Quote:
Originally Posted by RedRover
I am a Yinzer (a native of western Pennsylvania) and cookie tables are a big part of the culture.
When I was a little boy, my brother and I would wait up for my parents to come home from a wedding. We knew that my mother would have a paper plate wrapped with a napkin; both of us knew that there were cookies under that napkin.
In Yinzer culture, once the engagement is announced, every female relative (and close family friend) start baking. Cousin Sally might always make ladylocks, Aunt Kate might make her famous nut horns while the mother of the groom might make apricot horns. The best man's mother will make pizzelles (a thin, waffle-like cookie usually flavored with anise). As a rule, one only purchases specialty cookies, such as pizzelles.
Cookie tables are more of a tradition for southern (Greek or Italian) or Eastern European (too many to list) communities. Close friends and neighbors will bring their particular ethnic cookies, so Italian pizzelles will on the cookie table at a Polish wedding.
Yes, the wedding cake and the meal are more important. However, while no one might admit it, every one notices how many cookies and how many varieties were at the table.
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Yes, paper plates with the napkins over the top! And not only would family members bring the cookies, nearly every mom or baba would too. It was always a toss up between the dancing or the cookie table when I went to weddings on what was my favorite part. The cake was ok, but the cookies were the center of attention.
My aunt always made pizzelles (she was Italian) and I always looked forward to them. Most of the other cookies were bite-sized so that you could sample a lot of them.
BTW...cookie tables are still common at our showers (both baby and bridal).