The Bridal Shower:
For the bridal shower, we had shredded beef sandwiches on semi-hard rolls, Mom's special macaroni salad, Aunt Sis's famous potato salad, and several relish trays [pickles, etc.] Nuts, chips and pretzels were on each table, as well as candies with the favors. Finally, the cake - from Giant Eagle supermarket - was a half-white, half-chocolate sheet cake adorned with a blue-and-green umbrella made of icing and expressions of goodwill and good luck printed on top.

The cake we ate was actually a last-minute cake. The cake we ordered, which was to be picked up at Giant Eagle by the hostess of the shower that morning, met with an untimely end. She got the cake, put it atop a shopping cart and carefully drove off towards the cash registers. A little old lady with a penchant for speed came hurtling around a bend with her cart, necessitating a sudden stop which sent the cake smashing onto the floor of the market and setting off a barrage of tears from the hostess. The bakery folks, seeing the whole incident, calmed her and made up the new cake while she waited at no additional charge. KUDOS AND ACCOLADES TO THE WONDERFUL PEOPLE AT THE GIANT EAGLE - NORTH HUNTINGDON/IRWIN BAKERY DEPARTMENT! The cake was great and the service was amazing!

The Rehearsal Dinner:
As mentioned on the Parties page, traditional picnic food of the bride's family: dogs and `burgs on the grill, corn on the cob, Mom's special macaroni salad, Aunt Sis's famous potato salad, rigatoni shells and many more yummies. Of course, the Maryland contingent added to the festivities by bringing a bushel of crabs! It was all family/self catered, but as usual, it was all delicious!

The Wedding Reception:
Dawn's parents took care of the reception catering. They've reserved Maria's Catering of Greensburg, PA. Maria's is known for providing excellent buffet food at a very reasonable price. [Though, as anyone who knows us can tell you, the food is one area where we do not scrimp and budget as much!] We had Roast Beef au jus, Baked Chicken, parsley potatoes, garden salad, fruit salad, and veggie/cheese trays. The entire family brought dozens of cookies for the cookie table [and for the rehearsal dinner, too!] The food was spectacular - and contrary to popular opinion that you never actually eat at your own wedding - Harry and I made a point of sitting down and having a terrific dinner.

Our cake was also from Maria's - who makes EXCELLENT cakes. [We got to taste-test when we ordered!] It was a three-layer tiered cake. Alternating layers were supposed to be chocolate or white cake, but when we cut it, it was marble. Same diff. The base layer was circular, but each subsequent layer was heart-shaped and had tartan bows in between layers. A cascade of tartan ribbon spilled down from the top layer to two heart-shaped side cakes that had celtic knotwork stencilled in red and green colored sugar on top of them. The entire tiered cake was also sprinkled with the colored sugar to match. Best of all, the very top layer had a figurine of a bride and groom teddy bear...with the groom kilted! It was absolutely BEAUTIFUL and tasted DELICIOUS!

The Post-Wedding Blowout:
Like the Rehearsal Dinner, this was a primarily family/self catered affair. Harry had a bank of grills in the backyard (ours plus two he borrowed!) and played grill commando all afternoon. He made hot dogs, hamburgers and grilled chicken breasts for everybody. He also had cheddar and american cheese, mushrooms and bacon in his grilling station and made bacon mushroom cheeseburgers for any and all takers. [It was great...till he had that little grease fire with the bacon. It's okay, no one was hurt!] We also had two crockpots full of rigatoni [one meatless for our vegan friends, one with pepperoni], several veggie platters with dip, a giant bowl of fruit salad, macaroni salad, potato salad, baked beans and a ton of other goodies that our friends and guests brought. We also had some cake and cookies and other treats for dessert. On the beverage side, we had a full variety of sodas, a keg of beer and a variety of wine and liquors for anyone seeking an extra kick. Everyone seemed to have a terrific time and there were surprisingly few leftovers.