ten eleven ten: Our Cran-Lemon Wedding: Cocktail Hour

After my new hubby(!) and I took family photos, we went into the bridal suite so I could quickly swap out my ceremony accessories (pearl necklace and veil) for my reception accessory (my bolero). Then Steve and I went to our cocktail hour, where our guests were already enjoying appetizers and our open bar.

The entrance to our venue, where our cocktail hour and reception took place.

Here are the details from our cocktail hour. For our escort card table, we framed a few of our engagement photos and also had some white mini pumpkins in a tall vase with a bow. I printed the escort cards myself using the same fonts and berry color as our invitations and programs.

We didn't have to worry about ordering flowers for our cocktail tables because our venue took care of it. They floated single red rose buds in mini vases. I asked them to put a few mini white pumpkins on each table as well. Simple and pretty.

{guest photo}

If there's one thing our venue (Fox Hollow) is known for, it's the food! They have a restaurant on premises. For our cocktail hour, we had platters with cheese & crackers, fruit, antipasti and then a few hot buffet stations that we'd selected from their menu. We had a very eclectic assortment of hot food: Coquille St. Jacques (shrimp and scallops in a creamy lobster sauce), beef bourguignonne, sweet & sour chicken, fried rice, arroz con pollo, sweet plaintains, penne alla vodka and fried calamari. It was an insane amount of food. I actually got to try a few things and everything was delicious!

Steve and I thought we'd enter our cocktail hour by simply walking in and saying hi to our guests. But our maitre d had something else in mind. When she escorted us into the room, she made an announcement to introduce us. It was another surreal moment where we were applauded and everyone's attention was on us!

Me: I wasn't expecting such a grand entrance!
{guest photo}

We spent the remainder of the cocktail hour mingling with our guests. Because we only had 110 guests, we got the chance to say hello to everyone, which was great. We were in two adjoining rooms so there was plenty of space to spread out. I loved how even in our cocktail hour space, a lot of natural light came in.