Well, folks, this is it… the last photo recap of our wedding. Next, I’ll share with you our budget breakdown, and then it’s on to our Zihuatanejo honeymoon. After that, who knows!
My first detail recap showed you the people and accessories that gave celebration special warmth and feeling.
Today’s post focuses on some of the details that made our wedding unique: DIY projects, decorations, food and beverage, transportation, et cetera. I’ve picked lots of colorful photos to share each detail with you and, wherever possible, linked you to my past posts with more information or other external resources. Enjoy!
After our bouquet and garter tosses, the Good Wood Band again took the stage for the second half of their three-hour set. By this time it was very dark – the kind of pitch blackness you can only experience on a cloudy night in the middle of nowhere – and quite cold. But the rain from earlier had still not returned, and between dancing, drinking, and huddling near the wood stove, we were staying warm and content.
Besides our ceremony, the thing I was most looking forward to on our wedding day was the music and dancing. From the beginning, I knew that I wanted to hire a band to play live. It’s not that I was all that adverse to an iPod reception or even to a DJ – I’ve been to plenty of weddings that worked well with them – but I love live music, and neither iPod nor DJ seemed to fit into Montana Ambiance or our Americana theme. Our wedding just seemed to call for a band – so I started to search for one.
I found our band, Good Wood, as the first hit in a google search for local Montana bluegrass. After I listened to a few clips, I thought, “Damn, these guys are good.” I made a mental note to come back to them later. Then, I scoured search results, local directories, and MySpace for more worthy bands and could find nothing that compared. So, I listened to every streaming MP3 that Good Wood had to offer, was suitably impressed, and dropped them a line. Two days after we started entertaining the idea of live music, we had booked our band.
Like our photographer, they were the first we found (by random chance) and the only option we really considered. In both instances, we were more than satisfied. There was no choice – it was fate!
September, in the remote, Northwest reaches of Montana, our wedding was about to start.
While I waited in the wings for the processional to play, dramatic clouds boiled and broke overhead, throwing the mountains into sun and shadows, sprinkling us with the lightest of showers…
Whoops! I forgot to post this before the detail post. Anyhow, THIS is the last of the guest-photo recaps.
After dinner, our band took the stage. We’d hired Good Wood, a bluegrass band from Kalispell, for their awesome sound and great price – $1200 for 3 hours! Neither of us had ever heard our band live before.
We just knew that Polebridge’s hand-built stage deserved live music, and something with a local flair. Good Wood was the first band that turned up after a Google search for “Kalispell and Whitefish bluegrass bands” and after much more extensive research, they remained the best. What can I say; they make a good first impression.
I was sad that I wasn’t able to see them perform during my trip to Glacier in May, as I had planned (thanks to a flat tire), but once they took the stage I knew for sure we’d chosen right…
Unfortunately, many of our more “dressed up” guests (as well as many of the older folks) left as soon as dinner ended and the dancing began. They were probably cold and uncomfortable, and we were sad to see them go. But it was their loss – these guys rocked!
It’s hard to believe that my littlest sister, born when I was thirteen, is going to play the music for our ceremony. But as she’s grown up, she’s turned into quite the fine violinist, despite the fact that she’s still goofy.
( Striking a pose in a mini-archway at a Tokyo train station )
I asked her to be our violinist because I knew that she would play us anything we wanted, and anything she played would sound amazing. Plus, the fact that she’s my baby sister makes her contribution all the more touching and special!
After my hair and makeup trials, we planned to drive an hour down to Polson, where Good Wood, the bluegrass band we hired for our wedding was playing.
Good Wood was taking the stage from 9 to midnight that night and the next. And though I was already exhausted after everything we’d done that day (rentals, florist, tasting, hair & makeup), heading there straight with one day left in Glacier made more sense than trying to see them the next night and starting back to Seattle in the morning.
I was so wiped out that as we started the drive down, I started to wonder if we should just skip it. But I really wanted the chance to hear my band live, and going to Polson also meant I’d have a chance to meet again with our wedding (and engagement pic) photographer, who lives nearby. So, I figured I’d just tough it up and have a few extra shots of espresso.
Well, just a few miles out, we were driving by an old truck that was making an awful lot of noise. I was pretty annoyed, until a minute later, the truck turned right and the noise kept right on going. Then, with a little wibble and wobble, my back left tire blew out.
I just found this video of Good Wood, the bluegrass band that will be playing at our wedding, performing a more downtempo song. It’s a nice contrast to the swinging uptempo samples they have on their website!
We’re signing Good Wood to play at our wedding for (up to) 3 hours of music. Depending on how far away from the permanent stage we place the reception tent, we may have music during dinner, or else starting afterward. I think it’s likely that we’ll dine in a tent away from the “center” of town and then after dinner’s done, everyone will migrate toward the stage for more drinks and dancing, and we’ll do the cake cutting over there. You can see an aerial view of the town in this photo, with some comments added to show you what I mean. There are also small log tables and benches that will seat plenty of people for dessert, drinks, and coffee near the stage. I imagine we’ll (maybe) also rent a dance surface rather than having guests trudge up dust.
I’ve asked my youngest sister to play violin for the processional and recessional at the ceremony. She’s a very talented violinist and already knows a number of pieces that would be very fitting. We’re also friends with a professional cellist who we might ask to play a duet. The Knot has plenty of suggestions about ceremony music, including selections for processional, recessional, interludes, and more. My mom has already talked with my sister’s violin instructor to help her come up with some good ideas. I’m really glad that she’ll be able to contribute to the ceremony in her own way… she’s 12, which means she’s too old to be a flower girl and too young to really do much as a bridesmaid, but having her play the ceremony music makes her one of the most important contributors of all.
