The Reception

We hop back on the bus and drive about half an hour to the reception, which is in a venue right by the Mediterranean. The hors d’oeuvres at the cocktail hour were the best I have ever eaten at a wedding. They had grilled squid, spicy lamb kebabs, lots of delicious friend things, paella made with noodles instead of rice, the ubiquitous tomato bread, shavings of Iberian ham, little open-faced grilled sandwiches topped with a fried quail egg, and other items I can’t even remember. I even tried this weird thing on a spoon that was some kind of tomato thing with an anchovy on top, and I liked it! I ate so much at the cocktail hour I could barely eat my dinner. During the dinner, the Spaniards were doing some kind of wedding chant. Scott, rendered unusually exuberant by innumerable glasses of the delicious vino tinto they were pouring all night, felt that the Americans should not be outdone in the area of goofy wedding-reception rituals. So, we sent Stacy to all of the tables of American’s to recruit everyone into doing the glasses-clinking, bride-and-groom-kiss thing. We were successful and Julie later said she was happy we did that because right after the chant she had told Marc about the clinking thing. Also, it’s always good for Europeans to see that our country actually has traditions that don’t involve blowing things up. Dinner was fabulous. One funny note: there were different desserts for men and women, women getting raspberry coulis with their ice cream and men getting pineapple, which really looked great on the table. Then the cake was cut and Julie and Marc danced around the room to the song American Woman where Julie handed her bouquet to Allison and danced with her a bit. Then she and Marc danced some more with the cake topper and came and deposited it with Scott and I (there is a custom that you give this to the couple you think should next get married). The little ceramic duo were quite pale, with reddish hair, and somewhat stupefied expressions and Scott said they looked like they were the winners of the Danish Special Olympics. I’ve packed the funny looking couple away and maybe we can pass on the tradition somehow. We danced and danced until 4 am. There was an earlier bus that took some of the revelers home around 2; this included Erin who I didn’t see again in Europe.