exchanged rings. We both used rings borrowed from our grandmothers, since both of our actual bands are broken by a diamond (me) or an etched line (Mr. P). Wedding bands are supposed to be a simple, plain gold band, which is what our grandmothers rings are.

 With a stomp of the glass and a hearty "Mazel Tov!"...

 

...we were married!

And, you know what that means.... time for some Porcupine par-taying to begin!

Do you plan to incorporate religious traditions into your ceremony even though you don't necessarily consider yourself a religious person?

• I become the BK Bride
• The pimple of death threatens to ruin our day 
• We exchange presents  
• We don't rehearse, but we laugh
• I puke, but the show must go on!
• We get ready to wed
• I wave at our first look 
• We take the formal pics 
• We get signed, sealed, delivered
• I have a minor nervous breakdown as the ceremony begins