Vignette 8: The aftermath of the rain

The ceremony had ended, the marriage license was signed, and our families assembled on the porch for those dreaded posed shots. Meanwhile, our guests started the outdoor cocktail hour. Hors d'ouevres were passed, and the lovely caterer brought a plate of them to the bride and groom, who scarfed them down gratefully. Those empanadas did not disappoint.

And then? Just as the last family shot was snapped? The rain came back. With a vengeance.

The rainstorm sent our guests scurrying inside (thus solving the problem of how to get everyone off the porch and into the dining room for dinner!), and sent our serving staff into overdrive. The lovely outside bar had to be struck down and moved inside as quickly as possible. With the staff scrambling to cope with moving the cocktail hour inside, a few things didn't get done. Most notably, there was no sparkling wine poured for the toasts (it was later plopped down just prior to the cake cutting), which was kind of a bummer, but did mean that we had lots of leftover Cava!

The humidity also made our menu cards a little droopy. And, for some reason, our candles kept going out! (Guess I know why they were $5 a dozen ...)

A slightly blurry guest photo of our centerpiece -- complete with 3 non-lit candles!

But despite the rain-related chaos, dinner turned out lovely. My dad gave a charming welcome toast -- efficient and to the point, but full of affection and warmth. Very much like him! Supermaid and the Best Man gave wonderful toasts as well -- Supermaid teased me about my previous conviction that I would never marry and ended by saying "I told you so!" The food was very good (especially the hors d'ouevres ... oh, those sausage and pecorino bites were divine!), the wine was amazing (naturally ;-)), and with a few calories and a little alcohol in my system, we began the process of table-hopping.

I had pushed for a receiving line. Boring, yes, but you get to see everyone. Econo Boy hated the idea and insisted we could simply visit tables during dinner after scarfing down our own food. Table-hopping worked fairly well, but gave us very little time to visit with anyone. (Then again neither would a receiving line.) This was the moment when I really felt the downside of our large wedding. Part of me resented the moments I felt obligated to spend with people like my mother's co-worker and her family (and it didn't help that one of the teenage girls informed me that they weren't having any fun!), rather than having a longer conversation with two of my favorite people who were sitting at that same table.

But I did get to talk with my friends, take one large group photo of our graduate school crew, and meet lots of people Econo Boy has been talking about for years but whom I've never met. Before I knew what was happening, our DOC tapped me on the shoulder and asked if we were ready for the first dance!