Weddingbee boards

So, my DH and I got married in Las Vegas (just the 2 of us) on 10-13 and then we had an at home reception the following week on 10/22.

For those of you who didn't see the wedding pics, I did a recap here for the Vegas ceremony.

Overall, I must say that I was not very pleased with how our at home reception turned out and I will go over all the reasons. I feel that I can't complain much though cuz our wedding ceremony was so perfect and nothing really went wrong for it. 

At home reception issues:

* Our venue (Amici Ristorante in Pittsburgh, PA) really did not seem organized at all. They acted like they had never done a wedding reception before (which is not the case at all cuz that's how they get most of their business). The servers were not very friendly and they seemed clueless on nearly every event that night. They turned up the heat waaay too high and they told us they were going to turn it down and never did. The room was not set up properly either. They placed the dance floor in the middle of the room so half of our guests were alienated and couldn't see us enter the room or the cake cutting.

* The majority of our guests did not arrive on time (there was some traffic though) and we only had the place for 4 hours.

* Our photographer which was a friend of mine (who had done weddings before and did our engagement photos) acted clueless and did not take nearly enough photos. I am extremely disappointed that we didn't get any professional photos with our families (and that was our only opportunity since they didn't come to our wedding). My sister took a few pics with me and my Mom and sisters at least, but my DH never got any photos with his family. 

* Our DJ (who was a co-worker of my DH's) was utterly horrible. He told us that he had years of experience, but we now find that tough to believe cuz an iPod could have done better than him. He hardly made any announcements and he didn't have any lighting equipment with him so the lights in the room were on all night. Hardly anyone danced either which really disappointed me. When we did the money dance, no one brought shots out either. The biggest thing that upset me was that our dj forgot that my Sister was going to give a toast to us as well so he skipped over her. We had to remind him about it and he acted like it was our fault. She clearly worked very hard on her toast cuz she did such a good job on it too (made us tear up) so I felt so bad she was skipped over like that. 

* Another thing with the toasts I was upset about is that none of our guests were offered anything to toast with by the servers. They only had water and we got zinfandel, no champagne.

* On our sweetheart table, we had a red tablecloth with sparkles all over it and cuz of it, I was constantly wiping red sparkles off my dress the entire night.

* I was disappointed with my hair and makeup artist as well. My hair kept falling out cuz it was too loose (fortunately, I had my Mom to fix it for me), my eye makeup was running, and my lipstick came off.

* We had a postcard guestbook (which we spent quite a bit of money on with stamps and all) and we placed them at everyone's seats. People took their postcards home, but out of 75 postcards we only received 6 back (2 of them were given to us that night). 

And now for the positives:

* The decor turned out very nice and we were very happy with the cake too.

* The food was so amazing.

* Most of the guests who RSVPed Yes showed up.

* Most of our guests were very generous and so we made out very well moneywise (almost received enough to cover the costs of our Las Vegas trip). We did well in the money dance too.

* Everyone that I met for the first time (DH's family and friends) was very welcoming and friendly.

* My sister's newborn daughter (who was the only child there) was very well behaved the entire night. I did not hear her cry once.

* Despite the horrible DJ, lots of people told us they had a good time.

* Our photographer did get some really great pics.

And now for pics:

My DH made our zombie cake topper.

cookie table

Candy buffet!

My sister giving us a toast.

My Mom

Our card caldron

Guestbook postcard

Cake cutting

Haha. Love that expression on my DH's face.

Our first dance together to "Can't Help Falling In Love with you" by Elvis Presley

Anniversary dance (with all the married couples)

Money dance

Me and my newborn Niece, Hope

Thank you! I do get a lot of compliments on my hair color and I gotta agree, I love it very much.

absolutely love the cookie and candy buffet everything looks beautiful

I love your halloween themed wedding!

Thank you! My Husband carved all the pumpkins. The candy buffet was a huge hit too! We had a ton of candy and not too much of it was left.