Weddingbee Blog

I attended an Indian/Chinese wedding with my best friend this weekend at the Lotos Club near Central Park. The place was small, intimate, cozy and beautiful! It looked like a residential building.

A tidbit of background on the Lotos Club:

The Lotos Club is one of New York’s more interesting and handsome private clubs. Although it is not open to the public, they do take guests with an introductory letter from reciprocal clubs.

The Lotos Club was founded in 1870 as a literary club, and counted Mark Twain among its early members. He called it “The Ace of Clubs.” The name was selected to convey “rest and harmony”, coming as it did from Tennyson’s poem, The Lotos Eaters.

It was perfect for their small wedding (less than 75 people were invited). I tried to mingle, but there was too much finance talk so I started zoning out. Since I knew no one at the wedding, I made several trips to the bartender for champagne. I ended up drinking at least 1 bottle’s worth of champagne. Although I was coherent and knew exactly what went on the entire night, I was a bit clumsy and knocked over my glass twice, spilling it on the poor woman next to me. The second time, I even broke the glass! I was very embarassed, but I had the best time though - this must be the best wedding I’ve ever attended.

We sat with two couples and they were so down to earth. One couple was from Brooklyn, married for 12 years with 2 boys and a cat. I would never have known that they were married that long and with children - they looked so happy together and very attentive. The other couple lived in San Fran (a city I LOVE) and have been married for 3 years with no children. They were very fun to talk to. We were so busy chatting that we stayed until the very end of the wedding.

The DJ, Alfredo Melendez, was awesome. He did his MC thing but pretty much stayed in the background and played good music, ranging from all decades. There was always someone on the dance floor. I even went up to him and asked for his business card. He said that he’s a two person team (him and his wife) and would be able to travel to my wedding in LI. Sweet!

I’d say that this wedding was very different - much smaller, and the atmosphere was elegant yet also very casual. There was a cocktail hour and no formal sit down. It was more Chinese/American and less Indian. (I was hoping for some Indian food actually.) The bride and groom were very friendly and very involved. Each person spent a bit of time with us at our table so that was very nice. Tip: I think it’s very important that the groom/bride try to work the room, it makes the guests feel really special and welcomed. I’ve been to a wedding where we just got ignored and we were family too! (It was a big wedding though..)

Oh, another special thing they did when they first entered the dining room was entertain us with ballroom dancing.

The favor box included a small mooncake & a tin of tea.

I hope that I’ll have this kind of vibe at my wedding - elegant yet casual; warm and inviting.