a cinco de mayo wedding......

One week before her big event, I receive a call from a bride who is very unhappy with the caterer she had picked. Apparently she had waited till the week before her big day to do a tasting with them, and came away with a sour taste in her mouth. Was there any way we could fill her request for a Cinco de Mayo theme only seven days away. "Of course", I answered, but because of time constraints, I wouldn't have the time to sit down and do a tasting with her. Would she be able to trust my word that our food was excellant? Yes, at this point, she was pretty desperate, and we were recommended by the event facility coordinator as to our food quality. A verbal confirmation of time and menu selections was discussed, and the date was set in place on my calendar.

Since we do a lot of business at this particular facility, I knew my night would run smooth, and I knew I was in for a good time. I could practically do this job in my sleep, it was that easy. I set up my equipment for the event the day before, leaving me plenty of time the day of to take care of other business. So far, so good. With a menu that consisted of fijitas, spanish rice and a salsa bar complete with all the toppings, all was set for the perfect Cinco de Mayo wedding feast.

I arrive at the event facility at 6 PM to start the coffee, and put a few little details into place before my partner brings over the food to load into the chafing pans. Those little details are never on the regular schedule of a time line with any bride, but always manage to pop up at the last minute. No problem, easily taken care of.... did I mention that I could do this in my sleep?
The food arrives, the wedding cake is set in place, and the ceremony starts all on time. To my chagrin, I realize that I had forgotten to take the coffee grounds out of the ziploc bag before brewing, and they were still sitting in the metal grounds holder in the guts of the urn. Hmmmm... maybe I better rethink that sleeping part, huh? I quickly managed to get the top of the urn off without third degree burns for my efforts, and there sat the ziploc bag, perfectly protecting the coffee grounds. It did not melt or bust, and I even heard a comment from someone who witnessed me, that this incident should be told to Ziploc, as it said a lot about their bags. All taken care of in a matter of seconds, I turned up the temp on the urn and let it brew away till the water turned into coffee. Funny thing about coffee at these events, no matter how much I brew up, 75% goes down the drain at the end of the night.... but you have to have it or somebody will notice if you don't.

The ceremony goes off without a hitch, the bridal party (all 15 of them) come back inside from the garden to re-group, and the guests file back in to partake of margaritas and coronas. We are told by the bridal party to have the buffet opened for everybody to start eating, and I make it a point to let the DJ know this as an announcement he can make to the guests. I go outside to help the coordinator bring in the chairs that were set out in the garden, and when finished go back in to see if my partner needs help. Not only do I find out that the buffet wasn't supposed to be opened, but they were going to make bridal party announcements first. Oooooops! Luckily no one was bold enough to start in anyway, as it usually is custom for the bride and groom to open the buffet. From this point on, I decide it is better for me to pay more attention because I have screwed up twice now. No sense in being cocky.

For some reason there is a usual litany of songs played by DJ's at weddings. I've heard "Love Shack" more times than I care to count.... and it's always on the roster at every wedding I've catered. I was at one wedding a few months ago where I hadn't heard it yet, and the night was coming to a wind-down when I mentioned it to the bartender that we hadn't heard THAT song. The words were no sooner out of my mouth when.... you guessed it, the DJ played it. This night was no exception, but with a little twist. The bride, who now had more margaritas in her than everyone combined, decided to play a little karioke and took the microphone from the DJ as Love Shack played. I had several word of advise on this: 1) never give a drunken bride a microphone (under any circumstances). 2) I hoped that she wouldn't think to quit her day job, as she was tone deaf. But hey, this was her special day, and she was deserving of any way she wanted to play it out, even if their were only six people left in the hall to listen. Midnight was only minutes (and one more song by her) away.

The evening ended late, my dogs were once more barking up a storm, and I couldn't wait to get home, tear off my tux and settle into some mindless sit-coms or a movie on TV. After unloading my equipment, and reloading for a wedding the next afternoon, I snap on the TV, only to be met by a fuzzy screen because the cable was out. Maybe this was a sign that it really was time to go to bed.... but I was too wound up to settle in easily. A call to the cable provider and a few chapters in a book read, when Cinco de Mayo finally came to an end for me at 2:30 AM; the book still in my hands in the place where I left off when I woke up and re-started my Saturday at 7 AM.