Wedding Reception Snippets

Hi friends! I thought I’d share some photos from our wedding reception. Unfortunately, I didn’t get any pictures of the food or paleo cakes, but it was outstanding. There were bacon wrapped dates stuffed with chorizo, raw veggies and fruit, smoked salmon (that Jesse’s uncle made and brought), local whitefish fillets with tomatoes and capers, rosemary garlic chicken breasts, roasted vegetables, roasted redskin potatoes and Mediterranean kale salad. For the (paleo) cakes, there was a lemon, orange pineapple, honey almond and banana. We had local wine and regional beer (even a gluten-free one), along with a couple specialty cocktails.

Dancing with my mom and sisters to Neil Diamond's, Sweet Caroline. It was dedicated to grandma and we know she was dancing with us.

Dancing with my mom and sisters to Neil Diamond’s, Sweet Caroline. It was dedicated to grandma and we know she was there dancing with us.

Our surprise bike chariot that took us to the reception. My brother in-law and friend wore matching outfits and rode us all the way there. There was a “newly married” sign and cans hanging off the back. Unforgettable and a surprise I didn’t expect!

My beautiful reception, which was held at Art in the Loft in Alpena. It was a bike/recycle theme with the colors being yellow and gray, and milk glass pieces used on all the tables. It was amazing!

Another sisters and mom shot during Sweet Caroline.

Some more decor. The bike spokes had various photos of Jesse and me, along with wedding pictures of our parents.

My sister, sister in-law and brother in-law doing their washtub dance with the addition of props. I don’t know where this tradition came from, but it’s been in our family that if a younger sibling gets married before an older sibling, they (the older siblings) have to dance in a washtub at the wedding. As you can see, my crazy bro in-law, Nick took off his pants. He even changed his shirt for the dance to a wolf one because it was wolf week (pretty sure he made that up). Also, none of them knew about this beforehand, so they were pretty surprised. It was epic and people were even giving Nick money. He made over $20!

This decorative bike is where guests put gifts and cards. Cool, right?

Bike wheels hanging from the ceiling were part of the decor.

The guest book table. The backside had photos of grandparents and a gift for each guest. I didn’t get a photo, but the gift was a magnet made from a bike chain with a picture of a bike inside that said, Live Simply. There was a tag attached to each one that said with love, Alisa and Jesse.