SHUT THE DOOR!
How unchristian of me. But we were having a minor catastrophe about two hours before Derek and LauraAnn’s reception. The air conditioning went out in the social hall at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church.
Donna Stokes-Rogers puts the finishing touches on her soon-to-be-in-peril cake
No, you don’t understand. You’re thinking a minor inconvenience. Let me back up for a minute. Donna Stokes-Rogers is an extraordinary cake maker. She spent two days non-stop working on Derek and Laura Ann’s cake. When I got to Otey hall about 10 a.m. Saturday there was not a single bowl in the kitchen that wasn’t loaded with various shades of frosting. Fortunately, for Donna, she had to go out of town and she left St. Paul’s before the emergency started. Thank God. We would have had to put her in the hospital.
So I have two words for you. Buttercream frosting. As in butter as a key ingredient in the frosting. Butter. Which melts. The ladies of St. Paul’s who are helping set up the reception start to warily circle the cake. We detect slippage. The top layer is, shall we say, listing slightly.
GET THE FAN! We rush to set a fan up in front of the cake.
SHUT THE DOOR! Well-meaning people keep coming through the outside door to the hall, letting a rush of heat in.
TURN OFF THE LIGHTS! The large room descends into darkness.
We stand around in a semi-circle, observing the cake as best we can in the dark. “You need to take a knife and smooth out the frosting,” someone says to me.
“Hell, no,” I spit back. “I am not going to touch that cake. I don’t want to get blamed if….” I can’t even say it.
But the Lord provides and He thoughtfully provided us with an air-conditioning repairman on a Saturday afternoon. And even though it was traumatic, that was absolutely the only thing that went wrong at the wedding or the reception I’m thrilled and relieved to report. 
Let’s just end on a happy note. The cake was amazing. This is what was left of the four-tier mega wedding cake. Did I mention that it was a deeply rich chocolate cake with a peanut butter mousse? And I won’t even mention the kitchen crew licking the cake and frosting off the pvc pipe or the sad incident of trash can diving someone (me) did when some cake shards ended up in the trash. It was a 3-second rule thing.
One more thing and then I’m done. The happy couple. The kitchen crew rushed into the sanctuary about 15 minutes before the ceremony started and we stood in the back so we could rush back out to get the reception started. And here is what just absolutely got us.
LauraAnn started to say her vows and she started crying. And Derek reached down and tenderly brushed a tear from her cheek.
WAAAAAAAAAAAAH! We all burst into tears. Quietly, of course. We are Episcopalians.
Mr. and Mrs. Derek Larson
Bwah-ha-ha-ha. This had me rolling. I have visions of everyone circling the table warily with outstretched hands. Damn glad I wasn’t there…I would have been in tears. I have had too many disasters and decided I lack the fortitude to do this for a living. The community of precious souls at St. Paul’s is so amazing…so capable…so talented. I am so blessed to be a part of such a loving group of foodies and worker bees. You, Catherine, are a queen bee and joy to be around.
Mwah.