jtolbert
Well-Known Member
On Saturday, 12 July 2014, I married the woman I've loved for a large portion of my adult life. 
Amy Lohn and I put on a nice, short wedding ceremony officiated by a judge, then threw one hell of a reception with about two hundred of our closest family and friends.
The wedding ceremony itself was short and sweet...Pretty run-of-the-mill with not a whole lot of decoration or pomp in one of the smaller rooms at our local Hilton Garden Inn. Amy's Jewish and I'm a-religious, but she wanted me to do the traditional stepping on the glass...That was neat.
The photo-taking between the wedding ceremony and the reception was tedious. I was happy to be done with that.
The reception was downstairs in the same hotel, in one of the big ballrooms. We provided all the pre-recorded music for the "event" stuff...First dance, wedding-party dance, father-bride/mother-groom dance, bouquet toss, garter toss, etc., but after everyone was fed, the live entertainment started up. I hired Live Karaoke Band (AKA the Chicago Blackhawks Band) to provide the post-dinner entertainment. The members of the band are all friends of mine and it was a complete blast to have them there with us. I wasn't sure how well this would go over at a wedding reception, but everyone loved it.
My wife plays drums and I play bass, so the highlight of the reception for me was getting to play 'Love Me Do' by the Beatles with Amy on the drums. The first pic we got of it is a crappy cell-phone pic from Amy's brother Steve, but it's kind of awesome anyway.
Amy plays pure lefty, only plays on her drum kit at home and has never played in front of anyone but family before, so this was a Big Deal for her. It went really well and everyone at the reception just went nuts for it. I played bass on four or five other songs that night as well---everything from 'Cumbersome' by 7 Mary 3 to 'Sweet Child 'O Mine' by Guns 'n Roses---but the highlight was definitely just playing 'Love Me Do' with Amy.
Out of the roughly 200 people that started the reception with us, the vast majority were still there when we had to shut it down at 11:00, and I think we even farmed a dozen or so folks from the reception next door, who were only doing a DJ playing fairly boring wedding fare.
I didn't want a cookie-cutter reception. How many weddings do you go to and, years later, the only thing you remember about the wedding was that you were there? I think we had something pretty memorable; maybe even one "for the ages." Everyone had an amazing time and we've been hearing "BEST. RECEPTION. EVER." all day long today. My wife and I had an amazing time, shared with our wedding party full of our closest friends, our families and a ton of others we're close to. I got to reunite for the evening with a group of friends that were a large part of my life for several years, but haven't all been in the same place at the same time for years, but the best part is coming out of it hitched with Amy.
More pics from a friend, but his camera battery ran out before the reception was over. The hired photographer's pics will be coming soon.
Amy Lohn and I put on a nice, short wedding ceremony officiated by a judge, then threw one hell of a reception with about two hundred of our closest family and friends. The wedding ceremony itself was short and sweet...Pretty run-of-the-mill with not a whole lot of decoration or pomp in one of the smaller rooms at our local Hilton Garden Inn. Amy's Jewish and I'm a-religious, but she wanted me to do the traditional stepping on the glass...That was neat.
The photo-taking between the wedding ceremony and the reception was tedious. I was happy to be done with that.
The reception was downstairs in the same hotel, in one of the big ballrooms. We provided all the pre-recorded music for the "event" stuff...First dance, wedding-party dance, father-bride/mother-groom dance, bouquet toss, garter toss, etc., but after everyone was fed, the live entertainment started up. I hired Live Karaoke Band (AKA the Chicago Blackhawks Band) to provide the post-dinner entertainment. The members of the band are all friends of mine and it was a complete blast to have them there with us. I wasn't sure how well this would go over at a wedding reception, but everyone loved it.
My wife plays drums and I play bass, so the highlight of the reception for me was getting to play 'Love Me Do' by the Beatles with Amy on the drums.
The first pic we got of it is a crappy cell-phone pic from Amy's brother Steve, but it's kind of awesome anyway.
Amy plays pure lefty, only plays on her drum kit at home and has never played in front of anyone but family before, so this was a Big Deal for her.
It went really well and everyone at the reception just went nuts for it. I played bass on four or five other songs that night as well---everything from 'Cumbersome' by 7 Mary 3 to 'Sweet Child 'O Mine' by Guns 'n Roses---but the highlight was definitely just playing 'Love Me Do' with Amy.Out of the roughly 200 people that started the reception with us, the vast majority were still there when we had to shut it down at 11:00, and I think we even farmed a dozen or so folks from the reception next door, who were only doing a DJ playing fairly boring wedding fare.
I didn't want a cookie-cutter reception. How many weddings do you go to and, years later, the only thing you remember about the wedding was that you were there? I think we had something pretty memorable; maybe even one "for the ages." Everyone had an amazing time and we've been hearing "BEST. RECEPTION. EVER." all day long today. My wife and I had an amazing time, shared with our wedding party full of our closest friends, our families and a ton of others we're close to. I got to reunite for the evening with a group of friends that were a large part of my life for several years, but haven't all been in the same place at the same time for years, but the best part is coming out of it hitched with Amy.
More pics from a friend, but his camera battery ran out before the reception was over. The hired photographer's pics will be coming soon.
