You Can Have Your Cake and Make it Too!

One of the pleasures of working at a church as the music director is playing at a wedding.  I have played at many weddings and always am amazed at the choice of music people select for the day they will be wed.  Most of the time I am involved in the planning so I can hear stories behind their choice of music, but not always.  This past weekend I was a part of a wedding where I played some of the music myself and played tracks for other parts.  Good thing for the tracks since the choice in music varied from Sara Groves, to the Beatles, to the Beach Boys, to some other artists I could not name.  Beach Boys and the Beatles make you think of an older couple, but nope. The couple were in their early 20s.  So I began prelude music, only to find out the best man forgot the ring.  Not the ring of the groom, but the bride's ring.  It really wasn't worth asking how he brought one ring and not the other, but the father of the groom went to go get it.  Wedding time came and went as I played more music. 30 minutes more. 30 minutes late.  No big deal really, but guests were getting restless.  So the dad shows back up as everyone wanted to begin but alas, one more thing. The dad had prepared a three page written statement for his son the groom, that needed to be read to him before the ceremony started. And he was a slow reader.  More music.  Ceremony starts.  The song selection I was asked to play and sing consisted of one classic hymn, one contemporary worship song, and one bluegrass song. Bluegrass at the end? No. During the serving of communion, of course.  And of course this song was met with cheers and clapping and singing....or maybe just silence and stares from the older people wondering why I chose this raucous, happy clappy song.  No matter. The ceremony ended with the couple being married,  just as we planned.  Someone may have put the wrong date on the front of the program, but at least their names were spelled right, I think. Nobody would have noticed but during a 30 minute delay, what else is there to do but read the program, so everyone noticed all the typos. Nice.
On to the reception. As a music director I always get invited to the receptions. Some are better than others. We always ask who the caterer was. I can't make this stuff up.... for the wedding reception, the caterer was Bagel King.  Thats right, Bagel King.  Probably would not have been on my radar for my daughter's wedding but I have to admit...they are now.  The food was actually quite good.  Excellent appetizers, wonderful buffet style meal and great desserts. And not a single Bagel found anywhere. Nicely dressed attendants, open wine and beer bar, and flavored coffees. Fantastic...really! So the wedding cake comes out and the father of the bride who is a member of our church is arranging the layers. As I wait for the funniest video moment, I find out he made the cake. This guy who goes to our church and has never talked a bit about cooking or baking actually made the three-tier wedding cake. Wow! So I asked him how many cakes he has made.  "My first one!" he proudly tells me.  I normally leave before the cutting of the cake, but not today. I don't even like cake but I have to taste this.  He tells me how many hours went into this project, and then asks me to lie to him when I taste it and say it was good, but tell him later for sure what I thought.  I told him it was amazing.  That really wasn't a lie. The cake itself wasn't amazing as cakes go. In fact, it was a bit bland, quite heavy, and tasted a bit like next-day cake, the kind you had for dessert the night before at a friend's house and took home not in tupperware but on a paper plate covered by aluminum foil that takes half the icing away. (that was the honest part) The amazing part of the cake was that he made it. Of all the weddings I have been to I never have thought a cake was something to remember, but on this day it was.  I am sure his daughter will always remember the cake her dad baked for her on her wedding and they will remember it as the best cake ever.
I love all the references the Bible has to wedding feasts.  Its one I want to go to.  I'll bet God knows how to throw a reception.  The best food and the finest of wines. And then we bring the cake.  He probably has tasted better, but if we make it, he will eat, and say it is good. That's how it works. And I hope you get the invitation to his feast and accept!