03.04.10 Our Day by Design: Evening Reception

The rest of the reception went so fast! Our photographers stayed until around 20 minutes after the first dance so they could take some shots of the guests dancing, which I loved seeing.

All of a sudden it was time for them to leave, they had been with us for over 10 hours by then which was fantastic and meant we got every part of the day captured.

The band were brilliant and had everyone up dancing all night, I don't think the floor was ever empty which was great. Hip Operation are an 8 piece band which was prefect for the large stage at Norton House so I'm so glad they were all able to come.

{All images above by Craig & Eva Sanders}

We had 3 ceilidh dances included; the Gay Gordons, the Dashing White Sergeant & the St Bernards Waltz. I managed to drag Graham up for the Gay Gordons since it was the first one but I sat out for the others; my organza train had come a bit loose from the lining during the Gay Gordons {think someone stood on it} and it needed a quick fix from Ashleigh before I could get back on the dance floor!

{All images to follow are non pro pics from friends & family!}

The band made an announcement when they were about to play Empire State of Mind Part II since we had requested it specifically however Graham was no where to be seen! I danced with my bridesmaids instead then we got them to play it again later on when Graham returned. The girl who sang it from the band was brilliant and definitely did it justice, we were so glad we had asked them to learn it. It turned out Graham had been putting my case into our room then showing someone around it since we had been upgraded to a duplex suite and everyone wanted to see it!

The buffet was served at around 10pm and despite everyone saying no one would eat it; I don't think there was anything left! We had potato wedges with a sour cream dip; assorted sandwiches; chicken tikka & baby gem wraps; crispy vegetable rolls; mini vegetable samosas; mini cumberland sausages and then the 3 types of wedding cake. We danced & chatted with friends and family for the rest of the evening. Since we had spoke to everyone at the receiving line earlier, we didn't have to make our way around every table and were able to spend some time enjoying the reception with our friends. At the start of the night I had to find the best man to get me a drink, since I had no money with me, but after that they kept appearing in front of me, which I then kept putting down when I got up to talk to talk to someone else or dance again!

All too soon it was time for the last dance. I can't really remember what they played, we think it was Caledonia as they couldn't play Loch Lomond, but Graham and I ended up in the middle of a large circle of all our family & friends then we dragged our parents in to dance with us too! Then they were calling last orders at the bar; the ushers got everyone sorted who was getting on the bus back to Edinburgh then Haddington and we said goodbye to the guests who weren't staying over. I couldn't quite believe it was over!

Instead of going straight up to our room; everyone who was staying over headed into the main bar for more drinks for another hour or so; Enzo had woken up too so he joined us for a while before we finally called it a night! It took Graham ages to get my dress off with its buttons, zip & corset but then we were able to relax, laugh & chat about the day. We opened all of our cards & some of the gifts that people had brought to the hotel with them before finally falling asleep; Our Day by Design over!

(The first 8 images by Craig & Eva Sanders, the remaining 9 are non pro pics from family & friends)

{Although the wedding day recaps are now complete; I have a few more posts to go about our gifts & my jewellery; all the details; the flowers; my old, new, borrowed & blue and finally our lunch the day after!}