Cycle of Life — guacamole, 60th anniversary & more

At last night’s rehearsal dinner for Stephanie and Matt, Uncle Chris gave a speech/toast about “the cycle of life.”

It was the bride’s birthday. Uncle Chris recalled, in the day before cell phones, waiting to hear when she was born. 24 years later, she is about to get married.

We ate guacamole at the rehearsal dinner held at the beautiful Knollwood Country Club in Lake Forest — where one set of  grandparents have been members for 40 years. The men are required to wear jackets — which we definitely were not wearing during the rehearsal with the temps in the 90′s. When the bride and her sister (the maid of honor) were in high school, they ate a lot of burgers and guacamole there when they worked at the pool there.

I sat at the table with the bride’s parents — who were married on the same day Pam and I were (June 23, 1984). We got married a few hours before they did.

Also at that table were grandparents who will be married for 60 years next week. Her mother told her, 60 years ago, that it would not last. Ha!

The bachelor party weekend in Wisconsin included the two dads! They bonded with each other. What a great idea.

Dinner ended with 3 homemade cheesecakes sliced with a Tiffany server — a wedding gift put into use right away.

What a privilege to be a part of such a special evening.  I love what I do.

Rehearsal, 20 people; Rehearsal Dinner, 60

There is a trend to include more people at the rehearsal dinner than are at the rehearsal.

On Friday, I led a one hour rehearsal for Kelly and Brian at Salvatore’s Restaurant in Lincoln Park. There were about 20 of us there — bridesmaids, groomsmen, parents, flower girl, ring bearer, readers.

Then, we all headed to the Redhead Piano Bar, 16 W. Ontario, Chicago.

60 people were there — 3X the number at the rehearsal. Present were:

• everyone participating in the rehearsal (including me, which is a fairly rare treat)
• out of town guests
• close family members

If you can afford it, it’s a classy thing to do. It turns a one evening celebration (wedding and reception) into a 2 night event. In biblical times, weddings would last a week.

People from out of town get to visit with family and friends. Other family members — grandparents, aunts and uncles — got to visit each other, too.

The only food Kelly and Brian had served was appetizers. No one was “stuck” at a table for dinner. People can and did move around.

All of it accompanied by a live piano player with some people singing along. The service level was outstanding for this private party event.