Wedding photos: portraits and part 1 of the reception

I apologize for the delay in posting the rest of these pics.  With so many photos, it's taking me forever to go through and choose which ones to post.  But I'm having a blast reliving the wonderful memories.


(In case you missed the first couple of photo sets, you can find them here and here.)  

So, after the ceremony, we took some portrait shots.

With the Jason and the groomsmen, being goofy

The wedding party

With the lovely bridesmaids

With my parents

Both sets of parents, plus grandparents

With Jason's parents

The brick buildings of St. Johns' campus made for a beautiful setting

One of my favorite photos of the two of us from that day

I think the photographer told Jason to pretend he was whispering something in my ear

Whatever he said must've been quite charming...!

Soon it was time to make our entrance at the reception, so we made our way to the reception hall

Our wedding party decided to dance their way into the reception, as the DJ announced their names.  Ross and Nikki did The Robot.

Travis and Mira vogued it up.

While Adam and Ilse raised the roof!

Then it was our turn.  I don't really know what kind of dance we did.  I think I waved my bouquet around a lot.

We made our way to our seats at the front of the room.

It was so much fun to see all of the prep work come together.  I was awed by how beautiful the room looked.

My dad began the festivities by welcoming our guests and then making an extremely moving speech.  I don't think there was a dry eye in the place by the time he was done.

It's hard to tell in this photo, but I was definitely crying happy tears!

The first course was served.  A mixed wild seasonal field salad, with goat cheese medallions, edible flowers, and a lemon-Dijon viniagrette.

During the salad course, Jason thanked our guests and made a beautiful speech.

My mom gave him a double thumbs-up.

I was so proud of him for giving such a great speech!

Then it was my turn.  I wrote down my speech word for word because I was worried that, in the midst of the emotion and excitement, I would forget what I wanted to say.

Somewhere in here, the main course was served, but I guess it was devoured too quickly to be photographed!  Next, Jason's dad gave another very moving speech.

And then, it was the best man's turn.  He started his speech by making fun of the fact that he'd just spilled something on his tie.  

He had the crowd in stitches throughout his entire speech.

This time, I was crying from laughing so hard.

But Adam ended his speech on a serious note, by saying what a loyal and solid person Jason is, and that he knows those characteristics will make for a wonderful marriage.  So true!

Next, Jason's little brother Ross made a surprise speech.  In his speech, he said something I will never forget: "I never thought Jason would find someone who loves him and appreciates him as much as I do.  But then he met Analiese."  It was another tear-jerker, to say the least.

Then it was my sister's turn.  She told stories about some of the goofy things we used to do together as kids.  

I don't know whether I was laughing or crying anymore.  All the emotions were just running together at this point.


Up next: the reception, part 2

All photos courtesy of Roman Grinev Photography.