Jeremy Gutow is a Cleveland-based male nanny and private chef. He also manages a beauty salon.

Monday, September 9, 2013

One Wedding Memory

     Page One Hundred Thirty-Four.
     A couple of days ago, one of the clients at my beauty salon shared the story of her wedding. It's a deusy.
     She got married in the middle of August, 1969. Her afternoon ceremony was held in a church I know well. It's where I held my Passover Seder earlier this year. Then, her reception was a stand-up affair held immediately following, with heavy hors d'oeuvres and cake. There was no fancy sit-down evening dinner, which, she told me, was really becoming fashionable at the time. Stand-up receptions with substantial finger foods, held in the house of worship, were considered out of fashion by 1969 but she didn't care. That's what she wanted. (Potential brides take note. I bet this plan would be gracious as all get-out nowadays. And, much, much less expensive than formal sit down dinners in rented party rooms.) She wasn't a member of the church in question but her wedding was held there because it was larger than her home church and she was expecting many hundreds of guests.
     So then the happy newlyweds left for their honeymoon: a bridal suite in a charming hotel in the Catskill Mountains. They'd reserved it a year prior and were looking forward to all the water skiing, hiking and horseback riding. But, they particularly were anticipating a week of intangibles: gorgeous mountain views, luxurious peace and heavenly tranquility.  
      But, what's this? When they arrived there was pandemonium everywhere. The traffic was all but impassible and there were hippies everywhere - quite out of character for the Catskills. She inquired and discovered that two (2) parcels down the road there was being held some sort of music festival. Wood... Wood... Wood-something-stock it was called.
     Pat and her new husband had a wonderful honeymoon in spite of the cacophonous noise, omnipresent traffic congestion, muddy hippies, permeating marijuana smoke and torrential rainfall. They've stayed married, lo over forty years now. And have a great story to tell about their wedding.

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