Life without a Labcoat: Wedding #3

Ok, before I lose all steam, here's Wedding #3 from 2013! My college roommate (the other college roommate...not the one whose brother I'm dating) got married in StL right after Christmas. I was super excited leading up to this one because of the venues. Don't get me wrong, I'm delighted to see my friend so happy, but The Church! The Chase! Despite living in StL for several years including college, I had never been to a wedding at the College Church (listed among the most beautiful college campuses for a wedding!). I'm sure I'm biased by all the great memories in this church (though to be fair there are some sad ones too) and the fantastic choirs, but this is hands-down my favorite church. It's just exquisite. The reception was held at the Chase, a very fancy, historic hotel not far from campus. We used to go see movies there in college because that's right, there's a theater in the hotel. The reception was on the top floor, with a lovely view of the city. The hotel block for the wedding was at the same place, and between the off-season timing and the wedding block it was shockingly affordable.

Now I knew this wedding was going to be fancy. The bride has by far the most elevated taste of all my friends, not to mention she's the most meticulous planner I know. Let's say I wasn't disappointed by this wedding. Not only was there a dress change during the reception, there was a hairstyle change between the ceremony and the reception. Her dad is Chinese, so during the reception she changed out of her American-style, traditional white gown into a red gown, as red is the traditional color for Chinese weddings. When I'd heard beforehand that she was going to change her hair before the reception, I assumed this meant something like up versus down, or changing to a more sturdy style for dancing. What I never dreamed this meant was a new hair cut and color! In less than 2 hours too!

Dinner was also super fancy...we were highly entertained by the number of glasses with the place settings. It wasn't difficult to figure out what they all were (water, white wine glass, red wine glass, and champagne flute), but my goodness! Add to that the fact that most people got to the table with their last drink from the cocktail hour in hand and I had nearly as many glasses as I use in a week in front of me at once. A raspberry sorbet palate cleanser was served between the salad and the entree. I've watched enough Top Chef to know what a palate cleanser is, but I'd certainly never been served one before! When the chargers were cleared from the table before we expected there was a puzzled conversation as to the purpose of chargers that never got resolved, even after consulting with Boyfriend's (and college roommate's) very ladylike southern mother.

While this was a much fancier wedding than I'd ever come up with, I have to say it may be the first where there isn't anything I'd critique! Everything was incredibly well organized and just so elegant. I know I've talked about how fancy everything was, but really the best part was the gigantic smile on the bride's face. It's the sort of smile that makes me weepy-happy. :)