Enough Rehearsing! LET'S GET TO THE DINNER! - PART TRE

Alrighty then - we've seen the museum and we're mixing and mingling with random famous people who I don't know are famous.  And at this point, I'm not quite comfortable enough to just walk up and say, "Who are you?"  But wait - I warm up to the crowd tomorrow.


While waiting for the bridal party to finish practicing,
we are on an indoor terrace looking over the courtyard.

Those chair cushions, table clothes and napkins were custom made......in case you were wondering.

These were the napkins and the little treats - mini wedding cakes.
We were each supposed to take the mini wedding cake. The napkin?  Probably not.


Okay, okay - I'm getting to the food.
We had a welcome by the groom's father.
Then Marty Goetz sang a psalm he had written for the occasion.
Google him.
He's a well-known Jewish/Christian musician.  I know -that's contradictory but he was Jewish and his partner became a born-again.  He as "horrified" and they broke up.  Soon though, he began to study the New Testament and decided that Jesus was indeed the Messiah that everyone was waiting for.  That's the super duper short version.
Anyway, he sang and it was beautiful. Really.

There were several toasts.

Seriously!  I'm getting to the food.
And then the first course was served.
It was a special macaroni dish that is a Hammer tradition.
Grandma Hammer would make it for every special occasion.


Then we were served an heirloom tomato salad.


After the first and second course, we were invited to go to the buffet.
There were four buffet stations set up, so the lines were not long.


We had roasted vegetables,
potatoes and leeks,
beef medallions on polenta,
and white fish,
jalapeno cornbread and hush puppies.

The food and alcohol just kept flowing.
We had 92 glasses at our table.  Since we don't drink, they sat empty all night.
However, there was sparkling cider for the 1,264 toasts.


Toward the end of the meal,  we saw the cutest video in the whole world.  (All produced in HD)
Really!
It helps that the ride and groom are 1) Beautiful and 2) Used to being in front of a camera.
They were interviewed separately and asked different questions like describe how you first met, when did you know it was love, tell us about the first kiss, etc.
Their answers were really fun!

Dessert was served and it was a raspberry cheesecake (the color was a light purple) with a green vanilla bean coulis.  We were almost too tired to eat it.  Too tired? What?  The weekend is JUST STARTING!  There is no time to be tired!

The happy couple thanking everyone for coming.

So, it's roughly 11 pm and this whole welcome reception started back at the Beverly Willshire at 4, so it's kind of time to wind down.  The motor coaches pull up to the museum to take everyone back to the hotel.  It's time to get some beauty sleep for tomorrow.  What no one knows, is that it's also time for the bride to find her elusive wedding shoes.  They've got to be somewhere!?!!!?