Love Is Where We Are: Hora

As I've mentioned before, Mr. Lion and I had an interfaith, nontraditional wedding. It wasn't very religious, but we wanted to incorporate elements from each of our cultures into our big day. One way I wanted to nod towards my Jewish heritage was by dancing the Hora during our wedding reception.

My mom's side of the family is Jewish, but not many of them had traditional Jewish weddings. In fact, our wedding was the first time I had ever participated in the Hora. I wasn't exactly sure what to expect. Allow me to now speak from my very recent experience: the Hora is a lot scarier than I expected!

Yep, I look a little scared.

I felt very relieved to be placed back on safe land. I think Mr. Lion's face perfectly summed up my feelings at this point:

And then these crazy kids kept on dancing!

Here are a few more tokens of unsolicited advice regarding the Hora:

• The Hora is very difficult to photograph, even for the most experienced photographer. I think our pictures came out pretty good, but I've seen some really blurry ones. Talk with your photographer about this beforehand so that they're prepared. I think ours really appreciated the heads-up because he had never shot one before!
• Don't feel obligated to participate for the entire song. In fact, I'd go as far as to ask your DJ or band to play an abbreviated version of Hava Nagila. It was fun and I loved it, but I believe I asked our friends to put us down after a couple of minutes!
• USE CHAIRS WITH ARMRESTS. I cannot reiterate this enough! Our DJ placed two dining chairs on the dance floor, and we really would have sat in them if our day-of coordinator hadn't swapped them out at the last second. I'm glad we had something stable to grab on to; it's a bumpy ride!

Are any of you Jewish brides out there planning on doing the Hora?

Catch up on the Lioness recaps here!

• First, we got ready at my apartment.
• Then, we finished getting ready at the venue.
• The boys got ready and posed for pictures.
• We exchanged gifts.
• The girls posed for pictures.
• I admired every little detail.
• We walked down the aisle.
• We got married.
• We had some alone time.
• We posed for photos with family.
• We posed for photos together.
• Of course, we took a few goofy pictures.
• We had our first dance.
• I danced with my dad, and Mr. Lion danced with his mom.
• We cut the cake.
• We toasted to love.
• We mingled through the dollar dance.
• My sorority sisters carried out one of my favorite traditions.
• We got down on the dance floor.
• The boys decorated our getaway car.
• I tossed my bouquet(s).
• Mr. Lion tossed my garter (and scarred someone for life in the process).

*All photos by H. Photography unless otherwise noted.

Love is Where We Are: A Disturbing Scene

Hive, I sincerely apologize for this post. This particular part of our wedding reception came at a time when everyone had enjoyed a few beverages, and we were feeling a little silly. I had just tossed my bouquet(s), and it was Mr. Lion's turn to take the stage. Naturally, he chose "Eye of the Tiger" as his theme music. Sigh.

The song began, and Mr. Lion went in for the kill. By the way, keep your eye on that little kid in the corner.

I wish I could come up with a better explanation as to why I was making this face. The truth? Mr. Lion licked my knee.

And here's that kid again:

Sure enough, Mr. Lion eventually found the garter. He was so psyched, he barely even noticed that I had surprised my Yankees fan husband with a Red Sox garter!

He tossed the garter over his shoulder...

...and it landed in our friend Walter's hands.

And as for that disturbed little kid, well...

...at least he had a bag from the candy buffet to cheer him up!

Catch up on the Lioness recaps here!

• First, we got ready at my apartment.
• Then, we finished getting ready at the venue.
• The boys got ready and posed for pictures.
• We exchanged gifts.
• The girls posed for pictures.
• I admired every little detail.
• We walked down the aisle.
• We got married.
• We had some alone time.
• We posed for photos with family.
• We posed for photos together.
• Of course, we took a few goofy pictures.
• We had our first dance.
• I danced with my dad, and Mr. Lion danced with his mom.
• We cut the cake.
• We toasted to love.
• We mingled through the dollar dance.
• My sorority sisters carried out one of my favorite traditions.
• We got down on the dance floor.
• The boys decorated our getaway car.
• I tossed my bouquet(s).

*All photos by H. Photography unless otherwise noted.

Love is Where We Are: All the Single Ladies

Tossing the bouquet was one of the moments I was most looking forward to at our wedding. I've dreaded participating in the tradition at other weddings, but I was really excited about a little surprise I had in store for my single girls.

As I threw the bouquet up in the air, it burst into six smaller bouquets! Each individual bouquet was tied to a quote about love.

I loved that no one was put on the spot. Being single at a wedding can be a really difficult experience to endure. Instead of these girls feeling as though their relationship status was on display, they were united with other single girls as they celebrated love. Best of all, each quote that each girl caught seemed perfectly appropriate for her, as though the bouquets chose their recipients.

Are you doing a bouquet toss? Are you going the traditional route or trying something new?

Catch up on the Lioness recaps here!

• First, we got ready at my apartment.
• Then, we finished getting ready at the venue.
• The boys got ready and posed for pictures.
• We exchanged gifts.
• The girls posed for pictures.
• I admired every little detail.
• We walked down the aisle.
• We got married.
• We had some alone time.
• We posed for photos with family.
• We posed for photos together.
• Of course, we took a few goofy pictures.
• We had our first dance.
• I danced with my dad, and Mr. Lion danced with his mom.
• We cut the cake.
• We toasted to love.
• We mingled through the dollar dance.
• My sorority sisters carried out one of my favorite traditions.
• We got down on the dance floor.
• The boys decorated our getaway car.

*All photos by H. Photography unless otherwise noted.

Love is Where We Are: The Getaway

At one point in the night, I noticed that all of our groomsmen had mysteriously disappeared from the reception. I could only assume that they were decorating our getaway car, a theory later confirmed by photographic evidence:

I really wanted to rent a white vintage car, like a Rolls Royce or something that I imagined would appear in an old movie. I kept putting the transportation portion of our budget on the back burner; it just wasn't a priority of ours. Eventually, that part of our budget was still on the back burner, and our wedding was a week away! I begrudgingly accepted that my 1997 Accord would be our getaway car. In hindsight, it was perfect. I was glad we were able to spend more on our priority budget items, and my car turned out just fine.

It's kind of hard to see in that picture, but beyond the paint (and pollen), my car was filled with a certain decoration that just so happened to be consistent with our theme.

How in the world did we get inside our car with all of those balloons in the way?! Guess you'll have to stay tuned...

Catch up on the Lioness recaps here!

• First, we got ready at my apartment.
• Then, we finished getting ready at the venue.
• The boys got ready and posed for pictures.
• We exchanged gifts.
• The girls posed for pictures.
• I admired every little detail.
• We walked down the aisle.
• We got married.
• We had some alone time.
• We posed for photos with family.
• We posed for photos together.
• Of course, we took a few goofy pictures.
• We had our first dance.
• I danced with my dad, and Mr. Lion danced with his mom.
• We cut the cake.
• We toasted to love.
• We mingled through the dollar dance.
• My sorority sisters carried out one of my favorite traditions.
• We got down on the dance floor.

*All photos by H. Photography unless otherwise noted.

Love is Where We Are: Bust a Move

I had one goal for our reception: I wanted it to be a full-blown dance party. I wanted the dance floor packed for the entire four hours. We had a fairly young guest list, so we asked our DJ to skip the traditional wedding reception songs and just play lots of hardcore booty shaking music! I think we were successful.

Mr. Lion does this thing when he's dancing (he also does this in the pool) where he "herds" me with his butt. I know it sounds weird, but he's a little weird.

Also, I'm pretty sure this last one is to "Apple Bottom Jeans."

Are you having a booty shaking reception? Or are you playing more of a variety to accommodate your older guests?

Catch up on the Lioness recaps here!

• First, we got ready at my apartment.
• Then, we finished getting ready at the venue.
• The boys got ready and posed for pictures.
• We exchanged gifts.
• The girls posed for pictures.
• I admired every little detail.
• We walked down the aisle.
• We got married.
• We had some alone time.
• We posed for photos with family.
• We posed for photos together.
• Of course, we took a few goofy pictures.
• We had our first dance.
• I danced with my dad, and Mr. Lion danced with his mom.
• We cut the cake.
• We toasted to love.
• We mingled through the dollar dance.
• My sorority sisters carried out one of my favorite traditions.

*All photos by H. Photography unless otherwise noted.

Love is Where We Are: Pat

One of my favorite things about going to weddings is to observe all of the different traditions and rituals, whether cultural or otherwise. It's always interesting how every bride and groom bring different customs to both their ceremony and their reception. I love it, because it makes each wedding unique.

I was especially looking forward to one particular tradition at our reception. Every time a member of Kappa Kappa Gamma gets married, all of her sorority sisters who are present at the wedding sing a song called "Pat" to her. It's a silly song, but our sorority has been practicing this tradition for over 100 years and there's just something about that history that I absolutely adore. I've seen displays of other Greek organizations' traditions at other weddings and the reaction is always the same: the rest of the guests look at them like they're nuts! And maybe we did look a little weird, but from our end of things, we had a blast.

Okay, maybe the girls looked a little ridiculous...

...but I thought it was pretty entertaining.

It takes a special group of people to be willing to embarrass themselves for you. I loved them for it.

Are any of you in a sorority that has a similar tradition? If so, are you planning on incorporating it into your reception?

Catch up on the Lioness recaps here!

• First, we got ready at my apartment.
• Then, we finished getting ready at the venue.
• The boys got ready and posed for pictures.
• We exchanged gifts.
• The girls posed for pictures.
• I admired every little detail.
• We walked down the aisle.
• We got married.
• We had some alone time.
• We posed for photos with family.
• We posed for photos together.
• Of course, we took a few goofy pictures.
• We had our first dance.
• I danced with my dad, and Mr. Lion danced with his mom.
• We cut the cake.
• We toasted to love.
• We mingled through the dollar dance.

*All photos by H. Photography unless otherwise noted.

Love is Where We Are: Dollar Dance

I had mixed feelings about doing a dollar dance during our wedding reception. Asking our guests for money when they had already bought us presents (and many of them had also traveled to our wedding) seemed inappropriate.  Then, I learned that it was a tradition at Cuban weddings. I was trying to incorporate different customs from our different cultures, and this one seemed like an easy one to include. I decided that it was silly to worry about judgement from our guests; these were our closest friends and family!

If you're having the same debate, I highly recommend going for it. The dollar dance became of my favorite parts of our reception because it was such an efficient way to mingle. In the midst of a busy day, it granted me the opportunity to have one-on-one conversations with many of my guests.

We started off with our maid of honor and best man.

A line formed rather quickly, and our initial dance parters stepped aside to play bouncer and collect payment. Mr. Lion's stepsister was the first to cut in.

Next, I danced with one of my sorority sisters, Christina...

...while Mr. Lion danced with our friend Marco.

Next, I danced with my matron of honor/ring bearer, Laura.

We were soon joined by the rest of my bridesmaids.

Mr. Lion danced with my cousin, Shannon...

...while I danced with my friend, Chad.

Mr. Lion danced with my cousin, Michelle...

...while I danced with his groomsman, Ryan.

Next, I danced with Mama Lioness for a while...because seriously, who is going to cut in on the Mother of the Bride?!

Next, Mr. Lion danced with my cousin, Jen...

...while I danced with my new FIL.

Next up was my cousin, Steve...

...followed by sorority sister Amanda.

Mr. Lion danced with Mama Lioness...

...while I danced with his stepdad...

...and his friend, Chris...

...and my MIL.

My mom was still dancing with Mr. Lion, but she had drawn a crowd!

Finally, my friend (and fabulous makeup artist!), Kealoha, brought up the rear of the line.

I don't remember how much we made, (just that I made more than Mr. Lion...that's the important thing, right?!), but I remember what I talked about with each of these people.

Are you doing a dollar dance at your wedding?

Catch up on the Lioness recaps here!

• First, we got ready at my apartment.
• Then, we finished getting ready at the venue.
• The boys got ready and posed for pictures.
• We exchanged gifts.
• The girls posed for pictures.
• I admired every little detail.
• We walked down the aisle.
• We got married.
• We had some alone time.
• We posed for photos with family.
• We posed for photos together.
• Of course, we took a few goofy pictures.
• We had our first dance.
• I danced with my dad, and Mr. Lion danced with his mom.
• We cut the cake.
• We toasted to love.

*All photos by H. Photography unless otherwise noted.