eat up, shake down.

Today, I'm linking up with the sweet Natasha to relive the life of the party - the reception! Our cocktail hour {which I sadly have no photos of but you can find some here} and reception took place at the same location as the wedding.  It started out with cocktails, cheese and Vitamin String Quartet on the lawn, followed by stuffing faces and dancing butts off. 

after the ceremony, we took off for some fun photos. I've decided to do a separate post or two on all the group photos and photos of mike and I. Otherwise, I'll wind up with a 600 photo blog post. As much as I would love that, I'm sure it's a bit easier to digest broken up.

this photo was taken by Amanda and is one of my favs .. more wedding photos by her here

After some photogs, we headed in for the first dance...Ray Lamontagne You are the best thing

yes i pulled out some horrible moves..fishing being one of them..and some bumping and grinding (see below)

and then there's cake...

in your face

my dad giving his welcome 

 the best men giving their speech. My MOH conveniently 'went to the bathroom' and missed her speech ..hmmmm. ;)

two peas in a pod... 

we had a rockin' band from Raleigh {Scarlet}. We saw them at a bar one night and fell in love. After traveling around NC listening to some pretty horrible 'wedding bands,' we were set on having Scarlet the night we heard them at The Oxford {a local pub}.They kept the dance floor packed all night {and they even kept the crowd going after we left}. They made the party a PAR-TAY!

 we snuck away for a 'steamy' night session with our photographer....

 and, of course, all good things come to an end. We left the party and headed to the Ballantyne resort in Charlotte for the night before our escape to Hawaii. 

Leaving this night, I never could have imagined the amazing time Mike and I have had together in just six months. I underestimated how amazing this 'new' life was going to be. I know we will have our bumps in the road but we'll survive and, boy, what a beautiful mess we will make. I can't wait. For those of you that aren't married yet, the best is yet to come. You imagine the wedding as the best day of your life... but it gets even sweeter.