Now it's Time to Say Good-bye...

I opened with a Disney reference, so it seemed only fitting to close with one as well.

Yesterday marked my 10 month anniversary blogging with Weddingbee (hard to believe) and so I, somewhat reluctantly, pushed "publish" on this post.

Hive, it has been an absolute pleasure to share our wedding journey with you. From our engagement to our wedding day; the good times and the not so good; and plenty of tips along the way. Thank you for reading our story and, in many ways, being part of it - from helping me make a decision on a bachelorette location to dressing Mr. Turkey.

a phiLOVEdelphia story: After the Party it's the After Party (and Brunch)

The photographers left just after midnight, meaning that we had professional photographs technically covering 2 days!

Despite them leaving, I promise you...the party did NOT stop.

Instead, there were photos (and incidents) like this

A Perspective on Blogging (From the Other Half)

Before I officially  "close" the Turkey story (yup, we're just about there), the Mr. wanted to pop in and share his perspective on our journey. So, Hive, please welcome back Mr. Turkey!!

Hello - Mr. Turkey here! Over the past year while Mrs. Turkey has narrated our wedding odyssey, I have had the chance to watch and observe the process of going from an applicant, to an accepted blogger Bee; from Miss Turkey to finally Mrs. Turkey. 

I always found it interesting that at every major milestone I would be able to sum up the highlights to my parents in under 60 seconds, however, that same milestone would somehow inspire two weeks worth of individual blogs, stories, reviews, and recommendations (with accompanying visuals of course).

I was forced to take pictures to support all these stories.
This one didn't make the cut when telling the story of our 1 month anniversary (is that a thing?)

Philadelphia Vendor Review - Part II

If you missed it – here’s Part I of my Philadelphia vendor review. As a reminder, there are 4 ratings:

• Highly Recommend 
• Recommend 
• Recommend with Reservations 
• Do Not Recommend 

…and everything is based on experience / opinions from me and Mr. Turkey (info on timing for booking vendors can be found here).

STATIONARY: Two Paperdolls

Paper was very important to me – I mean, this is the Bee who wrote 4 posts on Save the Dates (I, II, III, IV). And, because of that, I 100% splurged in this area.

Full paper suite

Nicole was my point of contact throughout my time working with Two Paperdolls. She was incredible to work with and the designers were so responsive to feedback. They also just "got it". I went in with sketches on paper and ideas and they brought it to life in a way that I definitely could not.

From my scribbles in our initial meeting to a beautiful welcome map (right picture by Two Paperdolls)

a phiLOVEdelphia story: True Life - We Had a Wedding Crasher

I’ve been holding out on you Hive, but the title says it all.

Sometime late in our reception, I recall looking over and seeing a woman in purple dancing next to me. Thinking perhaps the signature cocktail had gone to my head, I turned to someone next to me, asking, “is that person wearing a tank top?” and was answered in the affirmative.

All photos are by Philip Gabriel Photography (with some obvious photo destruction editing by me). 

Head image from here

Philadelphia Vendor Review - Part I

I’m a big fan of vendor reviews…heck, reviews in general. From Trip Advisor to Yelp, I often rely on the “wisdom of the masses”. So, to pay it forward, I will be reviewing our wedding vendors over the course of two posts. I have also put all of these reviews online, although in slightly different form (not as narrative).

I’ve also chosen to give a quick “rating” for each vendor to somewhat mirror the online starring systems (Weddingbee vendor reviews use 5 stars, for example). I came up with 4 ratings:

• Highly Recommend 
• Recommend 
• Recommend with Reservations 
• Do Not Recommend 

Essentially, we gave the highest recommendation to anyone who we felt went above and beyond what was required for their role.

Before I jump in, want to mention that all these comments/thoughts are purely mine and Mr. Turkey’s, based on our experiences. For information on when we booked each of these vendors, you can reference my post here. If you have any specific questions, feel free to reach out.

a phiLOVEdelphia story: Our Favorite Dance of the Night

Don’t judge us, but our favorite dance of the night was not our first dance or even the dances with our parents.

You may recall our interest in the “Cupid Shuffle” (you can see a video of how that went) and we asked for Journey’s anthem “Don’t Stop Believin’” to close the night, but it was Jellyroll’s rendition of LMFAO's “Party Rock Anthem” following my dance with Turkey Dad that was our favorite memory.

All photos are by Philip Gabriel Photography.

How could it NOT be? We ended up with this amazing photo

a phiLOVEdelphia story: Photography Challenge

I mentioned early on that I didn’t give our photographer Gabe a shot list. While this is technically true, I did make a hefty request of him just before the wedding.

Although the photos would help us remember the day in its entirety, with approximately 200 people joining us from all across the country (and abroad), we wanted to remember them as well. Now, we did have a chance to spend time with many of our guests during cocktail hour and walking around during the meal, but I knew photos with each and every person would have been cumbersome.

a phiLOVEdelphia story: Just Dance

This is how Mr. Turkey and I remember our wedding:

All photos are by Philip Gabriel Photography.

Sure, there were other photos that showed us how we felt, but this is what it looked like. An absolutely PACKED dance floor…until the wee hours of the morning.

It had just switched over into May 13 at this point...do they look like they're slowing down?

a phiLOVEdelphia story: Savory and Sweet

In the midst of all the dancing and talking, we managed to find some time to feed our guests.

Now, where we have no professional photos of our yummy appetizers at cocktail hour, the Gabes were kind enough to capture dinner and dessert. Commence drooling...

All photos are by Philip Gabriel Photography unless otherwise noted.

For their first course, all of our guests received what Best Man / Brother M affectionately called a "hockey puck".

Mmmm "hockey puck"

a phiLOVEdelphia story: Special (and Surprise!) Dances

You’ve already seen Mr. Turkey and my first dance, but there were still 2 additional “formal” dances in our schedule for the evening.

Mr. Turkey and I both thought long and hard about the dances with our respective parents. Well, to be honest, I think Mr. Turkey took a little longer, as the song choice for me and Turkey Dad had been decided early on in the planning process.

For Mr. Turkey, you know that lyrics were important, so when MIL Turkey sent him a list of song options, we had to listen to each and every one several times for him to make a decision. Ultimately, they decided on “My Wish” by Rascal Flatts. That’s right, another country song. Mrs. Turkey for the win!!

All photos are by Philip Gabriel Photography.

"I hope the days come easy and the moments pass slow...and each road leads you where you want to go..."

a phiLOVEdelphia story: From Heartfelt to Humorous

After a little dancing workout, we took a seat in our personalized chairs for some refreshment. At this point in the day, both Mr. Turkey and I had held it together, but as Turkey Dad took the microphone from Jellyroll, we remarked that the speeches might be the end of our “no tears” streak.

All photos are by Philip Gabriel Photography.

You all have seen the same snippets of all the speeches that we have professionally recorded so far (full video expected soon!), but Aunt P was kind enough to have taped Turkey Dad. This means we had a little more help when it came to remembering his words!

Turkey Dad knows how to handle a mic

a phiLOVEdelphia story: Let's Get it Started

After our first dance, guests joined us on the white dance floor to boogie. Jellyroll kicked things off with "I Want You Back".

All photos are by Philip Gabriel Photography.

The rockin' band (notice the men wearing blue to coordinate with our colors!)

I warned you that most of my dance photos included an open mouth...

Now, we had a bit of a unique schedule for the wedding. The following was the order of events following our first dance:

• Dancing
• Toast: Father of Bride
• Appetizer
• Toast: Maid of Honor
• Toast: Best Man
• A little more dancing
• Salad
• Groom and Mother Dance
• Bride and Father Dance
• Some more dancing
• Main Course
• EVEN MORE DANCING!!

a phiLOVEdelphia story: First Dance as Mr. & Mrs.

We had made our entrance and transitioned into our first dance...did you guess the song?

Despite being the (second) hardest decision of wedding planning, Mr. Turkey and I settled on a song where the lyrics spoke to us - "I Hope That's Me" by Brad Paisley. I already mentioned that we failed to practice for our first dance and although our video made it appear that we knew how to dance, some of the pictures tell a different story.

Now, I could show you just the pretty dance pictures, but because I felt like we made a mistake in not practicing (even a quick practice dance in the living room would have helped), I'm sharing the good with the bad. Enjoy the photos of us looking at our feet and missing each other's hands, along with the ones where we appear to be pros (thanks for catching those fleeting moments, Gabe).

All photos are by Philip Gabriel Photography.

Somebody's gotta scratch your back
The places you can't reach
Say something that'll make you laugh
That's exactly what you need
And I hope that's me, I hope that's me