Love Under the Moon: Don't Stop Believin'

The rest of our evening went by in such a blur, sometimes it's hard to believe it even happened. And although our photographers managed to catch some of the excitement before they left, the majority was documented by our videographer and our guests.

There were awkward love sandwiches:

Photo by Upstate Photographers

Stripping:

Photo by Upstate Photographers

And other shenanigans:

All six photos are courtesy of Coyote guests

Oh and this happened:

(Whoops!) / Guest Photo

The night flew by as Mr. Coyote and I danced, mingled, and took ridiculous photos.

Photo by Upstate Photographers

We both have the ugliest laughing faces in this photo (and I don't even remember what we were laughing about) but I'm sharing it with you because it truly captures the unfettered joy and happiness we felt that night.

All too soon DJ Nate announced that it was time for the final song of the evening. Choosing our last song of the night was easy. We knew we wanted an upbeat song that would get everyone out on the dance floor so we went with that classic song that every drunk person in a bar loves to sing.

We knew we made the right choice as soon as the first notes of Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'" filled the room. My new father-in-law shouted, "I LOVE THIS SONG" and starting waving his hands in the air like a champ. I quickly gravitated to my bridesmaids, who have all spent more than one late night in a bar screaming these song lyrics with me.

*The following photos are screenshots captured from the Coyote wedding video by Shaw Video Productions.*

I love that you can see FIL Coyote's crazy arm flailing in the upper left corner.

My brother, always the narcissist, quickly interjected yelling, "Girls can't have all the fun!"

As if on cue, my new husband found himself cozied up next to me...

And the rest of the wedding party soon followed suit.

Finally, my parents and even Mr. Coyote's parent joined in to belt out the final chorus.

The remaining Coyote guests formed an even bigger circle around our mini love circle, cheering and singing along.

Screenshot via the Coyote wedding video by Shaw Video Productions

My heart soared during those final minutes. I laughed, sang and soaked in the last moments of our reception. As I clutched my new husband, I once again found myself in awe of what we had just done. Even though our venue is a large building you could just feel it overflowing with the palpable love of our closest friends and family members.

Just like that the song ended, and with it, our reception. We exchanged farewells, gathered our belongings and slowly made our way outside, into the moonlit night.

Miss a recap?

• I babble about being married and share our wedding video.
• We finish up some last-minute wedding tasks and pre-wedding jitters set in the day before the wedding.
• We practice getting married and then head to our rehearsal dinner where I shed my first tears of the weekend. We later wind down with our families back at the hotel.
• My bridesmaids get pretty and I get a special message from Mr. Coyote.
• I try to cope when things don’t go quite as planned, but thankfully I quickly bounce back and then it was time to become a bride. Meanwhile, Mr. Coyote was calm as a cucumber as he got ready with the dads and groomsmen.
• I finish getting ready and see an unexpected guest on my way to our first look.
• It was finally time to cross the street and meet my groom!
• We spend some time with our wedding party and then some time alone. Ceremony time was rapidly approaching.
• Our ceremony begins with the family and bridesmaid processional and continues with the bridal processional.
• I share the full text of our ceremony.
• We recess and my father gives us a very special wedding gift.
• Our friends and family gathered for some formal (and not so formal) portraits. Then Mr. Coyote and I spent a few moments alone before heading out to join the rest of our guests for our cocktail hour.
• The reception begins with a rockin’ introduction. Followed by our first dance and parent dances.
• Best Man M knocks us all out of the park with his speech. Our maids of honor had a little trouble with their speech, but my uncle brought us back on track with his beautiful blessing.
• We were too excited to eat, so we spent some time visiting with our guests until it was time to cut the cake.
• We dance and have a private photo shoot. Then we get crazy with our photo booth.
• I take a second to fill you in on the special relationship that I have with my brother.