Wedding Installment #5 - The Reception

The wedding was over and we all filed back to the limos... I realized that I would have 'squat-walk' more towards the front of that long limo so I opted to sit up with the driver. He told me I looked very 'lovely' probably hoping for a big tip. I was very comfortable except for my feet which were swelling at an alarming rate. I had a thought that it might have to do with my Spanx. My Florida BFF had the foresight to bring me my nasty black flip flops which I put on without a second thought.
Walking into The Crown Room I didn't know what to expect. I had the best of the best decorator Ted Viator of the Gardenaire and the owner of the party room Mark Melancon who did the tables... but I still was in for a huge surprise. It was beautiful, actually it was better than beautiful. I couldn't have imagined how lovely it was. The main hallway was decorated with potted trees and pictures of the kids as they were growing up. At the end of the hallway was a huge urn with cascades of live flowers and under that was the kid's engagement picture and the guest book. When I walked into the main party room it was breathtaking. Surrounding the room were several huge urns like in the front with similar cascading flowers. The dance floor was black and white checkerboard. Above the floor was a chandelier with flowers and gauzy material draping to the four corners. The table settings were lovely in their simplicity. Ted made the room a showplace all for my daughter and her husband. We had the wedding catered by Imonellis and the food never stopped. Brian the owner of Imonellis was there to supervise and we had a wide selection of food that was awesome. There were different food stations situated around the room. We had everything from beef to pork, seafood to pasta, fruit, shrimp, vegetables and a grit station. Grits are the southern potatoes to you people up north. These were served in martini glasses with your choice of shrimp sauce or a beef sauce. YUMMMM. We had two bars and a great DJ. After the initial bride and groom dance Becky danced with her daddy and of course he cried, bless his heart which made me cry.

THE MOP DANCE
Down here there is a tradition that if the younger sibling in the family gets married first the older sib has to dance with a mop if he is male or a broom for the female. I had asked my Florida BFF Jojo to make a face on a mop for me. What she brought was a fully decorated head with eyes and lips with a mop head for hair. The Mop had a hat, tu-tu, arms and shoes at the end of the stick. It even had little boobies. It was the cutest thing I have seen in a long time. Joshua was called out on the dance floor and given the mop by Becky to dance with. It was really funny.

THE MONEY DANCE
Another tradition is the money dance in which the bride and the groom dance with others who pin money on them for the honor of dancing. I really felt that I should have gone out and let them pin money on me except that I can't dance..... maybe give me money not to dance.

THE CAKE
I have been looking forward to wedding cake all year long. Wedding cake is better than birthday cake. My sister Barbara made me promise that I would have a butter cream icing and not that Crisco stuff or marshmallow stuff. The cake was yumm. I have it on good authority that if you have feet the size of bread loaves that wedding cake does not count against the total wedding food caloric intake. Understanding that, I had two pieces. Two large pieces with icing. The groom's cake was a carrot cake bottom with Humvee shaped cake on the top with Yoda driving. Yes, Shane loves Star Wars.
It was a grand affair. I loved the whole thing. I wish that my feet had not exploded into king size because I had just awesome shoes for the wedding. But the best thing is I got a great new son-in-law who loves my daughter and she him. And I got wedding cake.