Sticky heat, smelly shoes and a St. Louis wedding – Part 2

Now that I’m done kvetching about the two silly inconveniences of our weekend in St. Louis, I can focus on some of the great things about the wedding, which follow in no particular order

Gotta love a wedding buffet – Maybe you’re a frou-frou, East-coast blueblood who insists on a sit-down, surf-and-turf dinner served by garcons in tuxes. If so, that’s perfectly okay. However, I grew up in the Midwest, and we’re often a bit more informal when it comes to dining at our weddings. So when I discovered that we were eating buffet style and they were serving fall-off-the-bone BBQ ribs, garlic mashed potatoes, a wonderful caesar salad, prime rib and a dozen other calorie-laiden foods, I was giddy. I don’t like to wait for my food, plus since I have a farily elevated metabolism (think lab-rat, Energizer-bunny fast) and hence large appetite, I’m usually left wanting when someone else chooses how much is on my plate (Groomasaurus Gal hates when I whine about being hungry after what she thought was a big meal). That said, buffets are totally my style, and this one, although not gourmet-quality, definitely hit the spot. We’re having a buffet at our wedding. Done and done.

The candy bar/buffet is the best wedding innovation since the strap-on bowtie – When all my friends were getting married in their 20s, nobody put out candy for guest to nibble on, let alone tasty high-end stuff that you see at weddings now. When I walked through the door on Friday night, I happened upon a veritable cornocopia of Jelly Bellys, Lindt truffles, Resees PB cups, chocolate-covered creme drops and a dozen or so other sugary delights. Within 15 minutes, me and the rest of the early arrivals were bouncing off the walls in a sugar-induced frenzy, and happy for it. The candy buffet is da bomb.

The wedding photo booth is a surprisingly good idea - If you would have told me this beforehand, I would have snorted and marked you for a hopeless bridezilla who buys any lame-ass idea espoused by Martha Stewart Weddings, The Knot and Brides magazine (don’t get me wrong, I’m sure they have some good ideas, too, but they do go a bit overboard at times). It’s just that the wedding photo booth thing seems to be such a trend/fad that it seems to me to be a silly cliche that would quickly go out of style. Boy was I wrong. As the night went on, not only were couples getting their photos snapped, but entire family units, cousins, neices and nephews, all sorts of relations were piling into the booth, and I watched it shake and shimmy as the people inside laughed and gestured at the camera. In fact, the booth became something of a gathering place, much like the kitchen at a housewarming party. I had more fun there than on the dancefloor (and I love to dance, although I do suffer from white man’s disease on the dancefloor and have been known to bite my lower lip when I’m gettin jiggy). So to any bridezilla who I may have offended, I stand corrected and admit the error of my ways.

Kudos for cutting out some silly traditions – I’ve really never been one for the staged traditions like cutting the cake (and then either politely feeding it to each other or stuffing it down each other’s blowhole), tossing the garter (odd aside: wasn’t Madonna the last person to wear garters in public, circa the Like a Virgin tour) and throwing the bouquet. This bride and groom dispensed with the first two, which I found refreshing. And although they did toss the bouquet, it did serve as a moment of entertainment when that one girl (there’s always one at every wedding) who is a little kooky, a little dramatic, sort of the family black sheep, tends to drink too much too early, been through a couple husbands … yeah, well she positioned herself behind the bride and lunged at the bouquet like the inside linebacker for the Bears and scooped it off the floor before anyone could get near it. Well done, and very entertaining.

Wonderful people – I really like Groomasaurus Gal’s family. They’re loving, friendly, sincere people who make you feel welcome even though I see them once in a blue moon, and even though her aunt, uncle and cousins all were celebrating the wedding of the youngest daughter, they went out of their way to include us and give us their time and attention (which is in short supply at a wedding for the mom and dad of the bride as well as the wedding party). Thank you from the bottom of my heart for inviting us and making us feel welcome.