The main reason destination honeymoons were invented, aside from obvious ones like When Else Will We Get To Go To Hawaii, is that it provides a plausible excuse for the happy couple not to go to church the next day. Because, of course, that just Would Not Do. I'm not sure if there's a socially recognised standard for the acceptable lag time after which it is appropriate to appear in public again, but it seems that a week would allow ample time for the snickers to have died down. My theory is that the Sunday wedding phenomenon has taken hold as a clever way to dodge both the heathen approach of not going to church and the tactless faux pas of turning up too soon and having everyone glance away and pretend not to wonder what you were doing last night.
I love eating bountiful feasts at lavish wedding receptions, and I always maintain that you can skimp on the wedding decorations, because no one (except the ten chums who stayed up all night to decorate your palace for you) will notice how many sprinkles of confetti adorn each centerpiece, but what the guests will take away with them is a solid impression of the food. But I know it wasn't always this way, and I'm a bit nostalgic for the old days when cake, nuts, and punch were the standard, because that allowed for more leeway on the guest list. I remember getting invited to a lot of weddings when I was a child, and I'm sure the lack of fanfare on the food front had something to do with it. Weddings are getting more expensive, and the unhappy side effect is that kids don't get invited to weddings as much. I guess, in short, I love to go to weddings. I love great food at receptions, but I'd rather get invited to a wedding and eat cake and punch than not get invited at all.
These thoughts and many others swirled through my mind tonight as I capered about town playing the Wedding Registry Scavenger Hunt. Ooh, look! This perfect punch bowl - which is beautiful, meaningful, and in my price range - was on the registry when I checked earlier, but it's mysteriously gone! What nimble fellow player, racing against the clock, beat me to this prize?? All shall be revealed at the buffet/feast/punchbowl tomorrow!
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2 comments:
ROFLOL! You're right about the Sunday thing. (Curious sidenote: In the Eastern Orthodox churches, Sunday *is* the day for weddings, because you're not supposed to be doing that on Saturday nights. Ever. You're supposed to be preparing for the service.)
We had a potluck reception. It allowed us to have everybody we wanted to see and still had tons of food. I don't know if many people will be daring enough to try it, though.
If I remember correctly, Frederica Mathewes-Green (convert to EO) in her book "Facing East" says that abstinence is only required Saturday night if Sunday is a feast day. She also said she didn't want to research this too closely in case she found out she was wrong.
Now back to our regularly scheduled program :)
I love going to weddings too, but as a kid, I thought they were boring. Of course, in the church I grew up in, wedding sermons tended to be about an hour long. I believe Sara's and mine (done by Dad) clocked in at about 10 minutes. I like that!
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