When I think of formal weddings, speeches, plated meals, and a small jazz band come to mind. Nick sees a big loud band, walking meals, and formal dresses – basically Mardi Gras including a small parade, minus beads. Our backgrounds are different, so when it comes to planning we’re trying to mesh both worlds.
We’re having a Louisiana-style, black-tie reception, and a Maryland-formal rehearsal dinner. Which means we just made up names . . . but here are the details!
Our reception is a party. We’re skipping the speeches, seating charts, and pre-RSVP’ed food choices. When you walk in after cocktail hour the band starts, there are food stations, and a mix of standing tables and seated round tables. Want two plates of tacos? Go for it. Want more traditional fare seated with Great Aunt Harriet (neither of us have a Great Aunt Harriet but I wish we did)? Sit yourself down. This is my favorite part. I love the flexibility of someone being able to have what they want when they want to have it. I always check the fish box on a menu choice and I almost always want something else by the time I’m through cocktail hour at a wedding. This is an event made for people like me! It’s a party. The only pause is for cake cutting, otherwise you dance the night away.
The Maryland rehearsal dinner on Friday night is almost a mini-reception with just our families and wedding party. It’s a plated dinner where we’ll do all of the speeches, picture slide show, and saying thank you (at least a million times) to everyone that has supported us. It’s full of quality time with our families and lots of embarrassing photos of us as kids.
Neither part is fully traditional and we’re taking our families and guests on quite a ride. At the end of the day we want a wedding that incorporates everything we love and I think we’re getting just that!
