Wedding Day: The Reception

Since the resort had been evacuated the night before, there were only a few guests left on the property but it really was just all about us that night. We had the restaurant all to ourselves and we started just about the time the sun was setting so it was absolutely gorgeous.

Our table and the amazing view

Shots only brides love, the details:

We created the menus at home along with the "double happiness"* ribbon and then assembled everything when we got there. J designed the menu to have the place cards be attached to the menu which worked out perfectly and was easy to put together.

Our napkins and table runner were embroidered by a friend of my mother in law's. My mother in law actually hemmed the napkins and table runner herself. I spent so long trying to find dark gray napkins and never found any that met my standards so I went to the fabric store and bought this beautiful fabric along with the pink embroidery thread so that it could be made exactly how I wanted. It turned out beautiful and now we have custom napkins to use when we throw dinner parties and such.

My vision for the table was never anything complicated. When you have a view of the water and the sunset like we did, there was just no need for overly complicated flowers or tall centerpieces. I went with my favorite flower, the orchid, and had the florist place them in square vases which gave it a modern feel. The orchids paired really nicely with the hints of gray on the table. I felt it was modern, sleek and pretty which was exactly what I was going for.

In between the flowers we put beautiful mirror candle stands that I had bought a few months ago and packed along with the dark grey candle holders and tea lights to put in them. I had packed everything oh so carefully and when we landed in Jamaica everything was intact so I was very happy. But of course, the hurricane. We had a couple of casualties from having to evacuate so many times and one of the candle holders broke so we had to make do with one missing. We played around with it and then took out two for both the candle stands as one missing just looked weird. Minor issue and everything still looked great. Sometimes, you just gotta improvise.

photo by my brother

Dinner was delicious. They restaurant at Tensing Pen is stellar and the food that night was amazing. Everyone agreed that it was the best meal of the entire trip.

We had started out outside on the deck, but drops of rain started coming down so the staff stepped in and swiftly moved the table into the restaurant and we went on with the night. It was such a smooth transition that it was something that I barely even remembered.

And then it was time for the cake

Just a simple two tier white cake with mango filling but it was the BEST cake I've ever eaten. Seriously, I've had good cake before but this cake was the ultimate. Fondant usually is not the best tasting but they somehow made the fondant taste really good. Everyone asked for seconds and since the wedding was officially done, I stuffed myself with a second piece as well!

J watched me cut the cake because he didn't want the "cheesy cake cutting picture" (his words not mine)

And with champagne in one hand, I kissed my husband at the end of the night

and said goodbye to our wonderful, magical day.

photos by Punam Bean unless otherwise noted

* I am Chinese (Taiwanese, to be exact) and it is tradition to have the double happiness symbol at weddings. Even though we did not have a traditional Chinese wedding, I still wanted to incorporate it somehow.

Previously on the Wedding Day Series:
Part 1: The Venue
Part 2: The Drama
Part 3: The Morning of
Part 4: The "Day After" Shoot
Part 5: The Damage
Part 6: Family Time
Part 7: The Ceremony