(this is me almost nine happy years ago, getting ready to walk down the aisle…)
I love weddings, and I love wedding announcements. Every year, Mississippi Magazine comes out with their wedding register, and brides take out either a full page or two full pages, in color, to announce their wedding.
When Av and I got married, I wrote our announcement and it was *full* of flowery adjectives. I could not fit enough over-the-top description in. For instance, rather than saying that we took a two week honeymoon to Europe, I wrote in every little town we stopped in practically! When I talked about the meal, I think I even mentioned that for dessert the caterer served a flaming cherries jubilee (if you’re having cherries jubilee, it’s understood that it’s flaming, right!?).
Ohmystars our announcement was just so out there. Well, it was the nicest event I had ever been to (Av’s family paid for the entire thing – we had 225 or 250 guests, amazing flowers, a crazy-wonderful meal) and the whole time I was writing the announcement when we got back home, I was thinking “now this will sound impressive to everybody in my little hometown!”. If I had been more accustomed to ‘big city life’ I think I could have kept it lower-profile while still sounding good! Now that I look back on it, it is just *funny*!
Well, since I’ve been there, I just love to read others’ announcements. Y’all, there are some good ones! While Shug has been playing in his jumperoo, I marked some of the best:
Okay – this I *love*:
“After the pronouncement of marriage, a gospel choir entered the sanctuary and the bride and groom recessed to “O, Happy Day.”
How wonderful would that be!!??
Here are some floral fireworks – in the same announcement:
“Atop each vase were colossal red and hot pink rose explosions.”
and again, later:
“The culinary presentation included three massive black urns with lavish explosions of roses.”
A good start:
“A fairy tale wedding in perfect Southern tradition took place on a crisp November evening under a full moon.”
Okay, if I had been able to give the specific botanical names of my flowers, I probably would have done this too:
“…highlighting thousands of roses consisting of ‘Star 2000,’ Peckoubo,’ ‘Movie Star,’ and ‘Marlyse.’
and those were mentioned again another two times.
I believed in giving the details too:
“…they then enjoyed a traditional Christmas dinner of Bryan honey baked ham…”
The grooms had some great cakes – here are a few different ones:
“His cake was surrounded by mosses, cotton stalks, wheat, reeds, mallard and wood duck decoys…”
“The walls were covered with cypress screens and tulle netting and decorated with antique painted duck decoys and feather-covered wreaths and arrangements. Rye grass, grown in individual platters, was used on the tall bar tables, while beer was served from a canoe.”
“…the groom’s two-tiered chocolate cake which paid homage to his favorite hobby, hunting. Camouflage icing…”
“An arrangement of cattails, duck decoys, and shotgun shells completed the table setting.”
“Featured was a ‘trophy’ turkey in a bed of grasses…”
“The groom’s table featured a Bear Bryant/Alabama Crimson Tide motif…”
((how many coaches do you know that have been gone 25 years now and still appear on groom’s cakes? That just goes to show how much we still all love The Bear!))
“Chocolate drizzle and chocolate covered strawberries covered the cake, and it was topped with duck calls.”
“The groom’s chocolate ganache cake was accented with fondant shotgun shells reflecting the groom’s love of hunting.”
“The groom’s cake was chocolate and bore an image of him enjoying his favorite pastime, bass fishing.”
“The groom’s cake was a chocolate-tiered square cake bearing the University of Mississippi emblem and was served under an Ole Miss tent depicting game day in “The Grove”.”
“The groom’s table showcased a three-dimensional chocolate alligator cake…”
((and one groom’s cake was a big bowl of banana pudding. That is my kind of groom!))
I loved all the announcements…especially the ones above, because they – like me – wanted to give the reader a real sense of how crazy-fantastic their day was. And that’s so much fun!
…and the grooms! I love how their part of the reception is reflecting who they are! Knowing Av, if he had it do to over again, he would probably want the centerpiece to be a Krispy-Kreme cake and find some way for the UVA mascot to be there, and have everything look like game day in Charlottesville…
I truly do love weddings. You know, the next time we are in Las Vegas, we are going to look up the kitschiest Elvis-impersonator wedding chapel and go all-out! Extra points if it is a drive-through!