The wedding is almost one month past, and I cannot believe how quickly it came and went. I want to preserve the emotions and the memories, and in that vein, I am trying to put proverbial pen to paper and capture the experience before it fades, before what I loosely refer to as our “real life” takes hold.
Something that I did not expect but will probably have the longest and most meaningful impact is how my impressions and feelings towards certain people were affected, based on their actions and words in connection with the wedding. I suppose that it is rare that you ask and expect (so) much from so many people, but when your expectations are met, it is rare and wonderful. Even more impactful is when your expectations are exceeded. I don't want to ever forget or overlook those few people that not only delivered, but set a standard that I am now going to try to meet when I am in their position.
Dorota and the Amazing Technicolor Wedding Cake
One of the nicest surprises to come out of the wedding is my closer relationship with Dorota Grobler. When Sergio and I began planning our wedding and were thinking of ways to limit costs, I immediately had the idea of asking Dorota to make our wedding cake.
Dorota is a woman of many talents (even more than I knew 2 months ago). Though by practice and profession she is an accountant of many years, she recently changed careers and began managing the many residential properties that she and her husband own, while simultaneously taking care of her and Heinrich's 2 wonderful daughters. (It was a foregone conclusion that Genevieve and Lavinia would be our flower girls, but another shout out goes to Dorota for that as well; she made sure the girls were beautifully gowned and took care of all the logistics without any help from me, for which I am also incredibly appreciative.)
She is also an amazing chef and talented baker as well. I did not sufficiently appreciate what I was asking of Dorota at the time and truth be told, she probably didn't either. She had never tackled a multi-tier wedding cake before, and not only did she not hesitate, but she set out with such energy and determination that I was impressed. She sent me links for a variety of wedding cakes and when I told her that I had seen a fierce cake that looked fairly normal and conservative on the outside but was crazy colorful with tie-dye like swirls on the inside (a nice metaphor for both Sergio and me, I thought), she didn't bat an eye and ran with it, researching how exactly that effect is created and then set out to recreate it. Come game day, Dorota and her mother, Marlena (whom Dorota and Heinrich flew in from South Africa specifically to help with the girls so that Dorota could come to my bachelorette party and Heinrich and Dorota could fully participate in the wedding festivities- another example of why the Groblers are amongst our best friends) spent over 4 hours icing the cake that they had already put countless hours into preparing.
All of this would easily have qualified Dorota for the wedding All-Star Hall of Fame, but it doesn't stop there. Dorota and her husband, Heinrich, went to great trouble and expense so that Dorota could attend my bachelorette weekend in Napa (Heinrich also deserves a medal for sacrificing Sergio's New Orleans Mardi Gras bachelor party so that Dorota could come with us). And, after all this, she still willingly shared a bed with me for all 3 nights, undoubtedly suffering through countless unconscious advances as I mistook her for Sergio.
Dorota was one of a very few people that truly made me feel special throughout the preparation for and execution of the wedding. She participated to the fullest, and helped me enjoy the moment to the fullest, from taking care of things as big as the wedding cake and making sure we made the flight for the bachelorette party to the more easily forgotten aspects of making sure I had a purse that coordinated with my wedding weekend outfits, sexy lingerie for the honeymoon (for which Sergio was very appreciative) and a glass of wine in my hand throughout the rehearsal dinner. She acted not only as the wedding cake baker, flower girl coordinator, and bachelorette bedfellow, but as an adviser, listener and confidante as well.
What makes this all the more touching and special is that fact that, prior to the planning of our wedding, I would have said that my relationship with Dorota's husband Heinrich was stronger than my relationship with Dorota. The wedding gave us opportunities to get to know one another better and spend time together, and I have such a tremendous amount of respect and love for Dorota. I appreciate all that she did specifically for our wedding, and who she is every day, and I now consider her one of my closest friends, separate and apart from my relationship with the Grobler family unit.
Dorota, thank you.
No comments:
Post a Comment