SUMMER WEDDING FUSION

The late spring and summer months launch baseball, soccer, golf and tennis seasons.  But this is also what some call the competitive wedding season, usually kicking off in May, hitting a highpoint in June and continuing  on through the tail end of the warmer months.  Competition for venues, the perfect day and vendors can become a full head gear near contact sport!  Deciding which wedding to attend (if you’re nuptials calendar is overbooked), becomes a delicate art form.

If you’re blessed with a large family like me, it seems like there’s one or two ceremonies annually, usually in the summertime.   Families and friends often travel long distances and reunite and embrace.  Conversations en route are usually, “What’s his/her name again?”  “Where did they meet?”  “Is she one of those Bridezilla’s?” “Who was the guy who married Cathy last year?” “Do you think we gave enough?”  “Do we ever hear from them?”  “God I hope the food is good!”

As a romantic purist, I’m glad to say long-held traditions continue, but I also welcome how weddings have evolved into very personal and multi-cultural ways of expression for the bride (and sometimes the groom).  This is, after all, billed as the most important day of their lives.  And perhaps, it is.   True to our heritage, America’s core prospers as a big melting pot, and weddings are ground zero for more and more diverse unions, ensuring melting pot perpetuity.  Tiffany’s remains the classic, refined registry.  However, I was about to attend an Amazon registered wedding, a multi-cultural union, real and personalized in every way.

Last year, I attended an Armenian, Lithuanian, Polish and Punjabi marriage.  The regally-adorned groom arrived on horseback.  The proper elephant-led procession was disallowed by the town for, ahem, many reasons.  Where could one rent an elephant anyway?  Guests followed behind the royal procession as cheering villagers.  The food was a “Vitamix fusion” with foods from both cultural sides.  This was not just a marriage and reception, but a food journey through Eastern Europe, the Middle East and India.  The anachronistic “Here Comes The Bride” was ripped out of the wedding playbook.   

This weekend’s wedding brought on more family fusion.  Another Armenian, Lithuanian and Polish offshoot married a gentleman of Uruguayan descent.  Another food journey was about to unfold, but first the ceremony.  Groomsman still usher bridesmaids down the aisle.  Parents still walk their brides and grooms to the altar (if there is one).  There is still a person of the cloth (in this case Episcopalian) making sure it’s all legal in the face of God.  Beautiful hand-strewn rose petals still grace the aisle, sometimes inadvertently stepped on by the unconscious guest!   Generations of attendees still span a crying baby somewhere (usually during the ceremony – yes the heads, craned to look) all the way to the revered, wise and loving family guardians well into their nineties.  That’s where tradition in this case ends.

Before the exchange of vows, a series of readings by friends and family were presented.  There was Bob Marley’s Quote about Love followed by Pablo Neruda’s Love Sonnet XVII recited in Spanish.  The bride’s brother shared excerpts from Wilferd Arlan’s , “The Art of a Good Marriage” and the bride’s grandmother read special prayers.  The bride’s father, also a minister, bestowed blessings in both English and Spanish.  The loving couple was indeed the star attraction.  But their wedding ceremony was also about the family and friends they love, living and in spirit.  Active ceremony participation was warm and heartfelt, still coaching heavy tear duct production.   The marriage vows were personal, loving, funny – and again, personal.  All this without the familiar traditional prayer book wedding ceremony…

Ok, now the reception.  Newlyweds still have the first dance followed by proud father and mother with their children.  Eyes still well up and tear.  Banquet halls are still walled with mirrors and ceilings still drip with ornate, elaborate and sparkling crystal chandeliers.  DJ’s replace bands and are still loud, sometimes very loud!  But this is a party and more importantly, this is the bride and groom’s party of all parties!  This was a dance party and even octogenarians and beyond were out there cutting the rug.

Wedding reception food is either good or bad.  We’ve all suffered through the cold soggy breaded chicken plate.  This was a (very) good food wedding of spectacular abundance.  Menu choices nodded the bride and groom’s backgrounds with some welcome all time favorites too.  The bar offered red and white sangria with freshly cut fruits.  Appetizers were passed and also served buffet style.  Delicious meat-filled empanadas with green pepper salsa and fried spinach-filled triangles circled the room on silver platters along with crunchy falafels and the ubiquitous pigs in a blanket.  My last meal will include the “pigs” – forever a classic.  At one point the green pepper salsa replaced the “pig’s” mustard – perhaps a newfangled food fusion.   Familiar rice balls, potato croquettes and fresh tomato bruschetta rounded out the passed hors d’oeuvres.  The Armenians held the stationary buffet station title with lemony hummus and minty stuffed grape leaves.  A plentiful banquet of antipasto salads and cheeses also complemented the appetizers.

The main event was also served buffet style.  Well, not quite yet.  Wedding table photos?  Not exactly.  For this wedding, each table rose and traveled to the bride and groom’s private table for photos, then continued on to the dinner buffet.  And what a dinner buffet!  Ethnic selections included more stuffed grape leaves (thank you), perfectly cooked and juicy steak with homemade chimichurri, seafood paella, as well as various salads and good old standby’s of pasta, eggplant parmigiana and chicken Francese.   Choripan, a traditional Uruguayan sausage (chorizo) on a roll (pan) was flavorful with great snap.  Not to be confused with kielbasa, the groom and best man took special care - on the wedding day - to ensure this was in fact the best local Choripan of their tribe.

Armenian and Uruguayan traditions dominated dessert.  Crispy light churros lightly dusted with cinnamon sugar and the groom’s favorite, alfajore’s, a Uruguayan cookie filled with dulce de leche, paid homage to the Uruguayan people.  Showcased Armenian specialties included locally prepared sweet and sticky baklava with chopped walnuts and cinnamon in phyllo pastry, and kanafeh, sweetened Armenian cheese between shredded phyllo dough.  The white-iced chocolate wedding cake was moist, pudding filled, light and not overly sweet.

The menu was emblematic of the diverse union, and the couple’s way of honoring traditional foods of their respective backgrounds.  While ceremonial traditions evolve, may our respective tribal foods reign on across the world’s melting pot.