In defense of brunch

The new blog Help Me Pay For My Wedding has been the subject of some talk on wedding blogs and boards lately. In a nutshell, a newly engaged woman is asking people on the internet to donate money so she can throw her dream wedding in a fabulous venue. The discussion is going about how you'd expect, with some people thinking she's clever and others getting in a lather over how tacky, spoiled and entitled she is. When I first read about the site, I leaned more towards the latter, but quickly calmed down -- I'm not really tempted to throw any of my own money her way, but if she wants to see how much money she can get from strangers just by asking it's an interesting social experiment.

But when I visited her blog, what did make me mad was her explanation of why she couldn't possibly do anything other than a Saturday night wedding:

One option to reduce the cost was a suggestion the salesperson at dream location offered - get married on a Sunday morning and serve brunch. Somehow, the stunning wedding I’ve imagined does not include toast and scrambled eggs. Ugh.

Gaaah! The horror! The nerve! She insulted brunch!!

Image from The Broadmoor Hotel in Colorado Springs,
www.broadmoor.com.

Brunch is a quasi-religious experience for me, and not one I equate with toast and scrambled eggs. Back in Colorado, on Easter, Mother's Day, and other random Sundays, my family used to join my uncle's family for brunch at their country club. We would put on our Sunday best, drive down after church, meet up with some of my favorite people in the whole world, and enjoy a delicious buffet containing some or all of the following:

• Homemade pastries
• Prime rib sliced to order
• Omelets made in front of your eyes from whatever you wanted
• Belgian waffles
• Stuffed French toast
• Mimosas
• Fresh fruit
• Shrimp cocktail
• Lox
• Blintzes and crepes
  

It was a special family experience, as well as a delicious meal, and I think it was every bit as yummy and elegant as anything we're planning for our Saturday dinner wedding. As I wrote a while back, I would have *loved* to serve brunch at our reception, but was soundly rejected by a horrified Econo Boy, who insisted that we couldn't serve brunch to people who had made a special trip out to Colorado for our wedding.

So I guess my question is, what's the problem with brunch? Why do so many people (including Econo Boy) seem to consider brunch not good enough to serve to people who have traveled to attend your wedding? I've always considered brunch luxurious, even decadent, and definitely worth a special trip. But are my childhood memories blinding me to the fact that brunch just isn't as "classy" as dinner? Or am I right -- brunch rules and should totally be served at more wedding receptions? Inquiring minds want to know!