Monday, August 28, 2006

Best Bach Party Ever

The other day I referred to my bachelorette party as not really a bachelorette part and I think I broke my friend b.'s heart because she put so much into it. But what I really meant was there were no penises or evil games to be played. The only game being played was minor league baseball! On Coney Island!



Isn't it pretty? And afterwards we rode the Cyclone and woke up with stiff necks the next day. It was awesome.

We also went into Manhatten to go drinking:



Friday night there was Mexican food outside and Sunday morning there was brunch. Jam-packed weekend of fun and by far the best bachelorette part I'd ever been to. Did I mention no penises?

Wednesday, August 23, 2006

But which fork do I use?

I haven't posted all summer and the wedding is only a month away, but since my cousin said he keeps checking back only to be disappointed every time, I guess it's about time.

Two cousins got married over the past two weekends, neither of them the one who reads this blog, and now that they're over, our wedding finally feels real. And imminent.

Of all the rituals that I've tried to avoid, feeling that they are unneccessary and just entered into out of some blind devotion to genericism and a general lack of questioning why we do these things, the ones I have been unable to avoid: the program and salad plates. The former I have actually come around to. How else is everyone going to know our readers' names and how else will we express our general gratitude to all in attendance. So, I'm fine with that, finally. Regarding the latter, I realize this is not simply a wedding tradition to have bread plates on the table. But the bread plates have turned out to be the one real sticking point with the woman who handles weddings at the inn.

I hate to give away too many secrets, but maybe I've already talked about this here. We're having a family style meal at our wedding. I know what you're thinking, why has no one done this before? It boggles my mind that this doesn't happen at every wedding. I mean, seriously, you don't have the issue of calling tables up individually to go through the buffet and it's not as formal as the seated dinner - nor do you have to ask people if they want beef or salmon when they send back their reply card. Plus, it's communal. It's fun. It's f-ing genius, in our opinion.

However, not in the opinion of the florist who has to figure out the centerpieces. The thing with the family style meal is that you need lots of room on the table and if you know tables at weddings at all, you know there's no room. The wine glasses, the water glasses, the butter, the salt and pepper, the favors (not for us, thanks) the bread basket - the bread plates! In our quest to make more space on the table, we had to question, why do we need those darn bread plates? The table will have a nice clean, white tablecloth on it, after all. And you always have a big regular plate in front of you. Are our guests so prissy that they really can't stick their roll either on the table itself or on the edge of their plate? I could certainly care less.

Not so the Newagen Inn. Bread plates are absolutely essential. What kind of person doesn't need a bread plate. Bohemians. Low, crass hooligans, that's who. It just can't be done.

So now we're hanging our centerpieces from the ceiling.