Our Wedding: Cocktail Hour

I promise you that these wedding recaps are almost over.  There were just too many photos to do this in one post.  Next week, I’ll end these wedding posts with the reception pictures.  Up today is the cocktail hour!

Immediately following our ceremony was our cocktail hour and reception.  Our cocktail hour was in the arboretum’s Out on a Limb, which is a massive tree house structure.  The space is really unique, so we knew when we signed our venue contract that we wanted to spend the extra money to have the cocktail hour there.  It was a no brainer.

I really wanted champagne at the wedding, but having a champagne toast can get pretty pricey.  To get around that, I created our signature drink which included champagne, St. Germain and a raspberry.  It was a hit!  The signature drink was actually the only think I had to drink all night.

Our food at the cocktail hour was amazing, although I was running around so much that I didn’t have a chance to eat much of it.  We had two stationary hors d’oeuvres, a Mediterranean station and an antipasto station.  We also had the catering team pass hors d’oeuvres around, which included crab cake bites, cheesesteak spring rolls, coconut beer battered shrimp, and something else that’s escaping my mind right now.

The weather was absolutely perfect for the cocktail hour.  The wind died down and the sun kept shining!  We really did luck out.  Our family and friends had a wonderful time in the tree house.  I’m still receiving comments about how unique and fun it was. 

We made sure that our formal family photos were quick, because we wanted to be able to enjoy our cocktail hour.  Our photographers were on the ball and made sure to get the important family photos done seamlessly.

Up next: the reception!