J & J Wedding Day

Last Saturday was the wedding of my little brother Josh to his beautiful new wife Jen.  They are such a striking couple.

It was a wonderful wedding… organic, beautiful but not fussy, and very fun.  Here are a few highlights from the night:

I loved the clothesline of photographs… some of the bride and groom together and some of them as children.  We also hung J’s… for Josh and Jen… and butterflies cut out of newspaper or brown paper.

The wedding had many recycled and reusable items… newspaper paper crafts, mason jars for flowers and lanterns, and potted plants in place of cut flowers.

The reception was held on the outdoor patio of Cafe Molise in downtown Salt Lake City.  The food there is an absolute treat if you are looking to splurge a little and you happen to be in Utah.  The staff was amazing.  I just need to say a special thanks to Shelley, the manager from the restaurant.  She worked so hard to make every detail of the evening special (and it was!)  She deserves a raise!

You’ve never seen sweeter flower girls… here’s my daughter Lily…. OK, I might be a bit prejudiced.

Here’s my brother’s beautiful daughters… do you see what I mean about the flowers girls?

Jen is from Scotland and so a bagpiper was essential.  Let me tell you, nothing will give you goosebumps like hearing a piper play Loch Lomond.

Since Jen moved from Scotland to South Africa for much of her childhood, there were some fun South African traditions as well, like toasts in Afrikaans, singing, and best of all (in my opinion) delicious Milk Tarts as one of the desserts.

The photo booth was a riot.  I saw 8 people in it at once… and we couldn’t keep the nieces and nephews out of it.  (The pictures were unlimited.)

After getting your photo strip (2 copies) you could keep one as a memento.  You glued the other strip onto a scrapbook page and wrote a note/wish for the bride and groom.

I also loved the movie Casablanca playing silently on the large side of the building…  a wonderful touch.  And we all loved dancing.  I personally didn’t dance because I was nearly crippled from wearing heels (I don’t know how people wear them everyday!)  But I loved sitting down for a moment and watching.  I only wish I had a video of my daughter Emma and my nephew Will.  They boogied the night away.  I don’t know were Emma got her hot moves from… certainly not from me!

I loved the hand written signs for the desserts.  Most of the desserts were homemade with the exception of the Chocolate Eclairs from Carol’s Bakery in Salt Lake.  There were Key Lime Cupcakes, Chocolate Cupcakes, Pavlovas, Milk Tarts and Chocolate Eclairs… all yummy.

On a lighter note… I got a chuckle at the “lover duckies” on top of a very simple wedding cake…  I love that Jen didn’t feel the need to spend hundreds of dollars on a pretty but inedible cake (I’ve tasted a few of those.)  I love that she spent her money on the things that really mattered to her.  And the cake just wasn’t top of her list… but if she was going to eat a bit of cake, it better taste good… so we got a cake from Glaus’ Bakery in Salt Lake City and it was delicious even if it was simple.

What a happy perfect day.  I loved every minute of it.  Congratulations Josh and Jen.  I wish you a long and happy life together… and many more days as lovely as Saturday.