On Friday night I had a good cultural experience attending a meeting to plan the wedding second party for a friend. I was under the impression that it was already pretty much planned – I had a six page document outlining every minute of the festivities – and that this visit was just to look over the restaurant and get a lay of the land.
Ha, Ha. Wrong.
The first surprise was that we could actually meet the bride-to-be, and she was a very nice, friendly and organized. Very organized. We went line by line through the plan, discussed any potential problems, and after about an hour we called over the restaurant manager who had volunteered to answer any questions that we might have. We then went through the entire schedule with him (another hour) and talked about some questions that they had. The bride had some requests, and they did their best to try to take care of them, and then we went inside the restaurant and looked through it for another twenty minutes. Finally we declared that the party was planned, and we sat down for dinner and some wine at around 9 pm.
Whew – it was nice to eat and drink, and everyone lightened up after a couple bottles of wine. But I did learn a lot about how intensely this party was planned, and it made me remember my own wedding second party that was put together in about ten minutes. At the time our friend the Denya master had organized it, and it was a big help – as the bridge and groom we had plenty of other things to worry about. I would humbly suggest that the party will go much better if there are less planners (that means you, bridge and groom).
But the party was nice, and the food at the place was pretty good. The location is great, and I think that is the key selling point of this place. We’ll check it all out next Saturday.
It was a busy weekend for both of us, but one highlight was making homemade hamburger buns for the first time. They came out better than I expected, and besides the burgers I used some to make Bánh mì on Sunday night.
This week is a very short one – we’ve both got Thursday off, and I have Friday off as well. We’re hosting some friends on Thursday and then we’ll do some shopping together Friday night. Busy, busy…
