by LDH 37 Replies latest jw friends
My nephew got married at the Waldorf Astoria in NYC.
The total bill was over $240,000 which I believe.
I liked mine better no pot luck but M.I.L. and friends catered in her kitchen and we used the local VFW hall. Just more ¨real¨ to watch two young people get married in a simple way if you know what I mean rather than in the ball room at a 500 dollar per night hotel.
Give me a worldly Italian wedding any day!
Cheers to that Minimus!!! For chrissakes people, its a one-time event (at least for the couple in question! lol). Its not about a "showy display" its about a formal celebration of a couples wedding.
Its hardly asking much to pay 50 bucks for a wedding meal, thats the going price (at least) for a nice meal in a nice restaurant. I'm sure some of you have had good pot-luck wedding experiences, but I'm sorry,
the ones I attended were classless and shitty with no booze, no fun, no celebration and no elegance. On my 50th anniversary, I would rather look back at the memory of a classy, formal, catered affair (which can be
easily had for 50-75 bucks a head) than memories of paper plates, kentucky fried chicken, macaroni salad and tang. LOL
When my daughter got married, I spent almost too much money but it was HER day and I only have one! My experience was that "worldly" weddings were "normal" in that it was a real fun event and I've been to "Italian" weddings and get togethers and they do know how to party!!!
To be honest the pot luck affairs were the only thing I enjoyed. Some of the best times I ever had. BBQ goat, pig, tater salad, ball games and everybody that came was down to Earth and down right pleasant.Usally the AHs didn't come.Yum YUm.
My wife & I have been to many JW wedding over the years. Perhaps 30-40 or so. I dare to say half were catered, and half were tough/pot-luck. In many instances the ones that were BYODish, expected that because they went to the KH, that they were entitled to everyone bringing a dish. Many had "Champagne taste/expectations" on a beer budget.
Dismembered
If people have the money to spend on catering a wedding and they wish to do this, then they should. I don't have a problem with people preparing a wedding feast or potluck or picnic, etc if they wish to do that. One reason Andy and I have never married is we can't afford to cater a wedding. I wish we had the money, but we don't. On the other hand, I hate to see people spend thousands on a wedding and then end up divorced. I went to a JW wedding in Chicago that was catered, had a full free bar and an orchestra. It was fun.
Of all the JW weddings I went to, I can think of 3 that were catered. All the rest, the congregation members paid for. Whether said event was at the local grange or the 4-H, you could count on getting an invitation to "Bring a dish to pass." In my old age wisdom (37) and since leaving the JW, I have never been invited to a social event that I had to help fund. How 'bout you?
I've been to several catered JW weddings one was my own.
One of my first experiences with being part of "helping" with the wedding food was a young (16 year olds) wedding where I was asked to make a huge amount of potato salad. I was told exactly what to put in it and how to make it and I had to buy all the ingredients! It was an awful recipe but the way she liked it! Oh and boy was there a lot of left over potato salad after the event which I'm sure got tossed into the trash.
That was the beginning of my career of helping with weddings from cooking, serving, cleaning, decorating the facility, ordering flowers and a couple of times I even supplied the wedding dress! (my very well used dress).
I used to get so tired with all the preparations and barely ever a thanks. So many times I just wanted to be part of the attendees and just enjoy the merriment. I finally got to the point of not attending weddings, passing on the helping with it, especially when the bride and groom were IMHO way too young to be getting married. I just couldn't get behind teenage weddings most of them didn't last too long, shame.
When both my girls got married their weddings were catered and very nice, non JW weddings! Yay!
Many had "Champagne taste/expectations" on a beer budget.
You said a mouthful there.
I do remember there would always be a sister in charge of the 'gift table' who would be collecting and tallying the total take. Many times these young couples didn't even have homes set up, even after the 'bring a dish to pass' wedding shower.
I do remember one older pioneer sister, Carol, who gave someone a hard boiled egg slicer as a swedding hower gift. In Carol's defense, she was a single, retired pioneer sister on a fixed income.
When my husband and I got married, we went to Myrtle Beach SC and had a riot at a country club. It cost less than $10,000 for the facility and everything. There were only about 80 people there, because not everyone we invited could afford to travel from NY. It was also rather odd, seeing as how I was no longer JW, that none of the people from my childhood/young adulthood were there. It was a very obvious chasm, now that I remember it, as my husband's childhood friends all showed up. LOL! I saved money by not feeding fairweather friends. Another obvious benefit to not being JW.
We did not ask nor expect anyone to help us fund our wedding. At one point we talked about eloping. OK, admittedly it was me that talked about it, LOL. My husband wanted a very nice sit-down wedding.
I have a girlfriend who has an amazing Halloween party every year. I always volunteer to help, including cooking etc.. But as for the other events we attend, we puchase a gift and that's that.
Lisa
Most of the JW weddings in my area are "bring a dish" If the couple are from 2 different KH, the cong where the wedding takes place brings the "warm dishes" and the the other KH the snacks and desserts. My biggest complaints were pitiful music and no liquor, just generic room temperature soda. The worst wedding I went to the bride and groom served PIZZA HUT PIZZA to 200_ people (on plastic plates, of course). I had no idea Pizza Hut could deliver that many pizzas, but 4 guys brought in all in. The bridal party was late so the pizza was cold for all. Again, no liquor and I can't even remember if there was music. Needless to say, we left early and went out to eat for real food. Never had a housewarming party to go to but same with baby/wedding showers and 25/50 yr wedding anniversaries. Looks like you gotta be married to celebrate.
