Funneling the Love: Small Talk

I know a lot of brides like to really take in the time to eat and enjoy the moment, but I wanted to finish my dinner as soon as I could so that I could go talk to all these people that I see so rarely. I was on a buzz since arriving in the US and I urged Mr. Funnel Cake to hurry it up so we could get cracking.

The poor man wanted to go back for more steak and omelets which I accepted, but I knew that with over 100 guests and not the longest reception time, we would have to get moving if we wanted to try and talk to everyone. Personally, I was full after only a few bites... my dress and excitement proved to be great appetite suppressors!

When we finally got going, I was really so happy to see all the familiar faces. In the photo above, I'm positive I'm telling a story about how I am more Swiss than Mr. Funnel Cake with my penchant for punctuality. Mr. Funnel Cake is just a bit too Brazilian when it comes to showing up on time, but he keeps me grounded. ;)

There was lots of laughter during the day and it seemed like everyone was enjoying themselves.

With family and friends around, I can really say that our wedding felt like a place of love and friendship, with lots of warm laughter and camaraderie.

The botanical garden certainly was a warm setting on such a cold day in Columbus, but no one warned us how bright it would be! Underneath the windows, I found myself really wishing I had brought sunglasses because it was so bright!

In fact, it wasn't long before Mr. Funnel Cake needed to take off his jacket to keep from sweating to death. Personally, I needed to take a break outside to cool down in my giant firecracker dress.

I really appreciated everyone who took the time to travel or spend the day coming to our wedding. It meant the world to me to see my close family and friends on this important day and I cherish each trip I can spend time with them these days.

We posed for many pictures that day and enjoyed all the happiness our union seemed to produce.

Sister BM and her husband wanted a picture too. Again, I felt like such a star in my own family! How many other days in your life can you feel SO loved by everyone in your life? This is truly the amazing part about weddings. You realise how special you really are to your loved ones.

We also got a photo of my design crew from OSU, complete with our amazing Design Ellipse symbol that you only wish you could understand. ;)

Friend J knows just how awesome OSU designers are! :)

There were really smiles, laughter and joy everywhere in the room.

Among the chatter, Tim found a group of the boys all inspecting something...

Do my eyes deceive me, or has Mr. Funnel Cake already taken off his ring after I just told him never to do that in the church?!

Oh well, I'll forgive him. Just this once.

I'm sure he was showing off the engraving we had made on the inside of our rings, which included the date and our (KH)².

We did our best to get around most of the room before the events like cake cutting started, but it was difficult. Before you knew it, it was time for BIL Funnel Cake's speech up next!

Miss a Recap?

• Funneling the Love: A Poorly Timed Hair Trial
• Funneling the Love: Last Minute Cake Tasting
• Funneling the Love: Meeting the Caterer

• Funneling the Love: Everyone gets their nails done!

• Funneling the Love: Last minute Bachelor/ette Parties

• Funneling the Love: Things Get Crazy

• Funneling the Love: We Rehearse
• Funneling the Love: Last Supper
• Funneling the Love: Gifting Each Other
• Funneling the Love: The Final Countdown
• Funneling the Love: Waking Before Dawn
• Funneling the Love: The Dress
• Funneling the Love: The Final Touches
• Funneling the Love: Going to the Chapel
• Funneling the Love: We Marry
• Funneling the Love: Hugs, Kisses and Formals
• Funneling the Love: The Conservatory
• Funneling the Love: The Bridal Party
• Funneling the Love: Coffee and Tea
• Funneling the Love: The Favours
• Funneling the Love: Tattoos for Everyone
• Funneling the Love: The Details
• Funneling the Love: We Brunch
• Funneling the Love: Small Talk

*All pictures by Timwill Photography unless noted*

Funneling the Love: We Brunch

After we made our grand entrance, we bee-lined to table 17 and dropped off our bouquets before heading to the brunch line. Metro catering had some very respectful employees who honestly made me feel like I was the most important person in the world. 

"Would you like a mimosa Mrs. Funnel Cake?" Why yes, don't mind if I do.

Then it sort of hit me, we were "the stars" of this wedding and the sensation that everyone in the room is there because of you is kind of mind-boggling.

While I was taking in the details of the centrepieces and favours, I noticed that many people in the room were trying to get a look at me, the bride. 

To be honest, it made me feel a little awkward. Why are all these people looking at me? I'm shy. I'm not great at being the centre of attention. What if I did something goofy in front of everyone?

With the understanding that there were many eyes on me and the past memories of waiting for-eeever to get food at a wedding, I wanted to get my food asap so that the guests could start eating soon. I didn't want to keep them waiting!

Magaret from Metro catering had picked out the cream of the crop for our wedding and I had a very friendly head server (not sure what her title was!) who walked along the brunch line with me and filled my plate so that I didn't over exert myself, you know... because I'm a princess. (At least in the moment!)

Mama Funnel Cake had discussed the food with Mr. Funnel Cake and me, but for the most part we left it up to her what would make up a good brunch menu when she was negotiating the details with the caterer.

The menu started out with fresh seasonal fruit including grapes, melon, strawberries and citrus.

One of the big details that Mr. Funnel Cake and I did know was on the menu and were looking forward to were the sirloin steaks and the omelet station. Guests could have omelets made to order with choice of bell peppers, onions, mushrooms, tomatoes, Swiss and cheddar cheeses, and diced ham. I was salivating by the time my omelet was on the skillet!

We opted to have the steaks cooked in the kitchen and served warm because it was expensive to have two cooks manning two stations and we figured that it was more important for omelets to be served piping hot than steaks.

Guests could find split bagels with whipped butter and cream cheese and golden brown french toast with butter and maple syrup. 

Also for the meat lovers were bacon and sausage patties to go along with scrambled eggs for the people who didn't care for omelets.

For those favouring more of a "lunch" for their brunch, we had roasted turkey breast sliced with all the trimmings; country sage dressing, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, turkey gravy, old fashioned green beans, candied sweet potatoes, rolls & butter.

It wasn't a coincidence that most of this food is served at Thanksgiving. This was as close as Mr. Funnel Cake and I would get to spending Thanksgiving with the family and Mama Funnel Cake wanted to make sure the guests would fill up!

When we were seated, the other guests began filling their plates while we began. After getting up at 5:30am, I was starving!

How hungry were you by the time you ate at your wedding?

Miss a Recap?

• Funneling the Love: A Poorly Timed Hair Trial
• Funneling the Love: Last Minute Cake Tasting
• Funneling the Love: Meeting the Caterer

• Funneling the Love: Everyone gets their nails done!

• Funneling the Love: Last minute Bachelor/ette Parties

• Funneling the Love: Things Get Crazy

• Funneling the Love: We Rehearse
• Funneling the Love: Last Supper
• Funneling the Love: Gifting Each Other
• Funneling the Love: The Final Countdown
• Funneling the Love: Waking Before Dawn
• Funneling the Love: The Dress
• Funneling the Love: The Final Touches
• Funneling the Love: Going to the Chapel
• Funneling the Love: We Marry
• Funneling the Love: Hugs, Kisses and Formals
• Funneling the Love: The Conservatory
• Funneling the Love: The Bridal Party
• Funneling the Love: Coffee and Tea
• Funneling the Love: The Favours
• Funneling the Love: Tattoos for Everyone
• Funneling the Love: The Details

*All pictures by Timwill Photography unless noted*

Funneling the Love: The Details

Another thing I didn't have a chance to tell you before the wedding was that like some other bees, Mr. FC and I had a few celebrity guests we invited. Our list included Pope Benedict XVI, President Obama, Mickey and Minnie Mouse, and Senator John Glenn as a homage to my state and university. (I've at least met Senator Glenn unlike the other celebrity guests…) I asked Mr. Funnel Cake if there were any famous Swiss people he wanted to invite, but he didn't think inviting the Bundesrat sounded appealing.

A few months after we sent out our V.I.P. invites, Mama Funnel Cake told me that I'd received a strange package in the mail from California. I was excited knowing exactly what it was!

(Personal photo)

I hadn't told her about our secret invites yet, but when I revealed my plot over the phone, she excitedly opened up the signed photo from Mickey and Minnie. Mama Funnel Cake had not ever heard of celebrity invites, and she got a real kick out of our special invitees!

In addition to the signed photo, Mickey and Minnie also sent us a collectors pin which Mama Funnel Cake put together in a shadow box with some (KH)² paraphernalia. We decided we should display the Disney items by our table map so that guests could see the results of my invitation shenanigans. I was a little bummed we hadn't heard from the Obamas, but I thought maybe I hadn't sent them our invitation with enough time before the wedding.

Maybe you noticed the odd table number in one of my previous posts. All of our table numbers were sort of strange, which deserves a bit of an explanation. Because the layout wasn't as simple as 1-14, Mama Funnel Cake thought we needed to create a map to guide confused guests to their seats, so I created this basic map of the palm house to help guests figure out which side of the room they would be sitting.

(Guest photo)

Mr. Funnel Cake and I debated for a long time about what kind of theme to do for our table numbers. I thought it would be kind of cute to do flags from the 26 cantons in Switzerland to reference Mr. Funnel Cake's heritage at the wedding, but he thought that was cheesy. He suggested we do normal numbers and add an American, Swiss or Brazilian flag to the sign, which I thought was cheesy.

Mr. Funnel Cake suggested doing famous cities we had visited as the table names, but we haven't been to 14 "big" cities together yet. I thought it would be adorable to have a picture for each year we were growing up (Age 1=Table 1, Age 2=Table 2, etc), but that idea really mortified FC. But I liked the picture idea because it gives guests a reason to go around and see all the table numbers and learn a bit more about the bride or groom if they don't know them that well. It was in this line of thinking that I came up with our idea:

(Guest photo)

For each table number, I calculated the number of days since a milestone in our lives, starting with the first day I ever contacted Mr. FC. 

So as a guest, you might have thought you had a very strange, long table number, but upon closer inspection, the guests were able to know on that day... how many days it had been since we first emailed, first kissed, first hugged, etc...

(Guest photo)

(Guest photo)

Clever guests could venture around the reception and figure out that I waited a whopping 136 days to tell Mr. Funnel Cake I loved him after he told me in Paris. 

Also, if you look closely you'll notice that Mama Funnel Cake had bought red foil heart decorations for the flowers to signify the hearts that rained down on us on our Zivilstand. It was a heartfelt reference to Mr. Funnel Cake's military unit who blasted the hearts into the sky for us on our first wedding day. In fact, if you looked close enough, you could find some of the original hearts hanging around the gift table.

(Guest photo)

Our table of course, did not follow the table-numbering scheme. Below "17", the sign simply said, "Ask Mr. Funnel Cake what this number means."

Anyone who knows about Mr. FC's military unit knows that 17 is the important number and that there was no way we were sitting at a table with any other number at our wedding. (If you recall, 17 happens to be the day of the month we were married legally.) ;)

I thought this table number was a great way to nod to our legal wedding, and to provide my friends and family a reason to go up and ask Mr. Funnel Cake a question and get to know him. Most of them were meeting him for only the first or second time!

Over at our cake table, Mama Funnel Cake had a secret framed as well.

It turns out, the Obamas had written us back! She decided to make it a surprise by framing the congratulatory note and for good measure, she framed the RSVP picture postcard from our invitations that has the stone pattern I used throughout the wedding materials. I was so impressed that my mother took the time to frame all these things for us in our wedding colours. It was SO sweet of her!

(Guest photo)

Many of my family members thought it was SO COOL that the president of the United States had sent US a congratulatory note. They hadn't heard of celebrity invites either, so many of them were really very impressed and couldn't stop gushing about it! :)

Over at the gift table was our card box, inspired by Mrs. Meatball's post on her site The Broke-Ass Bride. I'm glad I stumbled upon her post because it was a wonderful, fashionable and affordable way to house our cards. The box there on the left is the only physical wedding present we received, by the way. SCORE. (We actually didn't even have room for that one breakable espresso set in our luggage and it is still waiting for us in Columbus...)

(Guest photo)

On the right side of the table was my last-minute thumbprint tree. I had planned for months to make one of these, but I really dragged my feet with the work. When the wedding was two weeks away, I made myself go to the store one evening to buy the frame for the thumbprint tree and my parent's Scherenschnitt. After that I just had to draw a lovely empty tree, like so:

(Personal photos)

It only took like... three tries to draw it. (Which I totally had time for as a crazy, stressed-out, frantically packing bride!)

But I am happy to say that our thumbprint tree was a huge success and the tree sitting in our home now is beautiful! 

I left the glass at home in Zürich and brought the frame and rolled up thumbprint tree with me in my carryon. Simultaneously, I ordered the ink pads, archival pens and hand wipes to be sent to Mama Funnel Cake's house so that we would have everything required for thumbprinting.

I don't believe most of my family or friends (many who are not in the marrying stage yet) had ever seen a thumbprint tree. It was another "new thing" to our family, but old and young, they all signed, from Grandma to my baby nephew!

I also had designed some simple tester sheets that included instructions for guests unfamiliar with thumbprint trees:

Word to the wise though, I didn't realize that I should have bought alcohol-based hand wipes, so the ones I brought along didn't do much help in cleaning the guest's fingers. Sorry FC peeps! Bride's bad!!

(Guest photo)

Lurking somewhere away from the cameras at the reception were our bubble wands. BM SIL had purchased these for her wedding and tied them in blue and black ribbons, but forgot to use them on the big day. I had something in mind for them, so BM SIL was kind enough to re-do them in red, white and black despite my protests that the effort was not necessary. She said she wanted our wedding color scheme to be perfect and so she had no problem doing this tedious task again. What a sweetheart!!

(Personal photo)

And last but not least, I know you are probably all wondering which ties my brothers were arguing over in the morning, making them late to their usher duties. Well, here is Brother J's Buckeye tie to signify game day that evening and Brother B's dinosaur tie.

Which brother do YOU think wins for best tie?

Miss a Recap?

• Funneling the Love: A Poorly Timed Hair Trial
• Funneling the Love: Last Minute Cake Tasting
• Funneling the Love: Meeting the Caterer

• Funneling the Love: Everyone gets their nails done!

• Funneling the Love: Last minute Bachelor/ette Parties

• Funneling the Love: Things Get Crazy

• Funneling the Love: We Rehearse
• Funneling the Love: Last Supper
• Funneling the Love: Gifting Each Other
• Funneling the Love: The Final Countdown
• Funneling the Love: Waking Before Dawn
• Funneling the Love: The Dress
• Funneling the Love: The Final Touches
• Funneling the Love: Going to the Chapel
• Funneling the Love: We Marry
• Funneling the Love: Hugs, Kisses and Formals
• Funneling the Love: The Conservatory
• Funneling the Love: The Bridal Party
• Funneling the Love: Coffee and Tea
• Funneling the Love: The Favours
• Funneling the Love: Tattoos for Everyone

*All pictures by Timwill Photography unless noted*