Good morning, readers! Hope you enjoyed watching Tori Bates and Bobby Smith tie the knot last night on Bringing Up Bates. I (Ellie) had a great time at the wedding, and although it was a tight space filled with lots of guests, I took as many photos as I could.
As we approached the church, we were directed by several signs positioned along the road.
When we pulled into the parking lot across the street from the church, several boys, some of the Duggars, pointed us toward the open spaces. The road between the parking lot and the church was busy, but the church had an underground tunnel connecting the two. It wasn't an especially large or fancy church, so we were surprised to see the tunnel.
Additional signs led us to the sanctuary.
The decorations were just beautiful. We took a seat off to the side--house left--so I could take a few photos without disrupting the ceremony. We sat near dress designer Renee Miller's fiance and enjoyed catching up with him while we waited for the wedding to start. Shortly before the ceremony began, we were joined by the entire Duggar family, minus Jinger and Jeremy.
The ceremony was lovely! The parents and grandparents were seated to "The Christmas song," the bridal party entered to "Silver Bells," and Tori and Gil made their entrance to "A Thousand Years." The recessional was "Carol of the Bells."
We got a great view of the sneaky little brothers who spent most of the wedding sitting in the empty balcony and then came down to shoot off confetti cannons during the kiss.
The reception took place downstairs, in the fellowship hall. It didn't look like a large space when we walked in, but it ended up being the perfect size.
We enjoyed meeting several new friends, who also happened to be blog readers.
The meal was a baked potato bar.
The lemon-blueberry cake made by Kelly's sister Kay was out-of-this-world-delicious...and beautifully decorated, too.
The new Mr. and Mrs. Smith soon arrived, and the festivities began. They cute the cake, and Tori tossed the bouquet. We laughed when Gil begged his kids to stay away, and then we laughed again when Josie caught the bouquet.
Tori and Bobby greeted all the guests in a receiving line, and then it was time for the sendoff.
If you enjoy this blog, be sure to visit Ellie's other blogs (NashvilleWife.com and DuggarFamilyBlog.com).
As we approached the church, we were directed by several signs positioned along the road.
When we pulled into the parking lot across the street from the church, several boys, some of the Duggars, pointed us toward the open spaces. The road between the parking lot and the church was busy, but the church had an underground tunnel connecting the two. It wasn't an especially large or fancy church, so we were surprised to see the tunnel.
Additional signs led us to the sanctuary.
The decorations were just beautiful. We took a seat off to the side--house left--so I could take a few photos without disrupting the ceremony. We sat near dress designer Renee Miller's fiance and enjoyed catching up with him while we waited for the wedding to start. Shortly before the ceremony began, we were joined by the entire Duggar family, minus Jinger and Jeremy.
The ceremony was lovely! The parents and grandparents were seated to "The Christmas song," the bridal party entered to "Silver Bells," and Tori and Gil made their entrance to "A Thousand Years." The recessional was "Carol of the Bells."
We got a great view of the sneaky little brothers who spent most of the wedding sitting in the empty balcony and then came down to shoot off confetti cannons during the kiss.
The reception took place downstairs, in the fellowship hall. It didn't look like a large space when we walked in, but it ended up being the perfect size.
We enjoyed meeting several new friends, who also happened to be blog readers.
The meal was a baked potato bar.
The lemon-blueberry cake made by Kelly's sister Kay was out-of-this-world-delicious...and beautifully decorated, too.
The new Mr. and Mrs. Smith soon arrived, and the festivities began. They cute the cake, and Tori tossed the bouquet. We laughed when Gil begged his kids to stay away, and then we laughed again when Josie caught the bouquet.
Tori and Bobby greeted all the guests in a receiving line, and then it was time for the sendoff.
Myself (Ellie) with the bride and groom
Family and friends lined the hallway between the reception room and the front door and waved wands--made with wooden dowels, purple and silver ribbon, and bells--while Tori and Bobby exited the church.
If you enjoy this blog, be sure to visit Ellie's other blogs (NashvilleWife.com and DuggarFamilyBlog.com).
Thanks for these exclusive photo's!Bobby and Tori are the sweetest couple! And their wedding was beautiful!
ReplyDeleteHow beautiful, thanks for your personal descriptions and I loved the program!
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed watching the wedding. Especially when Tori was giggling. Was wondering if the trees were completely dry and if any paint got on the church carpet. LOL
ReplyDeleteI've wondered something for a while, and maybe you can shed some light on it. Maybe it's just how the weddings are edited, but it always struck me with the Duggar weddings that it seemed like the bride and groom spent comparatively little time at the reception. It seems like they show up a little later and leave when everyone is still there and celebrating. Is that really the case? I know there's no dancing and no formal meal to take up time, but it just always seems like the newlyweds are taking off when there's still so much more fun to be had--and with as many people as they usually have, I can see it taking hours to see a good portion of them. In all my wedding experience, the bride and groom are often the last ones to leave, but I'm not sure if the early departure (if it is, in fact, early) is a southern thing, or a thing for couples who want to build on that first kiss ASAP! Just wondering!
ReplyDeleteIn 2018 most brides and grooms have gone far beyond hand holding with a chaperone present at all times. There is no reason for them to hurry off as man and wife. Once the Bates and Duggars are officially married they want some alone time. It's understandable and I'm sure their guests are not offended.
DeleteThey are just ready to be alone
Deletethey have their whole lives to be alone. I'm sure many people travel a long way and spend a lot of money to get to the wedding. I think they should stay longer and perhaps skip the receiving line to just mingle with their guests. Whats another few hours of being in a crowd then having your alone time? It just doesn't seem thoughtful of their guests
DeleteI get that, but they have their whole lives together and only one very special time with all of the friends and family they hold most dear together in one place. If they've waited that long, what's another couple hours? They can kiss all they want :) I was mostly just curious if this is just a phenomenon with these sorts of marriages, or more common down south, or what.
DeleteIt's bad manners not to greet your guests especially if they've come a long distance to attend. I don't understand people excusing this behavior. They have the rest of their lives to be "alone". Perhaps these couple should just elope.
DeleteA lot of churches require you to be out of the building early on a Saturday night. They have to get the church and fellowship hall all cleaned back up and ready for services the next day. I have been to a ton of weddings. The couples normally only stay an hour to two hours after the wedding. Baptists don’t have drinking or dancing at their receptions. You eat a little and spend a little time with your guests and then leave to enjoy the honeymoon.
DeleteThanks for all your hard work Ellie.This little extra peak at the wedding is much appreciated.Mr. and Mrs. Smith look so in love.I wish them a happy life full of blessings.
ReplyDeleteThank you Ellie!
ReplyDeleteGéraldine
The cake looks really good! But a patato bar at a wedding? They should get more and better food for a wedding. Some people come from far away and need a good meal
ReplyDeleteAt least they didn't serve ice cream outside.
DeleteAlso wondering why they don't include a reply card so they would know how many people were attending the wedding?
If you had to feed a thousand guests, I'm guessing that they wouldn't be eating filet mignon! The guests of the Bates and Duggars are there to experience the union of two people into one, not to get a nine course meal.
DeleteTheir wedding not ours, but I understand why so would say that.
DeleteThen I would suggest they hit up a restaurant before the wedding!😉
DeleteI thought the potato bar was a great idea. There's so may possible toppings that it could be a complete meal.
DeleteI think we've all become accustomed to full sit down dinners at receptions now. In the not too distant past cake and punch was the only thing served. And it would be difficult to serve a sit down meal for as many people as apparently attend these weddings, although a buffet would work okay. One thing I do not understand is at one point Kelly said they didn't know how many would show up. Do they not RSVP for these weddings?
DeleteNo, it was a POTATO bar. Sound better now?
Deletea potato bar seems very chintzy to me. if you are going to have the wedding later in the day, you need to feed your guests more. If you want to have very little food, the wedding should be in the afternoon.
DeleteI personally love potato bars, BUT, a simple side salad would have made it more special. Huge bags of lettuce and gallon jars of dressing are CHEAP as well as homemade croutons. At the end of the day though- most of their friends are homeschoolers and probably not too critical of these things.
DeleteCan you imagine the people who got stuck washing and wrapping 1000 potatoes! Must have been some faithful friends! HA!
DeleteI'm sure people attending Bates weddings, or Duggar weddings, or weddings of other families in that social circle, do not expect to be provided with a 3 course sit down meal. The logistics of providing that for a thousand people boggles the mind.
DeleteELLIE U ARE A REAL PAL, GAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteomg, a potato bar!! what a cool idea!! i would have gone crazy, lol.
ReplyDeletethanks for the pictures & dialogue. you must have had such a great time with everyone. i was hoping to see more duggars on camera but only caught grandma & deanna as it panned by. were you & mr handsome near them?
that was so nice of bobby & tori to greet everyone in a receiving line with the number of guests they had and i'm glad to see a picture of you with the couple
great job reporting as usual! thank you
I love the idea of the wands with bells!
ReplyDeleteI know the lady who made them!! She did a great job!!
DeleteOur family are close friends with the Bates fam and attended the wedding as well as helping in the week before.
ReplyDeleteI don't watch any other reality TV except the Duggar fam (also friends)
I feel the fans miss soo much. Tori's wedding, as well as other Bates and Duggar weddings are so beautiful and full of moments that are not shown due to the constant couch talk, painting trees, setting up apt, etc.
I so wish UP producers would have shown all the wedding prep and interviews the week before, because that's all fun viewing too!
Then make the actual wedding episode flow the way we attendees experience it.
It's not fair to the loving fans who get a smattering of what we experience.
I know Gil and Kelly don't control this aspect, so I hope production team will see the light!!
Y'all fans are missing too much :(
I agree there was a lot of hard work in prepping for the wedding and one of my friends who made the wands and was there 2 weeks before the wedding helping with prep. She was shown a few times, but no one knows the enormity of what she did by the clips. Good job my friend
DeleteI do wish they spent more time on the actual wedding and reception.
DeleteDid the cameras film the reception? I wonder if UP wants to let the couple and their guests have some privacy at the reception or they think the audience more interested in wedding prep?
Are there any special moments you can share with us that you wish were shown?
Love your photos! I love seeing your perspective of the wedding. It makes me feel like I was there.Thank you! Everything about the wedding was lovely! Josie caught the bouquet! How delightful!
ReplyDeleteThank you Ellie! Your pics are similar to mine and it was so nice for you to share sweet simple moments that are left out of the show!
ReplyDeleteTo answer the above poster's question, as for special moments that werent shown, I know we helped locally during the days before, but there were friends who came only on friday to help with trimming branches and decor of the trees,decorating the Alter, and cleaning up the glitter that seemed to be everywhere! Also making signs, sewing, providing snacks.
This went on all day and we made some new friends who came from quite a distance. Yet the show didnt show the extensive work they did decorating, especially the trees :(
I am really glad they showed some rehearsal dinner, we had a sweet and fun night! UP didnt show any of rehearsal for Michael's wedding.
I mostly just wish they would have shown the wedding entrance as we experienced. Not jumping back and forth between bridal party beautiful entrance and Tori talking with her brothers. Too fragmented. That was cute and could have been incorporated in another episode.
There were sweet moments when I was in the bridal party dressing room, of course all dressed! Thank you again Ellie for including.
You didnt miss much of the reception, as they really just cut the cake and form a receiving line. We did not come in till all the guests were already done eating their food and there were sheet cakes already cut up for guests. Tori and Bobby spent little time in the reception room, just to do a receiving line.
Right after it is them exiting, which was shown. Although there was a decoy car first. After Tori had hugged some goodbye, it sped away without bride and groom! Then she hugged more of us and the white car pulled up.
That would have been so fun to show. NO idea why they left that out??
Sorry so long, hope it answered some ??
Thank you for answering my question. It would have been lovely to see how hard everyone worked to make the wedding come together. I wish UP showed how many people loved Tori and Bobby and came together to help make their special day come to fruition. It really sounds like it was a community effort. The focus on only the family's prep efforts didn't show reality. Thank you and the other poster for the information.
DeleteEllie, thank you SO much for the extra pictures and commentary. This was such a great post!
ReplyDeleteyes ditto
DeleteEllie, how did you know who's faces to blur out on the reception pics? Do they approach you after they see you take the pic and ask they not be shown? Or do you approach them? So curious how you do that....Thanks!
ReplyDeleteThank you for all the pictures of Tori and Bobby. Their wedding was so beautiful!! But all the Bates weddings are Beautiful!! I wish UP would make this show an hour long like the Duggar shows are! We need more of the Bates family!! I love the Bates they are so real!! The are truly open and honest and a family you can relate too!! My husband won't watch the Duggars anymore but he loves the Bates family!! I watch both still but I have to agree with him, I relate to the Bates more than the Duggars more. Ellie keep up the good work on both blogs but please relay to UP that we would love to see more of the Bates if you would PLEASE!!!
ReplyDelete