New Year's Eve Wedding

I mentioned in a past post that I was helping a dear friend with her wedding reception. It turned out to be a wonderful time, and a lot of prep and planning. But it was a real joy to have people from church, with innumerable gifts, help out. Phase One of the operation involved deboning 10 hams. We cut off all the meat so that it would be ready to be heated and served on sweet rolls with honey mustard dressing in a make-your-own sandwich type of serving. So, here are a couple of photos of friends from church getting off the meat!

Joe didn't tell us beforehand, but he had an expert technique which streamlined the process!

Phase Two-A was the collection and receipt of about 140 dozen of the cookies (the remainder arrived on the day of the wedding). I don't have any photos of this, but we received the cookies at my friend Christin's house. She graciously allowed both her kitchen and dining room to be overrun by cookies and platters and doilies and rubber gloves and crumbs and saran wrap. The platters were lovely, each being accented by freshly washed magnolia leaves. There were so many delicious treats. Phase Two-B was the transportation of the platters to the church where they were set out on tables and all the kitchen work was begun in preparation for the next day.

Phase Three: wedding day. The work began about 3.5 hours before the wedding. My army of helpers was eager to: fill dip/sauce bowls, get veggies on platters, slice 525 buns, mix about 6 gallons of punch mix, set up coffee pots, fill water pitchers. And then...I noticed that the wedding cake was sitting in the middle of the room with the sun streaming through a window directly onto the top layer, causing it to sweat. I commandeered a helpful young man, and he broke down a large cardboard box and stood in front of the cake, with the box casting the shadow until the earth revolved just enough to be out of the sun's light! Jesse Saved the Cake!

The reception was very enjoyable--the plates never ran out of food. In fact, we had enough leftovers to feed the whole church the next day, and for people to take home bags of food for their families. A true blessing!