Chasing Cars - The Traditions

I mentioned that Matt and I ate our entire meal.  But we did kind of rush through it.  We wanted to be able to say hello to our guests.  The room where our reception was held, the bus gallery in the basement, was set up like this:

18 tables of 8, split in the middle by the dance floor.  It worked out - numbers-wise - to put our friends on our side of the dance floor, and our family and parents' friends on the far side.  Unfortunately, we started on our side of the dance floor when we started saying hello to everyone, and we never made it over to the other side.  Oops. 

Anyway, while we were greeting our last table on our friends' side, David came to tell us it was time for our family photos.  We had requested a big photo of each of our extended families.  It's so rare that all of our family members are together, in one place, so we wanted to take advantage of the opportunity.

Matt's family

My family

I cannot tell you why Matt and I aren't sitting together.  It just happened so quickly, everyone was in the same room, we smashed together, and snapped the pictures  Done.

While this was happening, the DJ started playing "You Can Call Me Al" by Paul Simon.  This is a favorite of me and my sister, so we took the opportunity to reenact the music video.  We also did this at my bachelorette party. 

Yep.  We're huge goofballs.  We also took a moment to get a picture with Matt's Pop Lou and his girlfriend.  Pop Lou passed away in February, and I know it meant a lot to Matt that he was able to make it.  I'm so glad we took a few seconds to get this photo.

Up next, it was time to cut the cake.

We were having a hard time figuring out how to get the slice out

Success!

And the last of the traditions (for us) - the Parent Dances.  Up first, my dad and I danced to "Father and Daughter," by Paul Simon.  We've always listened to Paul Simon together, and when I heard this song, there was no doubt in my mind.

Dance lessons paid off!

 

Matt and his mom chose to dance to "You'll Be In My Heart," by Phil Collins.  It's a really sweet song, and a great option for the Mother/Son dance.

When the song ended, Matt's dad and brothers joined them on the dance floor for a group hug.  It was a very touching moment.

Up next, pictures from the Kissing Game and the dance floor gets hot!

*All photos courtesy of Everlasting Images

NYC Quiz

Matt and I are headed to New York City this weekend for our 6-month anniversary.  Gifted to us by our sweet friends BM Steph and GM Matt, we'll be spending Saturday seeing Avenue Q and sleeping in luxury at the Waldorf-Astoria.  We're also planning to go out for a nice dinner (thanks to travelzoo.com - dinner for 2 plus a bottle of wine for $60!).  We were trying to decide what else to do during our time there.  Last night, I stumbled across On Location Tours, and knew immediately this was something we had to do!  We had done a movie tour in Philadelphia a few years ago and had a blast.  Do you have any idea how many movies have been filmed in Philly?  Aside from the obvious - Rocky and Philadelphia - all of M. Night Shyamalan's movies have been filmed in and around Philly, Law Abiding Citizen, Marley and Me, In Her Shoes, the National Treasure series...tons of others.  I think on the tour, we saw spots where at least 30 different films were, well, filmed. 

Initially, the site caught my eye because they have a Sopranos tour.  Matt and I have been rewatching the series over the past several months, so I thought it would be kind of cool to take a tour of all the Sopranos sites.  But then I saw the New York TV and Movies Tour.  Not only do you see stuff from a LOT of different tv shows and movies, but you also get to see almost the entire island of Manhatten!  I've been to New York City a lot, but mostly stay in the Theater district - Midtown.  I've definitely never ventured any further north than the Natural History Museum (Central Park West, I think), and have only been down to the financial district once, and that was about 20 years ago when I went with my parents and we went to the top of the World Trade Tower.  So I'm excited to get to see more parts of Manhatten than I usually do. 

Some of the stops on the tour include the brownstone from I Am Legend, the apartment building in Friends, the firestation from Ghostbusters, and lots of others. 

So I'm thinking of doing a New York TV and Movie tour photo quiz.  I'll take some pictures on the tour, and post them up here, and you guys can take a guess as to what the photo refers to.  No prizes or anything, other than, you know, bragging rights.  Just something fun.  What do you think?

Chasing Cars - Here We Are!

After the group picture, our guests were ushered to the bus gallery to take their seats for dinner.  We employed the DJ, David, and his staff to help make sure everyone got downstairs.  The bridal party hung out upstairs until we knew nearly everyone was seated, and then we went downstairs.  It was time for the bridal party to introduced.  We gave our friends no direction, just let them do whatever they want.  And they had some fun with it!

GM Eric and BM Nicole

GM Shane and BM Tina

GM Matt and BM Steph

GM/Brother Dan and BM Abriel

GM/Brother Mike and BM Mel

Best Man Steve and Sister/MOH Callie

The song we chose for the reception entrance was "Small Town," by John Mellencamp.  We both love Mellencamp, and the song has always been special to us.  Hershey is a small town with that charming/annoying small town mentality.  It was perfect and I think everyone loved it.

Finally, Matt and I entered the reception.  Introduced, for the first time, as Mr. and Mrs.!

As soon as we entered, we started our first dance.  We chose the song "Chasing Cars," by Snow Patrol.  It's been our song forever, and when we had to decide on our first dance, there wasn't really a question.  We were worried it would be too long, but our DJ expertly cut it down to just around 3:30 instead of the full nearly 5-minutes it is originally.

We finished our dance and took our seats at the "head table."  We decided to have 3 head tables, so that our bridal party could sit with their significant others.  Our tables seated 8 people, so we divided it up like this:

Head Table - us, Best Man Steve and his wife, MOH Callie and her husband, and BM Steph and GM Matt.  BM Steph and GM Matt are married, and we are both close to both of them, so that's how they got seated with us.

Bride's Table - BM Abriel and her husband, BM Mel and her boyfriend, BM Tina and her husband, and BM Nicole.

Groom's Table - GM Shane and his wife, GM Mike and his girlfriend, GM Dan and his girlfriend, and GM Eric.

It worked out pretty well, and I know our bridal party appreciated being able to sit with their SOs.

I've read a lot that when it comes time to speeches, people have quite a few: Best Man, Maid of Honor, Father of the Bride, Bride, Groom, etc.  We didn't want to put pressure on anyone, so we just let people volunteer.  If they wanted to say something, great, if not, that's ok.  Best Man Steve gave a great speech.

Apparently, my sister had prepared a speech, as well, but she never gave it.  She later told me that David seemed so flustered about being behind schedule, she didn't want to hold things up anymore.  I'm pretty sure David wouldn't have minded and I certainly would have loved to hear what she had to say, but...oh well.

Pastor Cindy said a prayer and blessing for dinner, and then it was chow time!  Matt and I both promised each other that we'd actually sit and eat our meals, together, and we did just that.  That food was amazing and there was no way I was missing it!  After dinner comes the family photos, cake cutting, and parent dances!

*All photos courtesy of Everlasting Images

Chicken Ravioli and Pesto sauce

You guys, I just made up a dinner.  Pretty much all by myself.  I'll try to tell you what I did, but I didn't measure anything.  Just threw things together and hoped it tasted good.  And it did!

I made chicken ravioli and a pesto sauce.  For the ravioli, I did cheat a little bit.  I used store-bought wanton wrappers.  Super-duper easy.  For the filling, I boiled 2 breasts of chicken, and then cut them into little chunks.  I fed the chunks into my food processor and shredded it.  Then I added the shredded chicken back to the food processor and pulsed it with about 8oz of ricotta cheese.  I say about 8oz because I had a 15oz container and I used about half.  I added a little bit of salt, pepper, and basil for flavor.  Once that was mixed, I filled the wanton wrappers with about a teaspoon of the filling, sealed them up, and dropped them in boiling water for about 7 minutes.  Again, I say about because, well, to be honest, I wasn't paying attention.  But 7 sounds about right.  Be sure to seal them really well - I didn't, so some of them were like little floating water pockets and I had to leak the water out before plating them.

The pesto sauce was totally just eyeballing.  I put about, oh, maybe 2 cups of spinach into my food processor.  Pulsed it to break it down, then added about 1/4 cup of pine nuts, 1/4 cup of parmesan cheese, a pinch of salt, and about 1 1/2 teaspoons of minced garlic.  Pulsed that again to mix it well, then ran it on low and added some olive oil.  I have no idea how much olive oil.  I really just eyeballed it till it looked like the right consistency.

Sorry for the vagueness, but it was a completely fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants meal.  And it turned out pretty freaking yummy, if I do say so myself.

Enjoy!

Golf Pro

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My dad is an avid golfer.  Belongs to a league.  Plays at least once a week.  He has been a golfer my whole life.  Probably most of his life.  He's quite good.  When I was little, he used to take me out with him.  I had my own set of clubs.  And I took lessons.  I was pretty good, too!  But then I got interested in other things and golf took a back seat.  In fact, golf took a different car altogether.  Until 4 years ago, I hadn't touched a golf club in probably 15 years.

Matt is a golfer.  He played for our high school team.  [I once cut the golf team's picture out of the paper and put it on my wall, just because he was in it]  He plays as much as he can now.  4 years ago, he and his brothers started an annual golf tournament.  Matt knew that I took lessons as a kid and so he kept encouraging me to play.  I kept saying I would but never have.  I have a set of clubs that I bought 4 years ago.  I've probably used them a dozen times.  I just haven't had the time to get to the range and get some practice in.  Finally, this summer, it looks like I'll be able to really get in some time at the range, and hopefully play some real courses.

Much to my dad's dismay, I will never be as good as Annika

My dad came down today and we decided we'd go hit balls.  Matt has tried giving me pointers in the past, but somehow there's nothing like getting tips from my dad.  It's the way it's always been - I swing, he critiques, I swing again, it's better.  And I did pretty well.  Fundamentally, I have a good swing.  I have the basics down, and can hit a pretty decent ball.  My problem is that I don't keep my head down, which means that I pull up and chunk at the top of the ball.  Which means the ball goes about 10 yards.  But when I do keep my head down, I can hit an iron a good 60-100 yards (depending on the iron).  I'm really hoping to get out to the range a few more times so that I can finally get a feel for how far I hit each of my irons.  That will give me the ability to get a good read on which club I should use when out on the course.  And hopefully, by the time August rolls around, I'll feel comfortable enough to get out there and play with the boys in their tournament!

Chasing Cars - Trolleys and Antique Cars

Time for the bridal party to get to the museum!  This might have been my favorite part of the whole day.  Me, my newly-minted husband, and our closest friends.  All stuck together, in the same place, and the same time.

photo from BM Tina

photo from BM Tina

photo from BM Mel

We pulled up to the museum, dismissed the bridal party to enjoy the cocktail hour, and Matt and I went around the museum to get some couple portraits.

This was so awkward

Our reception was at the Antique Auto Museum.  Part of the reason we chose that as our venue is because both of our dads are into antique cars.  My dad owns a 1972 Porsche 911.  And Matt's dad built an old Dodge Charger from the ground up.  Neither one of us can remember the year, but it's old.  My dad didn't drive his car to the reception, but Matt's dad did.

Isn't it beautiful?

 

We headed inside for a few more pictures.

Peek-a-boo!

 

In the meantime, our guests were busy milling around the museum and enjoying cocktail hour.  The museum is a really cool place to have an event, and we had so many compliments from our guests about not being bored during the cocktail hour.  [the next 7 photos are from our guests]

Hershey's version of the Oscar Meyer Weinermobile

My friend Karen, and her husband, Greg, who also happens to be my train conductor

Recognize that?  Watch A League of Their Own and get back to me

 

Just at the end of cocktail hour, we gathered all of our guests together for a big group photo.  The semantics of this could be a logistical nightmare, but we put out signs by the escort cards noting the time and location of the group photo, and we also had the DJ make an announcement to remind everyone to get there.  I'm so glad we got this photo.

Up next, we get the party started!

*All photos, unless otherwise noted, courtesy of Everlasting Images

Fun Fact Friday

Every Friday, I treat myself to Starbucks.  Grande, sugar-free, soy caramel macchiato. 

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Yeah, I have to really think about it when I order it.  I used to get a grande vanilla soy mocha.  Then I realized that in that little 16oz cup I was getting 460 calories.  YIKES.  So I switched to the skinny caramel macchiato, only they can't make a skinny with soy milk (skinny means skim milk), so I have to order it as "sugar-free soy."  That clocks in at 230 calories - half the calories in the mocha.  SCORE.  Also, did you know that it's made with vanilla syrup and not caramel?  Basically, it's just called caramel because they drizzle caramel on top.  I just learned this like 2 weeks ago.  I've been drinking them since Christmas.  I'm not always so quick on the draw.

In honor of today being my weekly Starbucks today, today's Fun Fact Friday is all about coffee!  [I know, it's been a while since I've done one]

~ The world record for coffee consumption is 82 cups in 7 hours.

~ During WWII, there was a coffee-drinking competition between the branches of the military.  The Marines claim victory at 20 cups per day.

~ There's a tourist agency called Cafe Away for people who want to take coffee vacations

~ Norway drinks the most coffee per person.  The US is ranked #12 in the world.

~ In Saudi Arabia, a woman can legally divorce her husband if he doesn't serve her coffee.

~ The use of coffee as a beverage started about 700 years ago.

A few years ago, a guy who went to my high school challenged himself to hit as many Starbucks in Manhatten in 24 hours.  He made it to 171 in just over 20 hours.  Crazy.  If you want to read more about it, click here.



*Weird coffee facts fond here and here