A Life Full of Laughter: A Super Fly Sendoff

It was almost the end of the reception. My feet were KILLING me.

I never planned to be a two-shoe gal. If I'm rocking heels, I'll always wear them — or go barefoot — until the bitter, blistered end. Luckily our DOC had planned ahead, and she let me borrow some flip flops for the last 30 minutes of the party!

We had our last few dances, and I got to sixth-grade sway with Bridesmaid L before Mr. Hyena stole me away from her.

Our DOC made sure everyone got a paper airplane.

Mr. Hyena and I got up on the stage while everyone lined up.

Then everyone threw the airplanes at us! I used my bouquet as a shield, but Mr. Hyena got beaned in the face a couple of times. :)

Mr. Hyena made sure I didn't get my dress caught in the door of his little red truck, then we headed off to our hotel, Diet Coke cans rattling behind us.

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Our wedding reception was officially over.

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unless otherwise noted, all photos by Danny Boyle Photography

Are you having any special transportation for your getaway?

Previously on A Life Full of Laughter:

• "The One Where We Get Practice Married"

• "The One Where The Girls Put On Their Faces"

• "The One With The Beautiful Words"

• "The One Where The Dudes Get Sexy"

• "The One With The Big White Dress"

• "The One Where We Smize"

• "The One Where We Don't See Each Other"

• "The One With All The Walking"

• "The One Where It's Official"

• "The One After The Ceremony"

• "The One With Our Wonderful Families"

• "The One With The Bride and Groom"

• "The One Where We Dance"

• "The One Where We Mix 'n' Mingle"

• "The One Where Everyone Else Dances Too"

• "The One With The Sword"

• "The One That's Catching"

• "The One Where We Sing and Sway"

• "The One With All The Pretty Little Details"

A Life Full of Laughter: Love and War

Like Mrs. Cardigan, one of the things we decided to include in our wedding is the Texas A&M Aggie War Hymn. I couldn't find a great video of it, but you can get a good idea from this clip, in case you're not familiar with it:

When the War Hymn comes on, all the Aggies sing at the top of their lungs and sway back and forth, "sawing off" the horns of the Texas Longhorns.

This is a big deal at Aggie weddings. Mr. Hyena originally wasn't sure he wanted to include it, and I looked at him like, "Dude. You're going to want the Aggie War Hymn." Sure enough, a few weeks before the wedding he started to get excited about it, and I was glad I had planned for it ahead of time!

A lot of Aggies stayed through to the end of the reception to participate!

photo by Danny Boyle Photography

I'm not an Aggie, but I figured I could join in since I just married one. :) I don't know the words, so I just swayed when everyone else did.

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Not to be outdone, when the War Hymn was over my OU friends shouted, "BOOMER!" and I responded "SOONER!"

Are you including any traditions from your alma mater?

Previously on A Life Full of Laughter:

• "The One Where We Get Practice Married"

• "The One Where The Girls Put On Their Faces"

• "The One With The Beautiful Words"

• "The One Where The Dudes Get Sexy"

• "The One With The Big White Dress"

• "The One Where We Smize"

• "The One Where We Don't See Each Other"

• "The One With All The Walking"

• "The One Where It's Official"

• "The One After The Ceremony"

• "The One With Our Wonderful Families"

• "The One With The Bride and Groom"

• "The One Where We Dance"

• "The One Where We Mix 'n' Mingle"

• "The One Where Everyone Else Dances Too"

• "The One With The Sword"

• "The One That's Catching"

A Life Full of Laughter: Throw Down

A little while after we'd cut the cake, we decided to do our bouquet and garter tosses! I grabbed my toss bouquet and prepared to launch it into the crowd of ladies.

Bridesmaid L was the lucky recipient!

Then the menfolk came out to the floor.

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I took a seat on the stage, and Mr. Hyena slipped off my garter and put it on the manly football.

The guys tried to give him grief about looking while throwing the football, but Mr. Hyena didn't want to hit any of the chandeliers, so he threw it normally.

Just as predicted, the guys jumped to catch it!

My friend H caught it! And then because H and Bridesmaid L are good friends, I made him put the garter on her leg. :) It's awesome being a bride, because you can make things up spur the moment and people will do what you say!

unless otherwise noted, all photos by Danny Boyle Photography

Are you doing any tosses?

Previously on A Life Full of Laughter:

• "The One Where We Get Practice Married"

• "The One Where The Girls Put On Their Faces"

• "The One With The Beautiful Words"

• "The One Where The Dudes Get Sexy"

• "The One With The Big White Dress"

• "The One Where We Smize"

• "The One Where We Don't See Each Other"

• "The One With All The Walking"

• "The One Where It's Official"

• "The One After The Ceremony"

• "The One With Our Wonderful Families"

• "The One With The Bride and Groom"

• "The One Where We Dance"

• "The One Where We Mix 'n' Mingle"

• "The One Where Everyone Else Dances Too"

• "The One With The Sword"

A Life Full of Laughter: Can't Keep Us From Our Cake

You know how much I love cake. It shouldn't be a surprise that our cakes were one of my favorite details.

It was beautiful. I absolutely loved it. Three tiers of vanilla buttercream pink creamy goodness ... sorry, started salivating there for a second.

The groom's cake was just as wonderful. Two tiers of chocolate cake, with chocolate buttercream, chocolate ganache and chocolate-covered strawberries. Check out the bride and groom strawberries on top!

Wait, what is Mr. Hyena doing with a sword?

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About two weeks before the wedding, MIL Hyena gave us a call asking if we'd like to cut our cake with the family saber. We didn't know that we had a family saber, but we agreed it would be pretty cool. As the wedding approached, we learned the history behind it: Mr. Hyena's great-aunt's grandfather had fought in the Spanish-American War in 1898, and this was his sword. After his death in 1917, it was passed down through the family and has been used to cut wedding cakes since the 1940s. MIL and FIL Hyena used it to cut their wedding cake, and when SIL and BIL Hyena got married at the beginning of July, they used it as well!

It's hard to finagle a saber!

We fed each other nicely. That cake was going in our mouths, not on our faces!

It was delicious! We moved on to the groom's cake.

I promise Mr. Hyena wasn't stabbing the cake! I was, however, licking frosting off my fingers. I'm dainty like that. :)

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Mr. Hyena took his last moments of playing with a sword on our wedding day to stab a strawberry.



And of course I tried to eat it. :)

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Then Mr. Hyena's aunts converged on the table to cut slices for everyone else! (With an actual cake knife. This saber thing is difficult!)

Are you incorporating any family traditions in your wedding?

unless otherwise noted, all photos by Danny Boyle Photography

Previously on A Life Full of Laughter:

• "The One Where We Get Practice Married"

• "The One Where The Girls Put On Their Faces"

• "The One With The Beautiful Words"

• "The One Where The Dudes Get Sexy"

• "The One With The Big White Dress"

• "The One Where We Smize"

• "The One Where We Don't See Each Other"

• "The One With All The Walking"

• "The One Where It's Official"

• "The One After The Ceremony"

• "The One With Our Wonderful Families"

• "The One With The Bride and Groom"

• "The One Where We Dance"

• "The One Where We Mix 'n' Mingle"

• "The One Where Everyone Else Dances Too"

A Life Full of Laughter: You Make Me Feel Like Dancing

Our reception didn't turn into a raging dance party, but our guests kept the floor pretty busy anyway. SIL Hyena called all the married couples out to the dance floor for the anniversary dance, and it was packed! She started eliminating couples based on how long each had been married. Mr. Hyena and I were the first to leave the floor, since we'd been married less than a day!

 

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Now, I'd like to take a second to commemorate something amazing that happened during the anniversary dance. Mr. Hyena and I were watching all the married couples dancing from the stage, and about halfway through the song, Mom Hyena and H-Dad walked out to the dance floor. You may remember that my parents don't dance. In 30 years of marriage, they had never once danced together.

I saw them from the stage, and immediately flagged down our photographer. "My parents are dancing! MY PARENTS ARE DANCING! They never dance, get a picture!!!"

The dance floor cleared out as SIL Hyena called out 35 years, 40 years, 45 years, and the two of them kept dancing until it was only them and my grandparents left. I think they realized then they were supposed to have left a little earlier, but why stop a good thing? :)

My grandparents stepped up to the mic. Grandpa Hyena was quite a ham, and pretended he couldn't remember how long he had been married to Grandma Hyena because he's too old. Grandma Hyena remembered though: 55 years! Their advice to us?

Grandma: "Keep smiling!"
Grandpa: "And do what she says."

After that, we were able to keep the dance floor going.

My friends are always down for a little "Thriller"!

We also never met a line dance we didn't like.

Mr. Hyena got that dance he wanted with his mom.

Meanwhile, I two-stepped with Groomsman M.

It was perfect.

unless otherwise noted, all photos by Danny Boyle Photography

Previously on A Life Full of Laughter:

• "The One Where We Get Practice Married"

• "The One Where The Girls Put On Their Faces"

• "The One With The Beautiful Words"

• "The One Where The Dudes Get Sexy"

• "The One With The Big White Dress"

• "The One Where We Smize"

• "The One Where We Don't See Each Other"

• "The One With All The Walking"

• "The One Where It's Official"

• "The One After The Ceremony"

• "The One With Our Wonderful Families"

• "The One With The Bride and Groom"

• "The One Where We Dance"

• "The One Where We Mix 'n' Mingle"

A Life Full of Laughter: Tonight's Gonna Be A Good Night

As soon as our first dance was over, I grabbed my mom and tried to haul her out to the dance floor in an attempt to get the dance floor rockin'. This didn't really work. Remember, Hyena Parents don't dance, so I let it go; people would dance when they wanted to. Instead, Mr. Hyena and I went around to visit with our guests, who were eating the delicious hors d'oeuvres, drinking good beer and wine, and having a good time.

Our coordinator convinced me a few weeks before the wedding that we should rent a few cocktail tables to go around the dance floor area, and that turned out to be the best idea ever. It made the dance floor seem more intimate and gave people a place to set their food and drinks (especially since we didn't have enough banquet seating for every single person).

But the banquet tables still got plenty of use!

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I know they say you can't count on eating at your own wedding, but we were hell-bent on getting some food! Bridesmaid J was awesome and plated a little bit of everything for us. We snuck off for a few minutes to scarf the sundried tomato bruschetta, bacon and goat cheese-stuffed mushrooms, cranberry pecan brie rounds and chicken quesadillas. SO. GOOD.

Mr. Hyena's Uncle C videotaped our ceremony and bits of our reception for us, and he asked our families to say a little something. We watched back the video when we got back from our honeymoon, and we are so glad to have those memories on tape! Hyena Hint: It's okay if you don't hire a videographer, but get someone to film the important parts.

We got pictures with the friends we don't see very often; these are my Oklahoma peeps!

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And even though it turned out to be more of a cocktail party than a giant dance party, people still came out to dance...

unless otherwise noted, all photos by Danny Boyle Photography

Previously on A Life Full of Laughter:

• "The One Where We Get Practice Married"

• "The One Where The Girls Put On Their Faces"

• "The One With The Beautiful Words"

• "The One Where The Dudes Get Sexy"

• "The One With The Big White Dress"

• "The One Where We Smize"

• "The One Where We Don't See Each Other"

• "The One With All The Walking"

• "The One Where It's Official"

• "The One After The Ceremony"

• "The One With Our Wonderful Families"

• "The One With The Bride and Groom"

• "The One Where We Dance"