A Wedding, A Reception, and A Honeymoon…. Pt. 2 – Throwing A Reception is STRESSFUL

So we got married and then waited 3 months to throw a reception party near Houston since my family is there and M went to high school there. There were many options to choose from in this big city but many were too fancy, too expensive, and too not-us. We wanted something natural and simple. And that is how we found the Raven Lodge at Huntsville State Park.

(Tip…. the terms ‘wedding reception’ and ‘simple’ are NEVER going to go together, no matter what you think. Just accept it and go along for the ride.)

I asked my mom for help since she’s 15 minutes away from the park, and I’m more like 15 hours away. Plus, I wouldn’t be back in Houston until the reception. So most of the stress was on her. Poor awesome mom! I was still stressed but it was more of the “we are going to die in this stupid freak winter storm driving to Houston!” type stress and less of the “why isn’t the cupcake place open when they said they’d be” stress. Suffice it to say, we were all experiencing some type of stress. Let’s move on…

The reception was so much fun! M had a bunch of his high school and college friends show up, and several of my close friends were able to come out. My bf was having her own life stresses back home in El Paso and couldn’t make it. 😦 She was missed but I still love her. I also got to see family members that I’d never met (those under 6 years old), and close friends of the family that I hadn’t seen in a decade. It was a reunion all around!

The Raven Lodge Hall

 

Gluten-free cupcakes, vegan cupcakes, and regular cupcakes!

 

M and I on the back deck overlooking Lake Raven

 

My parents, me, and M

 

My cousin A, one of my bfs and college roomie R, and me

 

Old friends catching up… R and I are famous for our hours-long chats.

 

my grandmother and one of her best friends… both matriarchs of great families

 

My cousin, his son, and his grandmother

 

meeting my new second-cousin

 

My mom, my cousin, and my new second-cousin

 

M’s high school friends having a reunion!

 

Family friends and their daughter – I went to their wedding… I think that was the last time I saw them.

 

family friends, and sisters

 

me with M’s family

 

my little cousins helped clean up afterwards… I think it was an attempt to get them to sleep all the way back to Bastrop

 

My mom did great on the minimal decorations. I didn’t want alot of craziness and she delivered!

White sands to represent where we were married

It was really hard seeing everyone and wanting to catch up with them but also having to break up our time to make sure we saw everyone! I think we need a reunion for our reception 🙂

I think my parents needed a vacation after the reception-planning was over. M and I had to get back home so M could get back to work. We had our honeymoon all scheduled for February! Just in time to get out of the gross Chihuahuan Desert winter.

A Wedding, A Reception, and A Honeymoon…. Pt. 1 – Gettin’ Hitched

Remember waaaaaay back in September when I randomly mentioned that M and I were getting married? Well we did…

In true park ranger/nature lover fashion, everything we did involved nature and national parks. M proposed to me under the July supermoon at Guadalupe Mountains National Park. I totally did NOT see this coming, but apparently my parents knew because my dad texted me within 12 hours with one word… “Well?!” Yeah, he knew what was coming.

 

Engaged!

 

Now several of you know me pretty well, and know that I’m not a ‘wedding bride’ kinda girl. I did not grow up imagining the perfect wedding dress, the perfect location, the perfect bridesmaids dresses, the perfect color scheme, etc. I’ve always been more of a ‘perfect party afterwards’ kind of girl. Any wedding I was to have would be outdoors, preferably private, and (given my complete white-girl adoration of fall) in the fall.

So M and I were in complete agreement over the fall wedding idea. But getting engaged in July and throwing a fall wedding reception for friends and family that are scattered across the US was just too much! So after a bit of discussing, we decided to elope, exchanging our own vows under the full moon in October. It didn’t take long for the perfect location to pop into M’s head… White Sands National Monument! The full moon on the white sand dunes would be magical!

And that is exactly what we did on October 8th….

Pre-wedding in our backyard, M in his fancy court-wear and I in my most perfect favorite skirt

Exchanging vows on perfect white gypsum sand dunes

My man and a most perfect sunset

 

We spent our wedding night in the not-so-perfect town of Alamogordo…. but the drive home through the Sacramento Mountains was completely worth it!

Mr. and Ms. M.H.!

 

Even though we got married in October, finding a location and time for a reception was proving most difficult. We finally settled on the first weekend of January, with both M’s brother and my brother in town for the holidays, we’d have the whole family together… and our families would meet for the very first time.

(to be continued…)