You Must Eat Your Head Off

Forty eight to fifty percent of your budget should be slated for the reception, says The Knot's nice little budget starting helper (I talked about it here). That's huge. But we have to remember that the reception is the biggest part of the wedding. It's the part where we get to enjoy our guests, we really get to celebrate our transition into our new life, and of course, everyone is fed. Now that last one is the part that really drives the cost. Of course we can have a huge cost for location rental, tables and chairs, and decorations and such, but in the end it's really the food and the booze that makes up that 48-50%.

And it will be especially true for the upcoming Fox wedding. Hell, maybe we'll end up spending more than that. Our reception is likely to be our budget buster. (Which I suppose is normally the case unless a bride must have a $10,000 dress or something like that.)

Why?

Well here's why: Mr. Fox is French. It's a bit of a challenge for me that he is French because I am half Guamanian.

Yup it is. Source.

So quick geography lesson: Guam is the southern-most and largest of the Marianas Islands in the South Pacific Ocean near the Philippines.

Where you can find the tiny island of Guam. Source.

It's shaped like this:

Similar to the shape of New Jersey, but I promise that the weather is better and the people are naturally tan. Source.

Some of my best memories from childhood center around the different fiestas we attended for Guam Liberation Day or Christmas. Without a doubt, the best part of the fiestas was the food. Guamanians favor the buffet style when it comes to serving large parties and we tend to cater our own, a la potluck. 

So one thing I always expected to have when I got married was a traditional Chamorro (Guamanian) potluck dinner. We'd have things like:

Tatiyas (y pronounced like j). Mmm.

Chicken Kelaguen. Yummy yum!

Lumpia. Extra fried yum.

Finadene. Lots of syllables. Dip here.

Red Rice. Regular rice made red.

Pancit: it's spaghetti for Guamanians.

And of course, Chamorro people sweating over a hot grill.

But unfortunately I am not acquainted with any Guamanian people within at least a thousand mile radius. So if someone were to provide all these dishes for the wedding it would be ME and I'm pretty sure I will not have the time to whip up all that goodness. Thus, I have (gladly) acquiesced to Mr. Fox's professional French desires for a super-fancy-sit-down-dinner and its associated cost. 

On the bright side, at least my wedding dress won't smell like barbecue!