Wednesday, February 1, 2012

South VS North WEDDINGS

I'm back! Seriously this is the year you will hear more from me and I will catch up on my blogging. I've been thinking a lot about weddings.

I remember the first wedding I went to, I was about 7 years old and it was a distant cousin. There was a buffet with amazing food, ice sculptures and lots of dancing and beach music. I remember having so much fun that I fell asleep at the table after my sugar rush crash.

Through the years I've been to dozens of weddings, maybe even a 100 at this point. Most all of the them were southern weddings with the same typical traditions. Short and sweet ceremony, huge buffet dinner, lots of dancing, a bridal party consisting of family and lifelong friends.

Besides the people in and at the weddings I've attended, the only real difference is the food. I've only been to a handful of sit down dinners. Most were where the bride was from the north. In the past year however I have attended 3 and about to go to my third sit down dinner southern style wedding.

I've always been against a sit down dinner.
1. It seems like a lot of work to make a seating chart and people are never happy
2. As a guest I dont like to feel I have to sit down the whole time, it makes me anxious
3. Dancing can not start until everyone has finished dinner, this takes way to long.
4. extra money spent on seating charts and place cards that could be spent on booze and food.
5. you cant snack when you are starving from all of the dancing. Those calories are quickly burned off

Those are my thoughts. I want my wedding to be FUN! I want my guests to walk into the reception and be greeted by a room of food that they can eat at their leisure. I want good food too. Fried Oysters, a very large selection of cheeses, a meat carving station, mashed potato bar, boiled peanuts, meatballs, mac and cheese, collards, and ribs



1 comment:

Preppy Pink Crocodile said...

The only weddings I have ever been to that were not sit down were southern and I am still amazed that they are at all popular. I guess we all like what we know. But did you know it is almost always more expensive to have buffet vs plated dinner? You need to have a lot more food prepared and a LOT more food goes to waste. Also, place cards mean that everyone gets a seat and you are usually seated next to at least one person you know. Which might not seem like a big deal now but it is when you go to a wedding where you don't really know anyone (because you are friends via work or JL or something like that). And they also ensure that family such as grandparents and great aunts have seating that is away from the band and easy to get to. I have never noticed it taking more time to have a plated dinner vs a buffet. But that might depend more on the location and how many servers they have on staff. As far as the food, I think I have been in about a dozen weddings- no joke. And do not remember a meal at a single one of them- north or south. I think it is more important for a bride to make sure the caterer prepares a to-go box for the couple to take back to the hotel because no matter how great the food is, the bride and groom will eat almost nothing at their wedding. That is my number one piece of advice for brides- get a to-go box in your food contract! You will be hungry when you finally sit down at midnight and you don't want to order pizza as your first married meal. :)

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