Our AHR with some pics!!

Hi everyone,

I know some of you are planning an AHR and I thought I'd let you know how ours went. We had it this past Saturday and it went better than I ever could have hoped for! It was SO MUCH FUN!! We went the somewhat traditional route and rented a hall, rented some music equipment, had a dance and a cold buffet. We came in at under $2000 for the whole thing. It was a bit of an expense but we really wanted to celebrate with our friends and coworkers who didnt make the trip and it gave us a chance to re-live the whole thing over again! It was seriously one of the best parties ever if I do say so myself! I got to wear my dress again and dh and our bridal party who was there wore their outfits again. We decorated with a tropical theme and a friend of mine made us a beautiful tropical wedding cake. We really wanted it to have a very light and fun party atmosphere though, and I think that was definitely achieved!

The timeline went like:

7 PM - guests begin arriving - we met everyone at the entryway and gave them a bead necklace in black, gold, or green (Jamaican colours mon!)

7 - 8 PM - guest mingled, indulged in the chocolate fountain that was set up with fruit and pretzels and snacked on the chips and salsa that were on the tables. A photo slideshow of our wedding was on rotation on a screen.

8 PM - We announced what the beads were for! Anyone who made someone say the word "No" or "Know" would receive the other persons beads. The person with the most beads at the end of the night would win a Bob Marley doll and a bottle of Appleton Rum! This game was a huge hit as it really got everyone mingling and having fun! (And asking some PRETTY interesting questions to get beads I might add!!)

8:20 PM - we played our wedding DVD, everyone loved watching it!

8:40 PM - more mingling and indulging in $3 drinks! LOTS of drinks...

9:00 PM - dance started

10:30 PM - cold buffet served, most people having too much fun to eat! We then did our cake cutting.

on til 2 AM - party party party!!

Now for pics:

Table setting - floral centrepieces because I had won a $100 floral gift certificate at a wedding show! Favours were alternating flip flop shaped candles and flip flop shaped playing cards from Orientaltrading.com :

Entryway - fake palm trees and such:

Greeting table - we had people sign our matted picture in gold and silver ink and we will now frame it. Treasure chest was full of beads:

More of the decorations:

Beautiful cake:

OK and later on in the evening...

looks like you had fun, I love your dress

So cute! Looks like you guys had a blast!

Sounds great! I like the pics!

Looks like everyone had a blast!!!!!! Great decorations too!!

Your friend also did a wonderful job on the cake! I may want to eventually use it for inspiration!

I looks so fun! I love love that bead game idea

Oh what a fun evening!!! Am glad you went through with the AHR and dressed up all over again...thats been the one debate we've been having...ok...the one debate I'VE been having with myself! hahahaha

CONGRATS!!!

It looks like everyone had such a fun time, thanks for the pictures.

looks awesome! i love the bead game too! great idea! the cake was beautiful, do you have any bigger close-ups of it?