The last guests have departed...the photographer is in flight back to San Diego (we HIGHLY recommend her!!!)...the borrowed tables and chairs are being returned...and I HAD A FINALLY HAD LONG NAP!
The wedding festivities began Thursday with...STORMS...TORNADOES...FLOODS...and HURRICANE FORCE WINDS! Tampa Bay was hit by 2 days of major storms. Thankfully, our house only had rain - (LOTS of it! Think new lakefront property...) and extremely high winds. Our rehearsal dinner had to be moved completely into the house...furniture was moved to the garage and bedrooms to accommodate 56 dinner guests. The lightning and winds died down in time for our guests to arrive...and halfway through the evening, the rain finally stopped and the stars and tiki torches came out! The young crowd was able to retire to the lanai, to sit around the fire pit and smoke cigars and drink wine.
Our theme for the whole weekend of festivities was FAMILY HERITAGE. The bride's family is a true Italian family...and the wedding was planned around many of the traditions her family holds dear. My son wanted the rehearsal dinner to touch on our Cuban/Spanish heritage...
Cigar Boxes, hemp-wrapped glass vases with hand-rolled cigars (my Grandfather was a cigar roller), dominoes, lanterns with candles (I changed the candles to a pale green)
Vases from WalMart $1.47
Roll of hemp - $4.07 (WalMart)
Square of frayed Burlap over rented, chocolate brown tablecloths
Wooden cigar boxes
Crowded - YES.
Loud - YES.
Fun - YES!!!!!!
The buffet menu was planned by the bride and groom...Cuban sandwiches, yellow rice and black beans, plantains, deviled crabs with hot sauce, and salad. Desserts included gourmet cupcakes made by my WONDERFUL DIL...Hummingbird cake with cream cheese frosting, strawberry champagne cuppies and the most decadent chocolate cupcakes with ganache frosting or buttercream frosting...YUMMY!!! We also had guava pastries (made by me) and guava paste and cream cheese with Cuban-style crackers and saltines. Thankfully, most of the food was catered by fabulous restaurants in the Ybor City area. Driving there for the pick-up was treacherous, but we made it without mishap. I wish I had more photos to share, but I was so busy corralling guests that I totally forgot to take photos...duh!
This photo of my boys will have to hold you until I get photos from the photographer...or from friends. From left to right....the groom (my eldest), his best friend (and "adopted" son), my middle son, and my youngest son....The wedding was held in a botanical garden. Unfortunately, the sun broke through the leaves just as I took the photo...and then my camera died.
More to come...when photos arrive.....
Jane
18 comments:
Fantastic, Jane!! Can't wait to see all the wedding shots! Thanks for sharing the fun and the frustration! Hope you have a great week!
Sylvia
Ohhh FUN! I can't wait to see more wedding photos. Congratulations to your whole family on this exciting time.
Congrats to all!!
Blessings,
Linda
I like your blog!...Daniel
I thought of you A LOT on the day of that horrible storm. So glad only rain bothered you...others were hit by tornadoes...the weather was like something out of the Midwest, quite unlike the usual Florida fare.
So, congrats are in order and I'm looking forward to wedding shots :)
I can't wait to see more pictures from the wedding!
Yeah! God is gracious to protect you and the wedding in the midst of all the weather.
congratulations! ...sounds a little stressful , but It all turned out fine...how exciting for you. ...a landmark day for sure!
Oh yippee!!! have thought about you ALL weekend long. Worried when I saw rain on weather channel but knew you'd pull it off like a queen....queen of the hosting gig!! Looks so cute and YES!!!! we need more pics SOON..:) mostly yippee on the nap deal..heheheheh
OH! I can't wait to see, I'm excited!
I know yall are glad it's over, but WOW!, wasn't that so much fun. Blessings to the newly weds!
~JO
LazyonLoblolly
May you get rested up from the big event.
The picture of your boys is neat. Sorry the camera died, hopefully many pictures will be available to you in the near future.
God bless and congrats!
d from homehaven
I am so happy that despite the nasty weather we had that it all turned out great! I cannot wait to see more pictures. I love how your son and dil celebrated their heritages. When I got married we included my Italian heritage and family traditions in all the wedding festivities.
Hugs,
Tracy
Jane!
I had forgotten you were doing this during the weekend of that storm! I'm just thankful you had electricity as ours went out. YIKES! We also had two trees (one huge one) fall from the neighbor's yard into ours and miss our house by FIVE feet. It's been chaotic ever since.
But what a fun time you had! The menu sounds divine, and I love that it was a Cuban menu for the resherasal dinner. I love everything you served. I could live on black beans, and Ybor City has some wonderful Cuban food. That's the one thing I love about Florida... our access to good Cuban food. And had I known you were serving guava pastries, I would have invited myself. I ate one the other day that was so delicious I could have eaten a dozen.
It's interesting about your grandfather being a cigar maker. Years ago, I bought and restored a Victorian cottage that was owned early on by a cigar maker. They were going to hit it with the wrecking ball unless someone bought and restored it, and the realtor/our neighbor called me. You know the rest. ;-) That is so neat that you have a Cuban heritage. My young godson and goddaughter's paternal grandfather is Cuban. He's the sweetest person on earth, and her paternal grandmother was something like Miss Nicaragua and stunninly beautiful. So their heritage is half Latin. I am determined to brush up on my Spanish (I took three years of it), so that I can converse with them in Spanish (they put me to shame with their pronunciation). I desperately want to be bi-lingual and admire anyone who is.
Loved seeing the pictures and look forward to seeing more...
XO,
Sheila :-)
Congratulations! This must be an exciting time for you :)
Looks stunning....all of it!
Thank you for dropping by Tales from Bloggeritaville. Come again...and soon :)
Have a great day!
Live (really LIVE)* LOVE (deeply)* Laugh (alot)
Leigh
Tales from Bloggeritaville
www.lbratina.blogspot.com
Hi Jane, I know I already commented on this but I just had to tell you how much it WARMED my heart that the s'more buffet idea was used in the OTHER wedding. Do you have photos? I would LOVE to see. OKAY...now I have lots of "homework" for you...lol, ;) I want to see more pictures of this wedding AND smore pics too!
Oh Jane, only you could pull off a save like this one! You're so easy going and know just how to make everyone feel at home. The food sounds wonderful, lots of my favorites, including Hummingbird Cake!!!!!!
Now was the wedding held at the botanical garden by my old house in Seminole? They have the loveliest wedding area, I've taken so many photos there over the years.
Your grandfather rolled cigars and my father sold them! But my family heritage is not Cuban as you know, but my ancestors grew tobacco here from the early 1600s, until the 1960s. They were "rolling" in it! That was so corny and just shows you how tired I am!
Hugs
Oh congratulations! I can't wait to see more photos also!! I am sorry that storm interfered with your festivities. Per your comment on my blog - we were camping - we were not harmed by the storm. We started our trip the next day, but there were definitely some unhappy campers leaving when we arrived!
I am looking forward to looking at more of your photos!
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