Falling for You: Dancing Cheek to Cheek

When we met with our DJ the week before the wedding to finalize the schedule for the evening, he suggested that we transition into our first dance right after our entrance. I, in my very limited experience, had never heard of this before, so I was rather hesitant, but we decided to trust the professional, and now that it's all said and done, can I just say that he was right on the money! Going straight into our first dance made the evening flow so much more smoothly. For starters, all of our guests were already standing for our entrance, and our best friends were gathered around the dance floor, so it was a really seamless transition. Plus, since we had such a high-energy entrance, the momentum just kept building and building. It also allowed us to "open" the dance floor right away, which was a great thing, because our guests tore it up in between courses! If you're on the fence about getting the first dance out of the way as soon as possible, I say do it. It worked for us!

I didn't share our music selections with the hive before now, but mostly because we didn't make a final decision until a few days before the wedding. For most of the time we were dating, our song has been Collide by Howie Day, so we always assumed it would be our first dance. However, once we got engaged, we felt like maybe the tempo was too slow. We were feeling pretty self-conscious about being the center of attention for three and a half minutes and didn't really want to do the awkward high-school sway. We spent months looking for alternatives, among them, many ballads by my two favorite artists, Juan Luis Guerra and Gavin Degraw. Eventually, we settled on Where You Are by Gavin Degraw because it had a very waltzy tempo and lovely lyrics.

We even considered taking a few dance lessons to spruce things up, but as it turns out, dance lessons are expensive, yo! We decided to skip the lessons, but practice dancing at home a few times. Well, we never got around to it, so the week before the wedding, we figured we ought to practice at least once in our living room, and Where You Are just felt wrong, like we were trying to be something we weren't. In the end, we said "to hell with it" and chose our song for our first dance, and don't regret it one bit. Sometimes, we get so focused on putting on a show that we forget what weddings are really about: the couple and the love they share. Well, if our relationship was made into a movie, Collide would be the soundtrack, and it wouldn't have felt right having our first dance as husband and wife to anything else.

As soon as we finished our entrance, I handed my bouquet to MOH Long Legs and the DJ started playing our song.  

Oddly enough, we were so focused on each other that we didn't even notice the cameras, or the hundred and fifty people that were staring at us.

We swayed a bit, but also threw in quite a few turns and twirls for flair.

I love how this picture captures the movement of my dress. 

At the time, we felt like we had pulled off some really fancy moves. A few guests even asked if we had practiced the dance before the wedding!

Of course, once we watched the video, we realized that we weren't quite up to So You Think You Can Dance standards. Big, poofy, ball gowns don't really lend themselves to fancy footwork and neither of us has any dance training beyond the awkward high-school sway, so I still declare it a success, even if we dipped on the wrong doo-doo-doo ;). I really love our video because we look so happy and in love, even if our dance moves weren't quite as advanced as we would have liked. Now, it`s the little mistakes (like Mr. W stepping on my dress) that make us smile when we watch the video. It's not perfect, but that's us. If you want to see it all in action, take a look below!. You can see the chandelier moment at 0:28, and me trying really hard not to lose it. I also love how our some of our bridal party is singing along, they're adorable. 

First Dance from Mrs.Waterfall on Vimeo/ / Footage courtesy of Cinemomento / Video edit by Mrs. Waterfall

What song are you choosing for your first dance? Are you choreographing something, or winging it like us?

Next up: Speeches and dinner!

All photos courtesy of the amazing Bachmann Photography unless otherwise specified

Miss a recap?

• We get it started with our wedding trailer
• We had a really intense wedding week
• We handle some last minute drama and get our nails did
• We practice getting married
• We eat all the French food
• We stuff our faces with chocolate
• The girls get pretty, oh so pretty
• The men suit up
• I put on my wedding dress
• I put on my veil and my entourage loses their sh*t
• I show you all my somethings
• We ride a vintage limo to the church
• The bridal party walks the walk
• We have a tearful “first look” on our walk down the aisle
• The ceremony begins with some lovely readings
• We exchange our vows and rings and have a blessing of the hands
• We finish mass, have a rose ceremony and sign the marriage register
• We take some pictures with our families
• We take a few bridal party pictures
• We take some pictures, just the two of us
• We skip cocktail hour, and spend some time with our friends
• We have a really fun first entrance

Falling for You: I Think I Wanna Marry You

When we left off, my bustle was done and we had noshed on some kick-ass apps and sipped on some delicious bubbly. We were pretty much ready to get the show on the road, which we did, once we got the go-ahead from our venue coordinator, photographers, and videographer. We lined up outside of the Versailles Ballroom, where our guests were already seated, and everyone took their places for the Bridal Party Entrance. As we were lining everyone up, MOH Long Legs looked at me and said, "Wait, where are we going?". You see, we had opted for a sweetheart table, with our bridal party scattered at various tables around the room, and I hadn't actually given any thought to where they should go once they entered. Thankfully, our venue coordinator was there and told everyone to stand at the edge of the dance-floor, in front of our sweetheart table. 

Ok, so full disclosure: I really wanted an awesome entrance, like the one on Glee, but since our friends weren't exactly on board with the idea, I had to drop it. I did, however, ask everyone to be really high-energy. After all, we were really counting on our friends to set the tone for the evening, and we wanted a PARTY... cause it was 8:30 and the club was jumpin' jumpin'. 

We chose Bruno Mars' Marry You as our Bridal Party Entrance song because it was cute and upbeat. The DJ announced BM Tiny and Brother GM first, who opted for the traditional "High School Homecoming" style of introduction. Womp womp. As we watched from behind the curtain, I said to Mr. Waterfall "That's not high-energy! We said to do high-energy! People will think it's going to be a boring wedding!" When we asked them about it the next day, BM Tiny said she froze up once the spotlight was on her; Brother GM said he thought we wanted to "keep it classy".  

But there was no time to dwell, because the DJ was already introducing BM Green Eyes and GM of Doom. Considering BM Green Eyes is very shy and hates to dance, she did a great job. That's true love, you guys.

Next up were MOH Long Legs and Best Man Tequila, who winked at me and said, "I got this", as he walked out. And boy did he ever have it. The crowd went nuts and started chanting his name! He sure knows how to get people riled up. 

Before long, the DJ was calling out our names. Mr. Waterfall looked at me and said, "You wanted high energy, right babe?" He grabbed my hand and we ran into the ballroom to an explosion of cheers and thunderous applause from our closest family and friends. 

Is he doing the Gangnam Style?

Since we hadn't seen the room before walking in, and the spotlight was on us, we were a little bit disoriented and didn't quite know where to go, but played it off anyways.  

 We twirled...

 ... High-fived...

And since everyone was still clapping, we did a victory lap around the dance floor before going straight into our First Dance.

To see it all in action, take a look at this video! Once again, I`m so glad that we paid for a video. As much as these photos are awesome, every time I look at this video, I get the hugest grin on my face! Sorry, I had to block out the names to protect the innocent!

Bridal Party Entrance from Mrs.Waterfall on Vimeo.
footage courtesy of Cinemomento/ video edit by Mrs. Waterfall

Next up, our first dance as husband and wife!

All photos courtesy of the amazing Bachmann Photography unless otherwise specified

Miss a recap?

• We get it started with our wedding trailer
• We had a really intense wedding week
• We handle some last minute drama and get our nails did
• We practice getting married
• We eat all the French food
• We stuff our faces with chocolate
• The girls get pretty, oh so pretty
• The men suit up
• I put on my wedding dress
• I put on my veil and my entourage loses their sh*t
• I show you all my somethings
• We ride a vintage limo to the church
• The bridal party walks the walk
• We have a tearful “first look” on our walk down the aisle
• The ceremony begins with some lovely readings
• We exchange our vows and rings and have a blessing of the hands
• We finish mass, have a rose ceremony and sign the marriage register
• We take some pictures with our families
• We take a few bridal party pictures
• We take some pictures, just the two of us
• We skip cocktail hour, and spend some time with our friends 

Falling for You: Cocktail

While Mr. W and I were busy making out all over old Montreal taking couple`s portraits, we had assumed that our bridal party had made it to the venue, and were happily partaking in our delicious appetizers and bitching martini bar. Not so. As it turns out, there was a miscommunication between them and the limo, and they never got picked up. After about an hour of pictures, the limo driver called Jesse to let him know that he had lost our bridal party. I`m not even sure how the situation eventually got resolved, but I'm pretty sure Jesse had something to do with it. This is one of a million reasons why I can't recommend Bachmann photography enough if you're a bride in the Montreal area (or even if you're not -- they travel!), Jesse and Catherine not only took breathtaking photos, but they also went above and beyond to make sure we enjoyed our day!

A few minutes later, both the limo and our bridal party met up with us. There was only one problem: seating. Since we were transporting both of our photographers, plus all six of our friends, we had a few two many people to fit in the limo. Thankfully, our videographer was driving his own car, so I asked him if he would mind giving Jesse and Catherine a lift. Problem solved!

Looking back, I'm actually kind of glad that this little snafu happened because we will never forget that fifteen-minute limo ride with our closest friends. We were all so pumped and just ready to get the party started! Our limo service provided us with a bottle of bubbly as part of our package, which Mr. W and I had saved for a private toast on our way to the venue. Instead, we toasted with our friends and even ended up drinking straight out of the bottle. Yup, The Waterfalls: classy with a capital "C". Of course, Jesse and Catherine were not there to document this, so you'll just have to settle for these blurry iPhone pictures, courtesy of BM Green Eyes.

Class. First class all the way!

By the time we made it to the venue, we realized that we hadn't taken any pictures with our amazing vintage limo. Since our photographers and videographer were still on their way and our limo driver was eager to leave for the night, we simply asked BM Green Eyes to snap a couple of quick shots. They turned out pretty awesome, don't you agree?

While all of this was happening, our guests were enjoying our awesome cocktail hour and I'm so happy to say that almost everyone raved about the food, the martini bar, and our breathtaking venue. I really wish we could have enjoyed cocktail hour too, but it was a sacrifice we would make again for our amazing photos. Before we continue, I must warn you that we have no professional pictures of cocktail hour. We had two shooters, but didn't think (or want) to split them up. I did however, manage to get a few guest pictures for the hive!

This was the setup when guests walked into the venue: beautiful draping with blue uplighting. On the table pictured behind our guest was our birdcage cardbox along with our seating card display. I'm a little sad that I don't have a single photo of these details to show you guys, but what can you do?

Guest photo

Mami Waterfall enjoying cocktail hour with some cousins from New Jersey/ guest photo

Grandmaman Waterfall and her partner along with Mr. W`s aunts and uncle. I spot a seating card!/ guest photo

Once guests walked in, they could mingle, grab some food, and partake in our martini bar, part of our 8-hour open bar. 

Screenshot from our wedding video/ video by Cinemomento

Guest photo

Mami W and Brother GM`s girlfriend C/ guest photo

Screenshot from our wedding video/ video by Cinemomento

The martini bar/ guest photo

We had a mix of low and high tables, but wanted to encourage mingling among guests.

Screenshot from our wedding video/ video by Cinemomento

There were also couches at the far end of the room, which apparently quickly became kid-central :)

Our adorable flower girls coloring at cocktail hour. Screenshot from our wedding video/ video by Cinemomento

Speaking of food, I'm a little surprised that nobody took any pictures of our passed appetizers (I guess they were too busy chowing down and boozing it up!), but not to worry, I got ya, boo. I took this picture months before our wedding, back when we had our tasting, but you get the idea!

Our menu of passed apps included:

Blinis of smoked salmon and cream cheese (pictured middle/right)

Waldorf on endives en verrine (pîctured on the top/ bottom)

Verrines of strawberry, feta, arugula (pictured in the middle)

La Caprese en verrine  (pictured in the middle)

Arrancini (pictured bottom left) Basically big balls of risotto. Sooo good!

Tortelloni gorgonzola

Mini Dijonnaise meatball (pictured top left)

Mini Brochettes of chicken teriyaki (pictured far right)

After dismissing our limo driver for the night, we went inside and quickly made our way to the bridal suite, where our venue coordinator had platters of appetizers waiting for us. And, before I even had to ask, an appletini magically manifested in my hand. IT. WAS. GLORIOUS.

While our photographers and videographer were setting up in the ballroom, we took a few minutes to settle down and enjoy some food. While MOH Long Legs and BM Tiny fastened my 25-point ballroom bustle (that thing was no joke!), BM Green Eyes kept feeding me meatball after meatball. I kept asking her to stop because, as delicious as they were, I didn't want to spoil my appetite for later. She laughed at me and said, "Eat now, while you have the chance, you don't know what will happen later". Wiser words have never been uttered. All I can say is thank heavens for BM Green Eyes force-feeding me a million risotto balls, because I basically didn't eat anything else all night. But more on that later...

Are you planning on attending your own cocktail hour?

All photos courtesy of the amazing Bachmann Photography unless otherwise specified

Miss a recap?

• We get it started with our wedding trailer
• We had a really intense wedding week
• We handle some last minute drama and get our nails did
• We practice getting married
• We eat all the French food
• We stuff our faces with chocolate
• The girls get pretty, oh so pretty
• The men suit up
• I put on my wedding dress
• I put on my veil and my entourage loses their sh*t
• I show you all my somethings
• We ride a vintage limo to the church
• The bridal party walks the walk
• We have a tearful “first look” on our walk down the aisle
• The ceremony begins with some lovely readings
• We exchange our vows and rings and have a blessing of the hands
• We finish mass, have a rose ceremony and sign the marriage register
• We take some pictures with our families
• We take a few bridal party pictures
• We take some pictures, just the two of us