As a wedding caterer I am fortunate enough to work with a lot of great couples. I am given the opportunity to assist brides and grooms with planning the biggest day of their lives. While some couples rely heavily on my expertise and will ask my opinion on every detail; ceremony, floral, favors, etc. some couples know exactly what they want and just want me to show up the day of to provide the food, clean-up and leave. Dealing with the public on a daily basis I've think I've become pretty good at reading people and knowing what type of personalities I am dealing with. In August I had the opportunity to meet Mindy Fortune. Mindy came into my shop one day with her sister Jean who was an existing customer of mine. Mindy who lives in California with her fiance Karim was raised in Delaware and was back home planning her wedding which was going to be held November 7, 2009 in Jean's backyard. Mindy and Karim had most of their guests coming in from out of town. They wanted a reception where the guests could relax, eat when they want and dance the night away. We worked on a preliminary menu that included some traditional stations (carving, pasta) and I threw out the idea of an Indian comfort food station to
accommodate Karim's family who was Indian. Mindy left that day with menu's in hand, a working budget and a rough time line of the event. The next 2 months we worked out all the details via phone calls and E-mails. Now, as I said earlier I have become pretty good at reading people. 3 days before the wedding Mindy and Karim came out to finalize all the details. We tightened up the timeline for guest arrival, ceremony start time, food service, last call etc. When we talked about the ceremony I assumed it would be the typical 10 minute backyard do you take..I do, I do, party on. Karim told me they had some special things planned and it would probably be more like 30 minutes. I had my doubts it would go that long but I went along with what they said. Fast forward to Saturday. Beautiful fall day, guests start arriving and then.. the second shuttle bus with the guests is stuck in traffic and does not arrive until 15 minutes past the scheduled ceremony start time. The bus arrives, my staff ushers everyone to their seats and I go to the house to get Mindy for her walk down the aisle. As we are preparing Mindy for her trip down the aisle she tells me "Wait to you see what we have planned". It was obvious from our first meeting that Mindy was a very laid back, carefree person who loved to have fun. I knew she liked to entertain, as she has been in a few commercials and has some hilarious
YouTube videos. What happened next was the most unique ceremony I have ever seen. My staff and I witnessed one of the memorable wedding ceremonies I have ever seen; the ring bearers driving their motorized truck down the aisle shooting confetti, the flower girls doing cartwheels down the aisle, Karim's dad and Mindy's mom presiding over the ceremony and then the VOWS. I have attached a link to the vows. Now if you are a wedding purist: church ceremony, country club reception,
bouquet toss, chicken dance etc. this video is not for you. Your wedding day should be a true reflection of your self and your personality, I applaud Mindy and Karim for thinking outside the box and putting on one hell of a show!
