"Goomba38" > wrote in message
. ..
> Went to a wedding last PM, held in a very historic building. Way too few
> seats for the assembled (never attended SRO nuptials before! LOL) but the
> atmosphere and the sheer gorgeousness of the space helped soften that
> blow. Luckily we had seats, although not the best. The groom is a sweet
> man, a friend of my son's who recently returned from a year in the desert.
>
> Friends of the young couple did the food. Pretty simple, low cost stuff.
> Veggie platters, cheeses, meat trays, mini rolls to make sandwiches,
> meatballs (Nancy Young-grape jelly and chili sauce! I asked!! They were
> actually pretty good. The only warm item on the table), and of course a
> gorgeous bridal cake on one one side of the room, and the typical UGA
> symbol grooms cake on a buffet on the other side of the room. Bakeries
> around here must do at least 2 of those a week, LOL. The tables were
> ornamented with floating candles, flowers and netting which looked nice at
> night.
>
> I so wanted to "fix" the buffet table for those folks. The large oval,
> antique table was set with some items on both sides starting with the
> plates (inplying two identical sides so folks could move down on either
> side and not miss anything, but then they had the napkins only on one
> side, and both platters of the meatballs on only one side. So people were
> weaving in and out, and then having to go around the other side for the
> meatballs.Someone just didn't think that one out. They used clear plastic
> plates and utensils yet I have to say they were much nicer than ones I've
> usually seen for sale in the store? I'm always torn about all that trash
> in the landfills versus renting (with washing/transport) which entails
> different energy use.
>
> I gagged a bit when one woman came out to refill the large bread "cubes"
> on the platter that held spinach dip held inside a gutted large round loaf
> of pumpernickel bread and bread cubes around it. With her bare hands she
> grabbed huge handfuls of the bread cubes from the replacement platter and
> squeezed them into place on the serving platter, smashing as needed to get
> them to mound and stay in place. In some cases ignorance is bliss and even
> if she had to use her bare hands to maul the large cubes, I would have
> preferred it to be out of my sight. Perhaps taken back into the kitchen or
> rotating two platters on the serving table so she could replenish out of
> view yet not leave the table without one while the other was in the
> kitchen.
>
> The open bar was in another room. The bar tender (owner of a liquor store
> that does this service for hire) had a HUGE tip bowl out.
> Terribly out of place, and if I were the parents of the bride I would have
> been very embarrassed and upset by this tacky bit of extortion.
> Good wines (I enjoyed a lovely Spatlasse from Germany) but for the mixed
> drinks it was all bottom shelf liquor which might matter to some? I didn't
> try the punch in the fountain but it looked to be a citrus punch. The
> bridal party seemed to favor bottled beer, LOL.
>
> All in all though, it was still a lovely wedding.

Sounds like the friends did a nice job with the food, and what a great thing
for them to do for the wedding couple! Wedding food is, apparently, not
cheap. My nephew's wedding was a couple of months back. They really wanted
the buffet to be spectacular, and from what I understand, the food alone
cost them around $50 per guest. Everyone seemed to think it was fabulous, I
was the only one not so impressed.

The wedding and reception were in the same room, so we were seated at our
tables for the wedding. As soon as the ceremony was finished, they opened
the bar (tip jar!), and a large table with a spectacular arrangement of
fruit and cheese and ice sculpture, while servers walked around with trays
of lumpia. Meanwhile they set up the buffet. They served, on a huge platform
of ice bricks, little shot glasses with a basil leaf and three or four small
marinated shrimp (looked just like a civeche presentation from Top Chef). A
huge display, lots of ice and cool lighting, but just a few tiny shrimp in
each portion. I guess they spent all they saved on shrimp on the ice
sculpture! Then a server carved beef tenderloin, and they had some potato
rolls and a few sauces--good, but nothing really special. The next table had
little BLT canapes-I thought they were a little too salty but everyone else
seemed to love them. Then a table with some pretty standard crab-stuffed
mushrooms. Finally, they had a table with lots of martini glasses, a big
bowl of mashed potatoes, and potato toppings. You got a martini glass of
potatoes and dressed them up yourself. Again, everyone seemed to think it
was so impressive, except for me.

I can't believe that cost $50 a head! But, the presentation was pretty
spectacular, and everyone I talked to was thoroughly impressed. Makes me
think I should get into the wedding business!

All in all, though, a beautiful wedding. Spectacular flowers in a
window-filled hall on a river, with the ceremony held during a spectacular
sunset. The colors were champaigne and chocolate, with vividly colored
flowers, and an incredibly gorgeous bride (my nephew married up! lol). And
the flow of wedding to reception to on the way home was painless. Too bad I
didn't stay long enough to see the mother of the groom (my sis) dancing on
the tables, lol! Thank goodness for video!

Cheers!
Mo