Arbuckle Mountain Wedding Reception

After walking back down the isle as Mr. and Mrs. Smith, it was reception time for our guests!  

The Food

Since our wedding was in a Lodge, we did everything ourselves - including food and drinks.  We had everything prepared ahead of time, and asked one of my dad's fellow police officers to grill the hamburgers.  We'd asked the other to drive the shuttle for our guests, and of course compensated them for their hard work.  (The other nice thing about this is that we had 3 active police officers at our wedding, just in case anything went wrong...not sure what could go wrong, but anyway!)

Caskey in grilling action!

Guests lined up at the outdoor tables for a picnic style cook out, getting their hamburger at the end of the line after they prepared the rest of their plate.

We had tables lined up off to the side of the lodge under the trees overlooking one of the ponds.  The weather was pretty nice, the view scenic, and the mood was relaxed!

The groom had the chance to sit and eat dinner with his family...

The Photobooth

**See here for my photobooth specific post**

We'd asked our house ladies to have the photobooth open for just the first hour after the ceremony.  That way people could take their pictures at the photobooth, then join in the rest of the reception activities without having to keep our house ladies tied to the photobooth for the entire reception.

 I wasn't really hungry right after the ceremony...probably due to being in a tight dress, and the fact that I ate a sandwich right before the ceremony.  Instead of going to eat, I joined family and friends at the photobooth.

My favorite part of this picture is our friend Kevin using a mustache prop upside down as a unibrow. haha

My little cousin and I at the photobooth.  We're trying to raise up more SOONERS in our family, which is why I shoved that OU flag into her hands before we took the pictures.  She can go to whatever school she wants....but maybe? Hopefully?  I know her dad will agree!

 First Dance and Best Man's Speech

After dinner and outdoor fun, we all went inside for the first dance to 'My Girl' by Dave Barnes.

Our best man, Louis gave an excellent speech talking about the friendship he's had with us over our college years, and specifically pointing out characteristic of Tyler that I think everyone in the room could relate to - especially about his servant heart and work ethic.  You can catch a bit of his speech in our wedding recap video.

Next was cutting and eating cake, which has its own post!

After cake, we had planned to dance, but the night just wasn't feeling it.  We spent the rest of the evening chatting with family and friends and eating s'mores.

My friends that I went to Cardiff, Wales with.  Love them!

My OU girlfriends.  We are cracking up because of what the wind was doing to Veronica's hair.
Sorry Veronica, but I like this picture.  :)

We are really silly and call ourselves Kaysadeanaronica.  That's our names combined.
And after a few trials, we are finally standing in the correct order.
Is it also weird that we all have blogs?  Kayla {Me} Deana Veronica

We took a group picture with our OU friends too!
This is the ultimate symbol of being a Sooner, we do this when we sing our alma mater.

A picture of us with our Sooner friends later in the reception!

We stayed until most guests left...which doesn't come with a traditional farewell, but we loved that we could be there until the end and say goodbye to everyone who helped clean up and make the wedding day even possible.

A big thanks to Birds and Coffee Design for capturing our wedding photos!

Saying 'I Do'

Here is a post all about our wedding ceremony!  I'll just narrate through the pictures, so sit back and enjoy the great work of Birds and Coffee Design's photography!  

Our wedding was at Deer Creek Lodge in Davis, Oklahoma in the lovely Arbuckle mountains in the middle of May.  The lodge had two large ponds with canoes, lots of trees, and on our particular day lots of wind!  

This is the state where the wind come sweeping down the plains.

We had a very traditional ceremony, led by my grandpa.  After the processionals, we heard a brief message about God's plan for marriage, said the traditional vows, were pronounced, kissed, and walked away married! 

When I say traditional vows, I mean they even had the 'thees' and 'thous' and don't tell me that's not a tongue twister!  We worked hard to say those vows!

Here is a look at our ceremony through pictures!

Guests arriving and house ladies greeting them with the guest book and programs!

Our guests seated themselves while listening to a mixture of classic 20s and 30s big band broadcast songs and selections from Pixar's Up! Soundtrack.

Our ceremony location from behind, guests arriving!

The groom and my grandpa, our officiant.
He has officiated almost all of his children's and grandchildren's weddings!
Looks like he is giving Tyler instructions.

Processional

Family Processional

Our families and wedding party walked to parts of "Married Life from the Up! soundtrack.

Tyler's Paternal Grandmother, my cousin escorting.

My paternal grandmother, my uncle escorting.

Tyler's Maternal Grandmother, my uncle escorting.

My Maternal Grandmother

Tyler's mother

My mother

The Bridal Party's Processional

Groomsman and Bridesmaid Joey and Kelsey

Groomsman and Bridesmaid Wei and Sherry

Best Man and Matron of Honor Louis and Deana

The lovely Pebble Girls make their entrance!

Our oldest pebble girl scattered pebbles.
Her basket says, "We're Standing on the Solid Rock"

Our younger Pebble Girl carries our beloved stuffed puppy, Maggie.

The Bride's Entrance...

My walk down the isle started at the back door of the lodge.  The beginning of "Carl Goes Up" set the scene, and my dad and I walked to the climax of the song.  (My dad is wearing a police dress uniform).

The Ceremony

The Giving Away

A word from my grandpa's "marriage book" as he calls it.
(He also likes to pretend he has 'forgotten' his marriage book. haha)

Saying our vows.

The Kiss

Why I love my wedding veil!  Always waited for this moment!

Our first married kiss!

Mr. and Mrs. Smith!

Read more about my wedding dress here!

Heh, I got him that watch! ;)

And we walk away as married people!

Last, but definitely not least, we asked our friend Kevin to video our wedding for us.  He seriously went ABOVE AND BEYOND and we are super impressed!  He even went so far as to match the songs to the correct parts of the ceremony so that the sound quality would be full.  Seriously.

Check out this HIGHLIGHT VIDEO that he made to recap our ceremony and reception!  I'd love to embed it for you, but I think due to the song used YouTube won't let me!  But it is really worth the click! :)

All photos credited to Birds and Coffee Design.

Our Flower Girls were Pebble Girls

 Here's something that'll throw ya.
We had pebble girls instead of flower girls at our wedding.

What are Pebble Girls, you ask?
Well, here's a story about the idea and the sweet little ladies who carried it out.

Meet our pebble girls.  
I'm leaving their names out just for security purposes.

They are my little cousins on my mom's side of my family.  

They are also the only girls besides me since my mom's generation.

All the cousins in my generation are boys.

I think they're pretty special.

The idea to have Pebble Girls came one day when I was toying with the idea of them throwing something besides flower petals.

(Remember, in the above paragraph I told you that I was the only girl in my generation.  I grew up with a bunch of boy cousins, and have since been very much a tom-girl.)

Flowers don't do that much for me.  They are pretty, but they aren't that meaningful.

To both Tyler and I, rocks are very meaningful.  We both have extensive rock collections since we were young children.  Our grandparents taught us about rocks, gave us rocks, helped us look for rocks, and so on.  Thus, the idea was born that the girls should prepare the way with rocks, not flowers.  

The idea kept becoming even more meaningful as we kept thinking of ideas.  For her basket of pebbles, I decided to make a sign that said, "We're Standing on the Solid Rock" from the old hymn.  

Not only is our marriage made of things we both love, but it should be built on the solid rock - which is God.  Rock is a foundation that is sturdy, and it doesn't just go away through many types of conditions. 

For our youngest pebble girl, we had another important task.  You see, in this picture she is holding my beloved Maggie.  Tyler won Maggie for me on our second date at the Oklahoma State Fair, and since she has gone wherever I go.  Maggie lived in China, Maggie has made lots of road trips, lived in different apartments, and always likes to snuggle.  Maggie had been there with us since the beginning of our relationship, and there was no way she was missing out on our wedding day!

That's where this lovely pebble girl came in, as she made sure Maggie was standing right up there with us!

Aren't they both adorable?

And so the time came, for our Pebble Girls to prepare the way....

Our oldest pebble girl laid the rock foundation,

and our youngest helped us have everyone we needed all together.

The ceremony happened.  It was wonderful, windy and well.

Our pebble girls stayed strong!

There they are, still doing a great job during the ceremony!

Mostly, anyway! ;)

This was one of our favorite pictures from the entire day! haha!

And then the time came to celebrate!  So they did...

Photo Credited to Veronica Burns.

This little lady was awesome, because she figured out that the sign turned around for the recessional!
I had completely forgotten to show her that, but she figured it out anyway!  You go, girl!
Photo credited to Veronica Burns.

And we they lived happily ever after!

*All photo credits go to Birds and Coffee Design unless otherwise stated.  We appreciate their talent and hard work!