On July 18, around 9 AM, I woke up a married woman. Well, a groggy married woman. A happy, groggy married woman. Once we got up, Mr. Library and I decided that the first full day of marriage deserved a fantastic start. We had requested that the hotel bring us up a couple slices of wedding cake to our room in case we didn’t get any during our reception, and man, they delivered. They had wrapped up a slice of each flavor! Taking advantage of their excellent service, we decided that a marriage should begin with lots of cake. So we ate all four pieces. All. Four.
This was all that was left of our breakfast (only because the middles were plastic. Yeah, I made that mistake).
Once we felt like we were going to burst from cake and buttercream, we packed up our gear, including my dress, and headed down to find the rest of our guests. We had invited people to join us for an informal brunch get together, but when it took a bit to pack the cars with the wedding leftovers, a lot of people simply peaced out. Sad but true.
There were, however, a great number of wedding party members who stuck around. Unfortunately, the day after our wedding was fun for some and painful for others. You see, BIL Library thought it wise to go shot for shot (and drink for drink) with Mr. Library’s Aunt S and then by himself. Mr. Sox, Sister Library’s boyfriend, and Best Man K also got in on this dubious life choice. The next morning was ugly. Very ugly. The fruit platter the resort had left for us the night before was used as some hangover repellant (or repair) for Mr. Sox, but the rest were left to suffer on their own. This is what became of BIL Library:
We had all planned on going to a nearby restaurant for brunch, but since Bethel is a ski town, the information online was very very wrong. And we were let very very hungry. So what is a hungry bridal party to do?
Go to Melby’s, of course! For those of you who don’t live around Southern Maine, Melby’s is a little hometown restaurant in Waterford that wouldn’t ever make it to a culinary magazine for their decor but would for their amazing homemade comfort food. I have grown up going to breakfast at Melby’s — it used to be named Tut’s General Store — and I was thrilled that I could share it with my friends. I’m not sure the restaurant was as excited as I was, but they didn’t disappoint with their food. Even though I was full of cake, I still made room for some delicious eggs, hash browns, and toast. Mmmmm… Mr. Sox had the most interesting order of the morning. To cure his hangover, he ordered a side of bacon. And Gatorade. That’s it. The waiter’s head almost exploded.
After breakfast, we said goodbye to a few people who wanted to head home and then caravan-ed to FIL and MIL Library’s house for our after-wedding pool party! Our guests who had stuck around were treated to leftover wedding cake, wedding favors, snacks, and a cook out. We swam, laughed, and towards the end, opened presents!
Like the amazing friends and bridesmaids that they are, Miss Sox and Bridesmaid Al took photos and wrote down everything we opened. While I won’t bore you with all of the photos they took, I will highlight some of the most meaningful and useful presents we opened that day.
This is Mom Library next to our HUGE pile of gifts. Our guests were far too generous. With our tiny apartment, we didn’t even know where to put some of it. This has now been fixed, thanks to my inherited ability to stuff things away like Dad Library.
My proudest moment probably came when we couldn’t get the box open to Miss Sox and Mr. Sox’s gift. Needless to say, they were totally impressed by my ingenious solution.
One amazing gift that came in super handy during our honeymoon was a Flip camera from Groomswoman K. We used this thing everywhere on our honeymoon, Miss Sox and Mr. Sox’s wedding, and during our second ceremony. We love it!
While all of our gifts were lovely and appreciated, this one took the cake. This was a gift from Gram Library.
This was the first quilt my grandmother ever made. Some of the fabric on the inner squares is from a dress I had when I was a baby. I cannot tell you how much this means to me. She had always been planning on giving it to me for my wedding, and here it was. It’s almost too pretty to use it, but I’m not sure that’s what she would want. (And check it out… it features two of our major wedding colors!)
People began to leave around early evening as many of them came from out of state, and Mr. Library and I double checked our honeymoon bags. We had left them both at MIL and FIL Library’s house because my Aunt C and Aunt P have a nasty track record for messing with newlyweds’ luggage before a honeymoon. When my parents got married, they took their suitcases and filled the underwear with rice and sewed up the leg holes. It was simply too risky to leave our bags in a location they could find. And I mean that in the most loving way possible.
With goodbye hugs and kisses from FIL and MIL Library, we headed back to my parents’ house to bask in our post-wedding high and get ready for our flights the next day. And the rest? Well, you’ve already read about that!
Walk me through this:
Our bridal party began to come together!
The girls and I have a slumber party!
Ding ding ding goes the trolley
The guests are coming! The guests are coming!
We find a snack in a pretty field.
You have a little something on your face…
There’s so much to love about the reception.
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