The Cookie Table

[RedRover]

One former colleague of mine grew up in a military family, so she really didn't have a hometown until she graduated college and moved to Pittsburgh. She met and got engaged to a local boy and chose to have the wedding here in the 'Burgh. During the reception, she told her family, solid midwesterners, that they MUST take at least one plate of cookies back to the hotel from the reception, or all of her husbands' female relatives would feel insulted.

One Pittsburgh woman I know married a nice southern boy. The reception was in one of the suburbs in the Pittsburgh area. Towards the end of the reception, as the guests were getting ready to leave, the guests began piling up the cookies on paper plates or in napkins (Chinese food take out boxes ... I wish someone would have that of that sooner). The mother of the groom got a horrified look on her face, prompting the bride's mother to come over and see what is wrong.

"Why, Mary," said the groom's mother. "They're all hogging up all the cookies and wrapping them up to go."

"Why, Sarah," the mother of the bride said with a laugh, "Down south, you have your customs and traditions, and up North we have ours. Trust me when I say that what the guests are doing is considered good manners and is to be expected!"

Aside to Honeychile, thumbprint cookies would definitely be on the cookie table (with icing tinted to match the bridesmaid's dresses)