That Was Some Wedding!

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Early in September the date was announced. Thomas and Melanie would be getting hitched in November. The wedding was to be a smallish affair. The couple already had two children, a five year old and a three year old. The bride arrived at my store. Her budget was minimal. She wanted an informal wedding dress and was hoping to keep the price under $100.00. My sale room was the perfect place to start. Her sizing gave her lots of choice. Dozens of dresses were tried on and discarded (meanwhile, the two boys were running amok in the store) before Melanie settled on a beautiful dress, emphasizing her tiny waist. The grooms father and stepmother had agreed to pay for the hall rental and the grooms mom told everyone she was going to provide the meal. The guest list quickly swelled to about 150 people....not a huge wedding, but family and friends had to be invited. Late in November Melanie decided that the $100.00 dress she had chosen wasn't fancy enough...maybe she did want a formal dress after all. Store policy says no exchanges, but we made an exception (special circumstances) and she also was will ing to double her budget. She found a dress she adored....the price on it was only $800.00....her budget was $200.00. After many tears, I sold her the dress for $200 and told her this was my wedding gift. The brides mother was making lasagna for the meal....she purchased dishes at garage sales and thrift shops for the shabby chic place settings. The grooms stepmother meanwhile began to panic.....family members were asked to bring a salad and a dessert to fill out the menu. No problem....we all acquiesced and the food was dully prepared and delivered to the reception site. A couple of friends of the grooms mother agreed the morning of the wedding to serve the food. The wedding day dawned....the church part of the ceremony lasted about ten minutes and made a mockery of the sanctity of marriage. We arrive at the reception. A cash bar...no problem, 50/50 tickets being sold?.....say what? This isn't a stag and doe. An hour after the meal was supposed to be served, lukewarm lasagna and garden salads were placed on a huge buffet table. Everyone ate. The desserts were put on the same table. The grooms mother came to me in tears.....the girls helping in the kitchen had left (too many complaints about no food, cold food, what else was being served.......) and if the kitchen was left in the state it was....they would lose their deposit on the hall. My daughter, my daughter in law, my sister in law and the grooms stepmother went into the kitchen and started the massive cleanup. By this point in the evening the guests had formed into groups. There was the lively group dancing to the prepared iPod music in the hall, the group of fathers and grandfathers of some of the younger guests, sitting in the quieter hallway, there was the bride and groom in the parking lot enjoying some weed and the group in the kitchen industriously washing dishes. After almost an hour of washing and drying dishes, guests appeared outside the kitchen asking us when we were serving the next course....was there any more cream for the coffee and letting us know that we were not very well trained staff. The dishes were done....the hall tidied, the guests went home. Thomas and Melanie did not celebrate their first anniversary.