Wedding Du Jour, Part Deux

On Saturday morning, Joe and I woke up early to go over to his parents' house. We packed and fed the cats and then told them we'd be back tomorrow morning. Whatever, they don't care. As long as they got fed.

We picked up Joe's mom and then took a two and a half hour drive to Bethlehem to meet up with the grandparents. The drive wasn't too bad, I finally got my Martha Stewart magazine on Friday, so I read it on the ride up. That Martha, I tell you. She's so clever with the Halloween decorating ideas. Did you know you can cover your cheese ball with black sesame seeds to make it look more devilish? No? Well thank Martha! There are also good articles on growing your own garlic, the essentials of a tool box, and a family pumpkin farm. This is a must read, October is usually the best issue of the year.

But I digress. Anyhoo, the church part wasn't torture like I thought it was. The bride, Joe's cousin Erin, looked beautiful. All the groomsmen, the father of the bride, and the groom himself (Jimmy) wore brand new matching skate shoes. Except Jimmy's pair were gray, the others were black. It definitely set the tone that things weren't going to be stuffy and formal. And I like that.

A few relatives thought it wasn't appropriate to give gifts, since this was Erin's second wedding. "She already has tea towels, and such", they said. But the fact is, it was Jimmy's first. And I don't think it's fair to Jimmy to have that sort of mentality. They ended up getting a million cards anyway. Joe and I looked up their registry at Target and got them a 3-tier pillar holder and matching pillar candles.

The reception was your typical reception held at a hotel. A buffet dinner with a little of everything - roast beef, rosemary chicken, pasta with red sauce, roasted potatoes, green bean almondine, salad and hard rolls. I must say that it tasted like typical hotel food. The beef was good, the chicken was dry, the beans were good but overcooked for my taste. Although the dinner overall was good, I said to Joe that I liked my cooking better. But at the hotel's defense, it's very difficult to cook for a crowd.

Hors d'oeuvres before the dinner were very good. A very nice cheese plate, with Swedish meatballs (I love meatballs!) and fried dumplings. The cake was simple and I thought it tasted good. The topper showed the bride dragging the groom behind her, I thought that was cute. Open bar, hey I can't complain, I had peachtree and cranberry juice all night.

One guy was a little ticked off that we switched him to a different table before he even got there. Well, we have Aunt Karen to thank for that, I guess. It was her idea to move everyone around even when she was tables away herself. We convinced Aunt Jane to do the electric slide. And the dancing all night was crazy. Young and old were cutting a rug to the Black Eyed Peas.

Overall, the night went without a glitch. A very simple and relatively inexpensive wedding. And what really counts is that everyone had a good time, which it looked like everyone did.

So next week is a week off, I'll be going to a Paul McCartney concert on Friday with Jules. But the following week is back on, another wedding for another of Joe's cousins. So look for part 3 of my wedding du jour series. Later!