Wedding On Delta Lake In The Form Of A Train...

So, in my, well what should I call this? A quest? A calling? This attempt to live a normal go-to-work-cause-you-need-the-money-like-every-one-else-on-the-planet...to sustain my dream but really stupid, undependable and unreliable (reminding me very much like my x husband) music career.
I hopped back in the bar tending saddle again. I know I've probably already blogged about this once before, but here I go again as I'm remembering seeing the head light of that train that made mince meat out of me last night in the form of a wedding on Delta Lake, (a lovely little gem I never knew existed on the Northern side of Rome NY) two hundred and fifty, pretty people strong all decked out in hot pink matching accessories, one hundred dollar earrings. nose studs, and stuck in the mud caked high heels. All mobbed together on a duck taped dance floor, waving their arms to the America's top 50 wedding covers of the world performed by Central New York's premiere party band, Classified.
Let me back up a little. I was just so happy to get three shifts a week at Michaels, a really fine eating joint up on the intersection of 12 and 20. The job came at the most critical time merely, a few weeks after Dad died. Giving me busy work to stop thinking and extra money to help my kids here and there and pay the cell phone bills.
The three shifts a week of late, has been getting a tad shady, narrowing down to two...And being 50 now an all, I decided to not ask questions and just take what I can get. So this is what I got. Michael asked me...he gets so serious when he asks you something, I thought he was gonna fire me when he looked at me to ask me if I would like to help cater a wedding. "Of course!" replied I, always so over eager to please! Well cater a wedding did I. It almost killed me!
My day started at 10:30 yesterday starting out as a personal shopper in Utica picking up black aprons at Josie's Uniform shop then driving to the northern end of Utica to a restaurant supply to pick up liquor bottle pourer spouts...which wasn't even open! Spoutless. I then drove back to Michaels where I had lunch ON Michael...thank you very much and met up with the other servers to caravan out to Delta Dawn lake. I told my husband. Yeah I should be home by 7 or 8. Yeah right! It was 1:45 in the morning when I hobbled my sorry ass in the door.
Every place setting had three glasses. Champagne, water and wine. Every chair, a sash and a daisy. Every perfectly folded napkin, a card and a flower. On every bread plate sat a gift and in every table center, three candles and a short, square glass of perfectly matched gerber daisy's.The dresses of the bridesmaids matched every sash, flower and even the filling of the wedding cake. Oh my god! Queer Eye For a Straight Guy teamed up with Martha Stewart would of been impressed! Every dish, (this was a sit down dinner, mind you, with four entree choices beginning with a wildwood salad) had another flower to garnish. An in every corner a full service bar. Michael had to rent three industrial gas stoves, outdoor grills and warming ovens to cater this event. The one sky over Delta Dawn lake, in between the two total down pours. was colorfully sparkling with bursts and trails of fireworks that would make the town of Hamilton's sky look like a kid with sidewalk poppers. The band, mic-ing mics with twenty monitors, sexy singers and horn section to boot...Oh my god! I was in wedding overkill to say the least and almost didn't make it! Soaking wet, we all catered, served, smiled and groaned in our black and white attire, ties around our necks that at one point I was thinking it would be a lot less painful to simply hang myself from the center pole over the dance floor of drunken well wishers to put my self out of my misery.
I put in close to 16 hours. I've never handled that many glasses and dishes in my life. The food that was thrown away...disgusting. I'm really curious to see what kind of money comes my way from this. So here's a flip video that does not do any justice what so ever to just how beautiful the wedding was and how much work that went into it...I really need to slow down my flipping video skills but I didn't have much time being on Michaels clock and all. We all got through it to say the least and this is one set of headlights of a train I hope to never have to be blinded by again...No matter how many cooking shows I watch!