I didn’t want a huge, elaborate wedding cake — just something pretty, and enough to feed all our guests. Myrna had led me on a cake tasting tour, and we settled on Sugar Butter Flour to make the wedding cake, plus another cake (a hummingbird cake, as I recall) to make sure there was enough for everyone, and a flourless cake for the gluten-free.
The main cake was frosted in a custom pink to match my dress, with gold paisely decorations in keeping with the semi-Indian theme of the wedding. All the cakes were delicious, of course, and there wasn’t a crumb left over.
It had been an easy decision to have our wedding dinner at home catered by The Mynt, an Indian restaurant in San Jose we were already fond of (and that I’d previously hired to cater a company event at the home of a colleague). They brought a portable tandoor to make fresh naan and other goodies. As usual, I over-ordered, but we had plenty of people around to eat the leftovers in the following days.
Food, drink, and conversation flowed. I had carefully designed the seating to put together guests with people they didn’t necessarily already know, but were likely to get along with. We had Woodstockers mixed in with Netflixers, Facebookers, AWSers, and other techies, as well as other friends and family from far and wide. I believe a good time was had by all!
Guests started arriving while Brendan and I were getting ready (in separate rooms). Our contingent of helpers ushered people in, had them sign the guest book, and add tags to a world map to show where they were born, where they live now, where they first met one or both of us, and a place they’d like to go where they have never yet been. We still have the map with most of the tags intact, and I know at least one guest has since fulfilled her travel wish.
The greeters then pointed them at the bar, where they could enjoy two custom cocktails that Denise had designed for the occasion (above is my Aunt Harriet, doing exactly that).
“There having been some days in preparation, a splendid time is guaranteed for all…”
Having a home-grown wedding is a lot of fun, as well as a lot of work. The final efforts for setup and decoration reminded me strongly of the parties, dances, open houses, fairs, and festivals that we used to organize at boarding school. Now, as then, it took a squadron of friends and family to pull it off. I’m trying to reconstruct everything that everybody did, but this is a bit like giving an Oscar speech – I’m afraid I’ll leave out someone who made a crucial contribution!
I have heard of weddings that disallow children, but that is not my style. I grew up in expat communities where kids usually attended grown-up parties, and then raised my own daughter in Italy, where kids are expected to socialize with adults in a civilized manner. Many of our guests had children, and our own family includes Mitchell, Brendan’s ten-year-old son. So I made sure that our guests knew their children would be welcome and even, as far as we could manage, looked after.
