All photographs by Kelly Prizel Photography
Our reception was held in the Red Barn at Hampshire College in Amherst, MA. We ate good food and drank great beer (great beer was on our “will not compromise on this” list) and toasted with lots of champagne. We sated our sweet-tooth with my aunt’s delicious cupcakes and danced to contra music provided by a local band called the Flying Garbanzos. To sum up, we just generally indulged.
The dancing was all group dances called by a contra dance caller — which was totally dorky, but super fun. I think the highlight of the evening was when the caller decided to call a dance in French and had us all shouting “une, duex, trios, Poussée!” just before pushing off of each other to jump into the air. I guess “poussée” means “push” in French, but really sounds like something else. At the afterparty we kept toasting by yelling “une, duex, trois, Poussée!” and then erupting into fourth-grade laughter.
It turns out that dancing with your friends and grandparents at the same time is really fun. Like, really fun. Why don’t we get to do it more often? I should start inviting my grandparents out to clubs. They make everything better.
It was fun, and joyous, and totally overwhelming. I could not have asked for anything more. There was so much love and joy and support. We are truely blessed.
All photographs by Kelly Prizel Photography
We ended our reception with a mini concert, which I’ll fill you in on for my next post…
I have driven past that place so many times. I had no idea it was so beautiful inside. I never would have thought of contra dancing at a wedding, but it looks like so much fun. No one can say they don’t know how to dance because there are instructions!
I think that the best part about having a contra dance was seeing the photos of my grandmother. She looked like she was having so much fun dancing! I think group dances are a great way for folks to interact across generations and social spheres — that, and a really talented and great-sounding five piece band only cost us $500… can’t really argue with that.
Wow, that looks like such a fabulously good time; I wish I could crawl into the photos and join you all. :)
Can I ask what the photos are hanging in the background? Is that part of the venue’s decor or yours?
Wow! Good eyes! The photos were our own decor. We collected a bunch of childhood photos of ourselves with important people in our lives and backed them with construction paper. Then we hung them from lines of twine. It was really beautiful in the end, I think.
I love Contra Dancing! My {lovah} and I are total geeks and enjoy going to Regency Era/Jane Austen balls as well as English Contra dance classes. But I’ve never seen anyone do a contra dance for their wedding reception and I LOVE the idea! Brilliant!