As many know, I had 2 weekends in a row that were freebies for my 2 nephews .... hubby's nephew on 6-7-08 and my nephew on 6-13-08. The 6-7 one went great, but I went so brain dead on the 6-13 one! (Hmmmm .... Friday the 13th ... could that have been a factor? )

Both weddings were in my hometown, which is about 75 miles away. The 6-13 wedding had a LOT of food, so I took all of my equipment to the reception site that morning (2 trips ... 150 round trip miles each ... $4 a gallon .... gosh, I AM Aunt of the Year!).

So about 15 minutes before we arrive at the reception, I realize I forgot the butter for the rolls. Crap!! When I get to town, I pull into a grocery and of course there are no individually wrapped butters (which I didn't expect to find, but that little part of me is HOPING......!). So I buy 4 tubs of butter. Thankfully, in my equipment I have a small dessert dish .... glass, on a pedestal, about 4" tall, just big enough for a scoop or two of ice cream. I put the butter in this, at the end of the buffet with a knife in it so folks can get butter for their rolls. Not perfect ... but it works.

We're setting things up and I'm ready to set up the chocolate fountains. I turn to my daughter and ask, "Ok... where's the chocolate?" Her eyes get really big and she says, "ummmm..... yeah ..... the chocolate .... ri-i-i-i-ght......." OMG, I left the 25 lb box of chocolate in my shop!!

Well, nothing I can do about it now, so I remove the fountains from the table and put them away. There are plenty of veggie trays and fruit trays, so the appetizer part is still workable. And I'm thinking, "Oh well ... less clean up for me!" (Pic of the appetizer table is on my FLickr site .... I used a new 5-tier stand for the veggies .... the table looked nice and full of food, even without the chocolate.)

I had some new folks working with me and they overfilled the chafer water pans .... so when I put the deep pans of food in them, once of them actually started floating!! As my new niece gets up to the beef-n-noodles (the floating one!), I try to help her stir them and I splash water on the front of her! Not much, just a few drops, but I am mortified!! I look at the photographer and said, "You can Photoshop that out, right?" Bride laughs and says, "We've already got the good photos so we're good!"

I just kept thinking of all of the refunds I would have had to give if this had been a REAL job and I'd actually gotten paid for it!

And a funny side story. One of my other nieces came up to me while I was talking to my sis (mother of the groom). Niece asks, "When are we going to eat?" Before I can answer, sis turns to me and says, "Is it normally ok to eat before the bride and groom get here?" WIth a big 'ole "DUH!" in my voice, I give her a "are you stupid?" look and say, "Uh....NO!!" (with "no" coming out in 2 syllable!)

But on the good side, everyone luv'd the cake and I got tons of compliments on it!! (basketweave entitled "Derek's Cake" in my pics).

Friday the 13th .... I think I'm going to be permanantly "booked" if I get any other requests for a Friday the 13th wedding!

OH..... and before I got to hometown, I remembered that I ALSO forgot the power strip for the chocolate fountains. So I run into a drugstore and buy a powerstrip AND a small extension cord "just in case" ... $13 and I ended up not needing them!!

You made it through it! A big hug and a round of applause! Great job! No more Fri the 13th weddings for you-- although again, You made it thru the day!

Sounds like it would have been stressful at the time, but you pulled it all off indydebi-style.

I'm glad to hear that everything worked out, and just think...now you have extra power cords for the next time

The cake looks great!

Glad it all turned out well for you. I hope you let yourself enjoy the party too! We Aunts are a good lot lol!

Don't be mad, but I was laughing reading your post. I have a manager who is very superstitious about Friday 13th. He never comes to work on that day, doesn't get out of the house and doesn't release any software (he is head of IT) on a friday 13th.

He is so funny that he needed my help to do something and I work from home all the week and go in on friday to work. I told him he could come to my office that day. He said he couldn't because of friday the 13th even though he wanted that part of work done ASAP. I ended up walking him through over the phone (not easy at all).

But, glad everything turned out good.

LOL sorry indydebi no more friday the 13th cakes for you!!
I'm glad everthing turned out fine and the cake was lovely

I love the ribbon on the square basket weave. Such a fresh pretty look --very nice. Man, so much work! You're a gold star Auntie!!!!

You did a great job! Everything looked stunning! I might have to pay you to come to Cincinnati and cater an event for me!

Can I adopt you as my Auntie?!!

I LOVE that basketweave cake !! I'm sure everything was as beautiful as the cake !

LOL

I LOVE Friday the 13th. I actually had my 13th Birthday on a Friday.....the 13th.

It was the best year I've ever had.

PS In truth, most people have more accidents on Saturday the 14th, cause after being so very careful on the 13th, they relax and figure they are super safe and.......BAM! :p