Wedding Blog

It May Sound Corny: Part I

Everything was coming together for our one-year countdown party. We tracked down all our RSVPs, wrote shopping lists, and rented the items necessary to make it a proper backyard bash.

Fast-forward to the afternoon of the party. I’m in the kitchen, putting the finishing touches on one of our two desserts, when Daddy Bruschetta calls me outside. He’s already been joined by Mr. Bruschetta and Sister Bruschetta, each of whom is dubiously holding one of the poles that supposedly supports the rented 16-by-16 tent.

I’ll spare you all the boring details – which included one frustrating phone call to the rental company, begging for assistance, four (mine and Sister Bruschetta’s) severely bug-bitten legs, 60 minutes of high school mathematics (What’s 16 squared? The square root of 20?), and tape-measure verifying – that eventually led to the festive atmosphere we had hoped to achieve.

Our recipe – one part Mr. Bruschetta’s family, one part Miss Bruschetta’s family, one part close friends – came out perfectly.

After the fact, we only experienced a few could-a, would-a, should-as.

• We could-a taken a few more pictures (particularly of the food prep and full spread, a troubling thought that came to me in the middle of the party, when it was too late to capture these images). But that’s why we’ve got two great photographers on board for our wedding.
• We would-a liked to have had unlimited time to spend with each of our guests, instead of conversation-hopping throughout the evening. But it was great to have a sampling of how we might be managing our time at our wedding reception.
• We should-a offered a toast of sorts, to thank our guests for joining us, supporting us and loving us. But we didn’t want to silence the festive atmosphere at an event that was considerably more casual and informal than our wedding will be.

Of all these concerns, I lingered the longest on the last one.

So, with a blog post as my microphone, and a recipe as my beverage, let me offer a toast. We glimpsed, a few months ago, into how wonderful it is when everyone we care about comes together. I’m raising my glass to thank everyone who celebrated with us, and to share my unbridled (::wink wink::) enthusiasm for the day later this year when I’ll marry my best friend, surrounded by our family and friends. Cheers!

Love Passion

Ingredients

• 1/2 ounce (1 tablespoon) gin (go with Bluecoat, if you can find it; it’s local to Philly and absolutely delish!)
  
• 1/2 ounce (1 tablespoon) Alizé (passion-fruit liqueur)
• 6 tablespoons chilled dry champagne

Preparation

In a champagne flute, combine gin and liqueur, and top off with champagne.

Garnish drink with raspberries.