Harlen Rundown

Ceremony
Venue: indoor
Type: non-denominational
Colors: green and gold
Music: trumpets
Maid of Honor: Meagan, bride's friend
Best Man: Michael, groom's brother
Bridesmaids: 4 (green dresses)
Groomsmen: 6
Flower Girl: no
Ring Bearer: no
Officiant: justice of the peace
Programs: yes
Bouquets: ribbon
Boutonnieres: no
Walk down the aisle: father of the bride
Bride & Groom position: standing at altar
First reading: no
Second reading: no
Gospel: no
Vows: personal

Reception
Venue: indoor
Attire: semi-formal
Music: band
Cocktail hour: no
Open bar: yes
Guestbook: book with stickers
Escort cards: no
First dance: You'll Never Walk Alone by Gerry & The Pacemakers
Father-Daughter dance: no
Mother-Son dance: no
Bride & Groom table: no
Speeches: best man, maid of honor and bridesmaid, father of bride
Centerpieces: flowers, lanterns, candles
Table labels: no
Menus: no
Dinner: no
Cake cutting: no
Bouquet toss: no
Garter toss: no

Favors: gift bags /apples

Harlen

Today (rather tonight) was Marge and Chris's wedding! Both the ceremony and reception took place at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (Mass MoCA) in North Adams. It was a beautiful venue, fitting of the bride and groom. The ceremony, which started at 7:15PM, was short but unique to the couple. They wrote their own vows which made me tear up (of course). They also performed a ribbon ceremony which is a Chinese wedding tradition akin to exchanging vows in our culture. They both hold ends of a ribbon and face three different places and bow three times in each position. First they face the east, then their parents, and then each other. Margaret's dress was beautiful: it was a calf-length lace dress that she wore with green heels for the ceremony. The bridesmaids wore green cocktail length dresses and carried bouquets made of ribbon that Marge's mother made. To tie in with Chris's Scottish heritage, Margaret's mom used some plain ribbons.

After the ceremony, we were all ushered into the lobby for the reception. Because it was so late at night, they served hors d'oeuvres but no dinner. The couple had their first dance and then the maid of honor and bridesmaid made a speech as well as the best man and the Marge's dad. Margaret's father's speech was one of the best I have ever heard. Matt and I danced for a few songs to the band that Marge and Chris had hired, but ended up leaving early. (I wasn't feeling well.)

It was a wonderful night, though, that celebrated the love of two amazing people. Congratulations Marge and Chris!

program (front)

program (inside)

program (back)

temporary tattoos

Rainbow of Thanks

We got our thank you from Lars and Natasha! I LOVE it! It's rainbow (my favorite) and they included a few pictures from the wedding for us! They both wrote heartfelt notes inside for the wedding gifts and coming down to Tennessee for their big day. Here's the card as well as the three pictures they sent with it:

Thank you

Matt, Anthony, and I

The wedding party

The ladies and Lars

Single Lady

I got Margaret's bachelorette invitation today! In keeping with the minimal paper, it was sent via email by the host, my friend Meagan. This is the first bachelorette (other than my own) that I will be attending and I'm pretty excited! It's going to be October 10 in Boston, so I'll probably be taking the day off, which is fine since the wedding is that Sunday.

Here is the invitation:

Holmberg Rundown

The Rundown

Ceremony
Venue: indoor
Type: Methodist
Colors: gray, mint, and green
Music: CD
Maid of Honor: Miranda (bride's friend)
Best Man: Greg (groom's friend)
Bridesmaids: 3 (teal dresses)
Groomsmen: 3
Flower Girl: no
Ring Bearer: no
Officiant: reverend
Programs: yes
Bouquets: floral
Boutonnieres: floral
Walk down the aisle: father of the bride
Bride & Groom position: standing in front of altar
First reading: Ecclesiasts
Second reading: 2nd Corinthians
Third reading: Psalm 143
Gospel: Mark
Vows: traditional

Reception
Venue: indoor
Attire: semi-formal
Music: DJ
Cocktail hour: no
Open bar: wine and beer
Guestbook: photo book with prompts
Escort cards: tented business cards
First dance: Wanted by Alex G and Runaground
Father-Daughter dance: Friends in Low Places by Garth Brooks
Mother-Son dance: My Wish by Rascal Flatts
Bride & Groom table: table with maid of honor and best man and dates
Speeches: best man, maid of honor, friend of bride
Centerpieces: floating candles
Table labels: numbers
Menus: no
Dinner: buffet (Southern BBQ)
Cake cutting: yes
Bouquet toss: yes
Garter toss: yes
Favors: no

Holmberg

Today was Lars and Natasha's wedding and it was just beautiful! Their ceremony was at 4 in the afternoon at the Rockhold United Methodist Church which is located on what was Lars's family homestead. His parents and his grandparents both got married at this church, so they were continuing the tradition. It was small (but air conditioned) and really quaint. The Methodist ceremony was performed by a reverend and was fairly short and sweet. Their wedding party consisted of the maid of honor (Natasha's best friend), Lars's best man (Greg), 3 bridesmaids (including Lars's younger sister), and 3 groomsmen (2 of whom are friends of ours as well). The girls wore mint dresses that they each picked out and were cocktail length while the men had on gray suites with green ties. They had beautiful mint, white, and pink bouquets and boutonnieres all which complimented Natasha's stunning dress. She wore a strapless ballgown which had a simple top of folded satin and a tulle bottom. Her hair, which is shorter, was styled beautifully around a rhinestone headband.

The reception was 40 minutes away in Kingsport in a converted bank called Banq. (Clever play on words there.) It was a small venue, very well-suited to the 60 or so guests they had in attendance. They had a DJ who was playing when everyone began arriving as well as a slideshow of their pictures displayed on a couple tvs around the room. We were seated with our friends Sam and Kevin and their daughter Ryleigh and Kevin and his girlfriend Kim. Dinner was served shortly after the bride, groom, and wedding party arrived after taking photos. They had a delicious southern BBQ buffet complete with pulled pork and other comfort foods. For dessert, they had a small cake and several different flavors of cupcakes. They provided an open bar of beer and wine of which they were able to keep the remaining alcohol. I absolutely loved their guest book! It was a photo book with different prompts in it instead of just space for signatures or comments. They had pages asking for date ideas, how you met the couple, advice for them, and what famous couple they would be just to name a few. Matt and I left a little early so that Anthony could get to sleep at the hotel, but they did do a bouquet and garter toss! Natasha's cousin Brooke (one of her bridesmaids and Anthony's biggest admirers) caught the bouquet and their friend Josh caught the garter.

It was a great day with some of my best friends and I couldn't be happier for the newlyweds! Congratulations Lars and Natasha! We love you!

And here are some of the pictures:

program (front)

program (back)

escort card

escort card

escort card

Ryleigh and Anthony