Wedding Wednesday | Ceremony & Reception

First off - thank you all so much for your sweet sweet words about our photos!! You all really know how to make a girl feel special!! In case you missed the first post, you can find it here.

Moving onto our ceremony & reception. Not sure if I've mentioned it here before but I'm Jewish and Gary is Catholic...with that being said, we always knew we'd have an interfaith ceremony really joining together our two families! We incorporated customs from both religions and it was so special!! Before the ceremony we signed our "marriage contract" which in Jewish culture is called the Ketubah. It basically outlines the bride and grooms responsibilities to one another in the marriage and is an agreement of sorts - not enforceable by any means, but more so for the sentiment. Each word on the Ketubah was picked out by the both of us and it's a beautiful piece of art.

The Rabbi, Bride, Groom and two witnesses all sign the Ketubah. 

So remember how I said it poured on our wedding day!!  At 2:00 PM we made the call to move the ceremony inside to another ballroom - we knew it wouldn't stop raining before the 6:00 PM start time...even though it wasn't the background I had hoped for - everything and everyone literally vanished when I walked down the aisle to Gary!! You stress over things that aren't in your control, but the day of, there is a sense of calmness that takes over you body! 

Gary stomping on the glass and making it official! 

Nope, now it's official :)

We had an hour cocktail hour for guests while we finished up some photos and had a few moments to ourselves! 

After that, it was time to party!! And party we did - we even extended our time an extra hour so that we could keep the party going!! 

Just like the ceremony, we had a lot of traditional elements in our reception as well, including the horah dance and chair lifting. All of this can last anywhere from 10-15 minutes!! 

We had 150 people at our wedding, I can honestly tell you that 100 of them were on the dance floor at this moment!! 

I'm so happy that we chose to go with a live band! KTG Entertainment had us all on the dance floor the entire night! 

One really cool aspect that made our wedding so unique and special was the entertainment...not from the band but from our guests!! Gary's cousin performed a special guitar solo for us with the band, my parent's good friend (who also happens to be an entertainer) from Russia sang songs in three different languages and we also had a very dear family friend sing a special Frank Sinatra song!! 

Our first dance was to "You & Me Together" by the Dave Matthews band!! 

My dad and I danced to "You Are So Beautiful" & Gary and his mom danced to "I Hope You Dance"

Guess what they say about the bouquet is true - headed to celebrate Krissy's wedding as you read! 

So excited to defrost the top layer and eat it soon!! 

I loved every minute of our reception and truly didn't want it to end!! I mean does any bride really want her wedding day to be over?!

Thank you again for reading or even just scrolling through photos!! It's been so much fun recapping the wedding and next week will be the details including my handmade table signs!! 

xo,

Biana

Venue: One Ocean Resort & Spa

Photo Credit (all photos): Gwen Tundermann

Entertainment: KTG Entertainment