While we were grabbing our photos, guests were getting drinks from the bar and hitting up the food tent for the first wave of yummy appetizers*. We also had a few servers circulating around with food. While we don't have too many photos of the appetizers, I had several guests come up to me throughout the night raving about the food, and some noted they had never eaten so much at a wedding before. I think the freedom to graze made all the difference. I will note there were a few select guests that said they "forgot to eat" but they blame that for spending too much time at the bar station, and not enough at the food one. ;)
As guests settled into seats and mingled around, GM Bro (acting as MC) was preparing to get the evening festivities started, and I had my one zilla moment of the day. The skies had cleared and I really wanted the ugly red small tent covering the stage (to protect the bands equipment) to be gone, and asked for them to remove it before we got started. Best decision ever. It took a couple of minutes for a few guys to lift it over the stage and take it down. It was a bit of a nuisance and I got a crazy look from my dad when I asked, but everything just much more magical on the stage without it there.
Once it was down, GM Bro took the stage. He shared some logistics for the evening (food, bus times, bathrooms, etc.), and announced that we would be starting everything off with toasts. Having been to plenty of weddings with long winded speeches for the couple, we set a hard cap time of three minutes per toast (ours being the exception to that rule). They were incredible. Everyone said such beautiful things. They made us laugh (a lot), cry, reminisce and feel so grateful for all of the love in our lives. These photos flood me with memories, and always crack me up.
All photos captured by Isos Photography, several cropped by me.
First up was Mr. Narwhal's mom. She was so excited about the wedding, and said a lovely toast to us both. Sharing funny insights into Mr. Narwhal's rather loud entrance into the world, which was quite reflective of his personality and hearty laugh. She also shared her appreciation for Joel always being the "Momma's boy" of her two sons, and that he always made an effort to tell her he loved her.
Next up were my parents. Much to the dismay of my father, I asked him to share a short toast, knowing my mom would have a lot to say. My dad isn't a fan of public speaking and is a man of few words (unless you get talking to him on the phone), but he shared his congratulations and happiness for us both, and welcomed Mr. Narwhal into our very larger than life family.
A couple days before the wedding my mom said in passing that she still needed to get us a card. I told her that was ridiculous, and she told me that she
had to get us one. She then offered to make us one, to which I encouraged her and told her I would love it more than a store-bought card. Well, wouldn't you know that this was a total hoax, and she had already made a larger than life card for her toast.
It was short and sweet (just like her). She spoke to Mr. Narwhal and I's relationship and their confidence us together, as well as her love for us both. She noted
our mutual love for poetry and decided to end with a poem, that definitely brought me to tears.
When Amy Met Joel
You met one day just by chance
It took a mere look, just a glance
You knew right then you were made for each other
A special bonus that he knew your brother
A relationship began, which led to today
A day to celebrate, in your own special way
All the best for the years ahead
On this day that you are wed.
Next up was my cousin and maid of honour Cass. I know she worked for months crafting the perfect speech and it was truly amazing. She first gave a toast to Mr. Narwhal, telling him that the two of us as sisters had been through all the ups and downs of life, and she was so thankful for how happy he made me, and that he was truly the
highest of my
ups and then deeply apologized that he had to join our crazy family, which included "g
iving awkward Cards Against Humanity dirty word definitions to our Gramma" (which explains my face in the next photo). Next she shared some of our favourite memories together and her appreciation for our amazing friendship that goes above and beyond just cousins. She ended by thanking me for honouring our 20 year agreement of being each others maid of honour.
After my cousin, GM Duffy took the stage. While there was a
no official best man, as Mr. Narwhal's best friend, we asked GM Duffy (who ended up winning the best man battle) to say a toast. GM Duffy is always full of jokes and everyone expected him to take the stage and have us in stitches. Instead, he went up there and poured his heart out and brought a tear to everyone's eyes with his incredibly touching toast.
"Amy I have ton of stories with this guy, but the best story of all is the one you two are writing right now. You two are the definition of soul mates. I'm so happy for the two of you... and Nelson! Joel gave me a gift one time that had a saying on it that said 'It is not happy people who are grateful, it is grateful people who are happy.' I am grateful to have the privilege of knowing you both. I love you two."
The last toast before ours was from my cousin, BMan TLW. He squeezed his way in there for an extra toast, so we labelled it as the "toast to the bride." TLW is an aspiring broadcaster, and knows how to please a crowd, so when he begged me for an extra minute of time, I knew it would be worth it (and then he outted me during his speech!). TLW and I have a bit of a brother and sister relationship, which includes many big sibling-like blow up fights.
He chose to share the story of the argument we got into when
I first met Mr. Narwhal and me glowing talking about the guy I had just met and had an "
instant connection" with, and that we were destined to be together, "
no questions asked." TLW Mr. Sceptical came into the picture and a big fight erupted (because he has the worst way of showing he cares). After parting ways for a "breather" we had a good cry together (TLW sharing that he felt he needed to be a protective brother to me now), and I told him with conviction that he needed to "
just trust me," to which he agreed.
About a month later, TLW was visiting me with friends, and he met Mr. Narwhal for the first time. He described the moment as, "
Amy shot me a look, and remembering our agreement, I put on my game face and I shook his hand. And, GUESS WHAT!? We had an instant connection!!" He shared that from that night on, he never questioned what we had together.
And, lastly we took the stage and shared our speech. I recently learned this isn't always the norm (although it is in my area), but we really wanted to stand up and share a few words with everyone. We thanked our guests from coming from near and far, we thanked each of our members of our wedding party individually and then spoke to our parents and thanked them for everything they had done for us to make it to our big (and best) day.
And with that our speeches were over and it was time for our first dance.
Aren't speeches/toasts just the best part of weddings??
Miss something?
*Unfortunately I don't have too many pictures of food because our photographers were with us when the food went out, and the photos we do have are images of picked through food. Things we served included mac and cheese, hamburger sliders, shredded chicken tacos, vegetable cups, fruit skewers, chocolate mousse cups, a full antipasto table (cheese, bread, pickles, etc.), a candy and sweets bar, and a late night snack of baked potatoes with all the fixings (after the photographers left).
