A Sunday Kind of Love: Family Moments

During one of the food courses, we had some special parent dances that took place while our guests enjoyed their meal.  My parents decided before the traditional father-daughter dance, they would say a few words to Mr. Ly and myself - not a toast per se... maybe more of a roast? See, at this point my dad is enjoying himself at the party, and he gets pretty silly (read: somewhat inappropriate) after a few drinks (although I think he would have said the exact same things if he were 100% sober). But as my parents were the very generous hosts of the evening, they had free reign to say/do what they wanted, right? They thanked all the guests for coming, talked about the joining of our families, and how pleased they were to be gaining Mr. Ly and his family as in-laws.  Not bad... yet.

Photos by Mike Landis Photographer

Well, it wasn't a "planned" speech, and we haven't seen the video yet, so there's no real telling what was said exactly. But my dad can't just thank everyone nicely and lead into our father-daughter dance. No. There has to be some fun had, at our expense.  I know Mr. Ly was teased for tearing up during the ceremony, and I was teased for just about everything I did as a teenager/young adult probably up through the week of the wedding, because that's just how my family is.  It's all meant with lots of love and while I used to be easily embarrassed, I know now to just roll with the punches.

This is a very typical "very funny" face that I give my parents as I'm sure I was being teased about something... 

Don't think my dad had all the fun, my mom threw some of her own jabs in there too. 

After my parents' speech, my dad invited me up to the dance floor for our father-daughter dance.  Now, I love my father and we have a very good relationship. But a serious relationship, it is not.  These photos perfectly capture our relationship, which is built on a lot of fun and humor.  As you may recall, we chose to dance to "Daughter" by Loudon Wainwright. 

I wouldn't normally post an ugly-laughing face picture, but really it captures us so well! 

Seriously, not one single picture that we were not laughing. Not one. 

Mr. Ly and his mom had a much more serious dance.  They danced to "Unforgettable" by Nat King Cole & Natalie Cole.

Halfway through the dance, the DJ invited all the mothers and sons who were there at the wedding to join Mr. Ly and his mom on the dance floor.  It was a really nice move to get more people involved in the special dances. And it gave Mr. Ly's brother a chance to join him and his mom for a moment as well.

This concluded our parent dances, but we still had one more special dance planned.  In Jewish tradition, when the last of your children gets married, the parents get "crowned."  This usually includes a wreath of some sort placed on one or both of the parents heads, and a circling dance, similar to the Hora.  However, we didn't really know what to do, so my sister, brother, our spouses, and I did some fairly awkward dancing around my parents while Fiddler on the Roof played in the background.

I crowned my mom, my dad opted against a crown.

Then we all looked at each other, pretty unsure what to do now...

Let's just go in a circle around my parents

As always, we are laughing - mostly at ourselves. 

A good family shot and then we called it quits on the crowning. My mom rocked that crown the rest of the night though.

That concluded our special dances of the evening.  I promise the rest of the time the DJ was keeping the dance floor packed with our guests, and they didn't have to watch my family dance awkwardly or laugh at each other for too long.  I'm glad my parents got to have a special moment at our wedding, as they really did deserve it for all they generously gifted us to make the day possible.

I pre-capped our recaps with a big announcement!
Recaps began with our Same Day Edit video.
I needed to get some perspective the week of the wedding.
Personally brewed beers gave our rehearsal lunch a special touch!
I spent a fantastic last day as a Miss.
I shared some gifts for my bridesmaids. 
The girls spend an easy and relaxing morning getting made up.
The guys spent the morning building a chuppah and doing guy things.

I panicked when the morning went by too fast.

We exchanged lovely notes and gifts on the wedding morning.

I put on my dress and became a Blissful Bride.

Bridal details and my "somethings" rounded out the wedding morning.

We had our not-so-private first look.

We took some silly pictures, just the two of us.

Broad Street gave us gorgeous shots, but we nearly lost some of bridal party in traffic.

The Lyres and their huge bridal party storm the art museum, Rocky style.

I shed tears of pain at our final photo stop in Olde City

The ceremony space and details took our breath away when we arrived for a quick rehearsal.

We were officially married under Jewish law when we signed our Ketubah.

Guests were seated and the bridal party got our ceremony started.

I got a little emotional for my walk down the aisle.

We did not take our eyes off each other in our traditional Jewish ceremony.

Post-ceremony photos were taken with some special gender pictures for our surprise!

Our extra-long cocktail hour was full of delicious food and drinks, and a controversial ice-sculpture.

Our ceremony space was flipped into an elegant reception space with gorgeous details.

The bridal party made their entrance to some very viral video tunes. 

We danced our first dance as husband and wife.
I was lifted (briefly) in a chair during the Hora.
Our very special guests toasted us with well wishes, love, and happiness.
The food at our reception was hands down the best wedding food ever.