Carmen Goes To A Wedding

March 1 2015

I was absolutely so tickled to have been invited to the wedding of my new friends Elena and Steven. I met them several months ago through the nice people of What's Up SWFL. They are a delightful young couple, so much fun and I really enjoyed meeting them. I never expected to be invited to their wedding though.

Back in my village, weddings are a really really big deal. The whole village celebrates together. It is always a day to remember. The wedding party is always at least 20 people....ring bearer and flower girl, junior bride and groom, bridesmaids, ushers, maid of honor, matron of honor, best man. The reason for this is because our families are so big and all our brothers, sisters, cousins are all part of the wedding party. There is dancing and eating and dancing and even more eating. The decorations are all fresh flowers and the wedding favors are candies. The cake is always large enough to feed an army. We can't forget the cookies and pastries either. Even after the wedding reception is over, the brides parents has the 2 families over for sandwiches, cookies, espresso and adult beverages.. Sometimes the bride and groom will join the party as well. It is an all day and night party!!!!
 

So I was excited to see what a SWFL wedding is like. This wedding was an outdoor wedding at a local park. The reception was picnic style. The weather was perfect at first anyway. There were sunflowers everywhere....all blue and yellow decorations...it was nothing like I have ever seen before. It was close to this lake...odd thing about the lake there was no beach to speak of and you can't swim in it. Why have a lake if you can't swim in it. I did hear some one say there were gator's in it. I was not sure what a gator was until I was told it was southern speak for alligator. Apparently in the south they shorten words for some unknown reason. Any way back to the wedding....the ceremony was performed by a Miss Donna who is a friend of the nice folks of What's Up SWFL. The Bride was given away by David of What's Up SWFL and he also made the cake for them. The Bridal Party was small with a flower girl and ring bearer, 2 bridesmaids, 2 ushers, best man and a maid of honor. Funny thing about this wedding, the bride is Italian and the groom is Greek. So I was excited as I had never been to a Greek wedding either.  

The Bride and her girls were so pretty and the groom and his crew were very casual, I guess cause it was an outdoor wedding. The ceremony was very inspirational. There were no dry eyes that is for sure. Right after the 'I Do's' the rain and wind came. They say it is good luck! Good thing we were undercover. So is this sand ceremony thing something done only at SWFL weddings? Ya know the sand, the beach??? I have never seen this before. It is actually very sweet and symbolic of 2 becoming 1.

When it came to the dancing...please explain to me this Chicken Dance thing. Why do people do this? At a wedding no less? In fact all the group dances left me scratching me little head. The grooms family did do a traditional Greek wedding dance but there were no Italian dances. I do like to dance but those line dances were impossible for this cannoli..... hopping, jumping, twerking, flapping, cha cha'ing.....it was great fun to watch!

The food was plenty, the cake delish. No adult beverages however I guess the park does not allow them...sigh! I did try to catch the bouquet but it was thrown way over my head. Overall it was a great wedding and I am glad I got to be a part of it! Everybody was so happy and having a good time celebrating with the Bride and Groom! I wish them much love always...in all ways! 

Carmen.