Thursday, July 22, 2010

Wed Recap: The party's over

We didn't get a grand exit.**  There were no sparklers waving, no bubbles being blown, no leis being placed around our neck or loud cheers and clapping as we made our way out of the room and out into a cool car to speed away in.  In fact, there was no car there to be decorated or anything.  But we knew this was going to be the case.  I had told Mr Fix It all along that if I was spending all this money and I was planning all these things, that there was no way I was going to miss out on anything.  I wanted to party with my guests until the last one left the building.  And that's just what we did.

It was just about midnight and the only people left in the reception room were me, my mom, my sister, my daughter and my now husband, Mr Fix It.  The coordinators and catering company were scampering around trying to pack things up.  The tables were almost bare and the DJ was packing up so no music was playing.

We went ahead and headed over to the bridal cottage area and started packing up my gown, bouquet and all the other little things I had brought with me.  Mr Fix It and I had each arrived at different times during the day.  I got to the venue at 8 am and was there until midnight that night.  I had to drive my own car because I had my gown, gifts and lots of other little things to bring with me.  Mr Fix It arrived around 2 pm by himself (all his family and groomsmen had to be there an hour earlier for pictures).  So we had each come in our own cars.  And we didn't want to spend the money to rent a getaway car because we knew it would not really be driven at all...our hotel was literally 5 minutes from the venue.

So after we packed everything into my car, we stood there just confirming what time everyone was going to be at our house the next day for the lunch.  I hugged my mom and sister and daughter good-bye, told them I'd see them in the morning, and jumped in my car.  Mr Fix It jumped in his car and we followed each other out of the venue past the tigers and onto the street until we reached the hotel. 

We checked in (Mr Fix It was supposed to do this on his way to the venue but of course it didn't get done).  It was after midnight and the lady at the counter was so sweet.  We got into a full on conversation with her about marriage and our wedding and our faith and turns out she was a Christian who just wanted to chat it up with us.  She was really nice but we were so exhausted.

We got into our room and jumped out of our clothes.  We were both so tired but Mr Fix It said there was no way we were going to sleep on our wedding night without gettin' busy briefly :) 

When we woke up in the morning we headed down to the hotel restaurant for our buffet breakfast.  Several of our wedding guests (actually our neighbors who had rented rooms because they didn't want to make the 30 minute drive home drunk) were checking out and said hello.  Some friends who had come to the wedding from San Jose stopped to say goodbye on their way out.  And then we ran into one of Mr Fix It's oldest friends and his girlfriend.  They were getting breakfast, too so we invited them to sit with us.  We sat there for a good two hours just chatting with them and having so much fun talking about lots of stuff.  His friend even offered to stay at our place while we were on our honeymoon so our dog would not have to be by himself.  And then we said our goodbyes and headed home to a house full of people and food!

It was a great day before, a wonderful night and a fabulous breakfast with friends.  But it seriously did just go by way too stinkin' fast!  :( 

Our videographer ends his wedding videos with a message from the bride and groom to their guests...we didn't really know about this so when he pulled us aside, I just gave the mic to Mr Fix It.  So here is our final goodbye from the end of our reception:




Share time:  What was your grand exit experience like?  Did you even have one?  Or what will it be like if you are planning one?

**  I told you I was going to jump around and just blog about whatever video clips I came across or whatever was fresh in my memory during my recaps.  So don't think just because this post is about the very end of the night that the recaps are over...far from it.  There's still a lot more to come :)

14 comments:

Nicole-Lynn said...

Sounds like you enjoyed yourself and that's great you were able to stay later.

I think we'll have somewhat of an exit.. the venue doesn't allow sparklers but we might do confetti strand wands or something. I think it will make for some cute photos as we get into our limo/car.

Kristy said...

the video is so cute! i love the mac n' cheese part!:)

Kim said...

My fiance thinks it's "weird" when people leave their own wedding reception early, so we'll be staying until the end as well. I have asked one of my bridesmaids to go back to the hotel early to get the after party going, so maybe we'll have a "welcoming" at the hotel as opposed to a send off ;)

Love the video!

Belinda C said...

I'm with you! I want to stay for my entire wedding and enjoy my guests and dance the night away! =)
Besides, we really don't have anywhere special to go. We're not planning to go on a honeymoon until the following weekend, and it's just going to be a small (somewhat local) getaway.....talk about Mac N' Cheese! lol

redwhitebride said...

we didn't have a grand exit either. we moved to a club with some of our guests who were still there and partied till 2am :)

Em said...

Nope, no grand exit for us either. We were literally the last people (aside from a few venue/florist staff) to leave the venue. Like you, we just didn't want to miss one second of the party!

Shannon said...

Well we had our sparkler "exit" which we did when we noticed some of the older guests starting to leave because I didn't want people to miss it, however we didn't really leave then, we told everyone to go back inside and continue to drink and dance which they did for another 20-30 minutes. In actuality we were also some of the last to leave and stayed while people were cleaning up and deciding who would take what home.

We didn't rent a car to leave in though we did have a limo to bring us to the venue. Instead we piled into my brother's BMW (which was the nicest car there) along with my mom and her friend and he drove us the 5 miles back to the hotel since we didn't have our cars there. I had to sit on Kristian's lap but it worked out great and saved money.

So we had the best of both worlds, the cool "exit" picture but really staying the whole time. It's cheating but no one would know by looking at the pictures :)

Salt said...

Since we were all staying at the same resort and there were only 15 guests, we didn't really have one. We had our reception, then I went back to the room to change out of my dress and we all went out for drinks and then dinner and then to the club. It was a looooooooong day. We were so exhausted when we got back to the room that night that I passed right out! (Lame!)

GM said...

I don't think we'll have a formal send off either. I want to stay until the very last minute!

Heather said...

I love your goodbye message, especially Mr. Fix-It saying "peace out" at the end. LOL! We were also the last ones to leave our venue, though we did first do a final dance to "Blue Hawaii" where we had leis placed around our necks. Our hotel was really nearby, too, and we rode with Stephen's sisters in the van we'd rented. I also agree that the day went by way too fast!

A. Marigold said...

We didn't do a grand exit. I did not want to shut our own party down--I'd hoped to leave maybe 10-20 minutes before the end of our time there, but we got waylaid (and, honestly, the night seemed so short we didn't want to lose another 20 minutes of it). But leaving felt a little anticlimactic. The limo driver had no idea he was coming to pick the newlyweds up because of the lack of fanfare. ;)

Cyn said...

We didn't have a grand exit although we did have a cool car which we decorated and took pictures in before the reception. We actually planned an after party at the bar where Mr. F and I first met. So a lot of people left before the last song was played, so that they could freshen up, change and meet us at the bar. Our Best Man and MOH stuck around to help us pack up all the presents and things in my car (which we left over night at the venue) then we sped off in our get away car to meet up with our friends at the after party.

Gaynor {Our Day by Design} said...

We didnt want to leave either; since we were staying at the hotel along with quite a few other family members and most of the bridal party, we said bye to everyone then we went to the bar!

Mrs T said...

Will have to come back and watch the video! The wedding really does flash by in an instant doesn't it!

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